How to Get a Career Writing Greeting Cards

Designing greeting cards for a living can be fun and profitable.

The Greeting Card website states that around 7 billion greeting cards are purchased annually in the United States. There are about 3,000 greeting card publishers in the country. Writing greeting cards for a living can be a worthwhile and profitable career, but it does take time and effort to get started.

Instructions

1. Evaluate the writing you wish to provide for a company. Some card companies look for sentimental poetry and prose, while others want humorous quips and sayings. It is important to submit your work to companies that are looking for the particular style of writing that you do.

2. Spend time researching different companies that hire greeting card writers. A list of companies can be found at the Greeting Card Markets site. Some companies only purchase items from freelance writers; others will only consider hiring established artists.

3. Visit several card shops and study what they have for sale. Ask employees what sells the best and what trends are popular. Study company websites to see what styles they are looking for; this will save you valuable time when you are deciding what products to submit.

4. Read submission guidelines carefully to be sure you sending exactly what the company wants. Many companies ask for electronic submissions through email; other companies want your captions written on index cards. Only send your best work and don’t send the same samples of your work to more than one company at a time.

5. Consider opening a free store with a print-on-demand website. When an item that you have in your store sells, the company prints it and sends it to the customer for you. You receive a commission for your design. With most of these companies, you are allowed to retain all rights to your images and words.

Tips & Warnings

• Prepare for a wait. It takes time to build up writing jobs and sales, especially because there are thousands of other writers and artists trying to break into the business. According to the Fiction Factor site, writing greeting cards is better to consider for a part-time or supplemental income rather then the main way of earning a living.

References

• Greeting Card: General Facts
• The Fiction Factor: Writing for Greeting Card Companies

Resources

• Greeting Card Markets: List of Greeting Card Publishers