How to Write Greeting Card Verse

Many would-be freelance greeting card writers make the same mistake. They read the ordinary, trite verses found in cards at the drugstore and think, "I can do that!" But it's not as easy as it looks. The successful freelance greeting card writer must learn to exploit ordinary language to guarantee a sale.

Things You'll Need

• Thesaurus
• Rhyming dictionary
• Computer
• Greeting cards

Instructions

1. Respect greeting card verse as it is. You can make improvements, yes, but only from the inside out. You have to learn to write trite verse before you can write quality verse.

2. Rid yourself of the notion that greeting card verse is poetry. It's not poetry, it's ordinary speech expressed in the framework of meter and rhyme.

3. Express yourself in down-to-earth, everyday language. People prefer this conversational, simple style in their greeting cards.

4. Read various greeting cards to observe content, verse pattern, writing style and rhyme schemes.

5. Reword published cards. This is called paraphrasing.

6. Determine what you'd like to say, and stick to one basic idea. Choose your words carefully to convey your idea.

7. Choose a message that is heartfelt, personal and yet general enough to meet the buying needs of the public. For instance, a get well card should be appropriate for both a cancer patient and a person with a broken leg. Marketability is key to the greeting card editors.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that you are writing for someone else. When a woman in Missouri buys a birthday card for her sister in Ohio, she considers the message in the greeting card her own.

• Paraphrasing does not mean that you plagiarize existing cards. Paraphrasing-saying the same thing using different words-is actually a good way for the beginner to go about learning technique.

• Avoid specific religious references other than Lord, God or Jesus. Referring to the saints, Mary or Moses also limits your marketability to a specific niche.