Writing For Greeting
Card Companies
This has been on the minds
of almost every amateur poet and
jokester at some time or
another. Most people seem to think
there is a fairly high demand
for greeting card verses and good
jokes for gag cards. This
is not true. Many firms hire their own
writers since they cannot
effectively handle all the thousands
of suggestions they get from
amateur writers trying to make a
few extra dollars. Remember
when you enter this not-so-lucrative
field that you will be competing
against highly skilled
freelance writers and creative
writers with a great deal of
experience in dealing with
editors and publishers. Your chances
of landing a lot of sales
are very slim indeed, but there are a
few people every year who
do make a dent in the market and find
their time and effort well
rewarded.
A member of our staff
decided to investigate the market for his
own sake and discovered
some interesting things which we thought
we'd pass along to you.
He wrote to most of the greeting card
firms in the 1985 Writer's
Market, the definitive guide to who
buys all kinds of writing,
who are accepting freelance
submissions.
Here is what he found
out: Of the fifteen or so he wrote to,
most of whom requested
self-addressed, stamped envelopes for
replies, only seven responded
and only five are accepting
submissions.
Hallmark, the giant in
the field is not accepting unsolicited
ideas.
Fran-Mar Greeting Cards
of New Rochelle, NY is interested mainly
in novelty stationery ideas
and invitations and thank-you notes,
and purchases a limited
number each every year.
Bo-Tree is not accepting
any submissions at this time.
Carolyn Bean Publishing
Ltd., of San Francisco is looking for
artword and for words and
makes no bones about the fact that
they expect the highest
quality of work for their wide variety
of greeting cards.
Oatmeal Studios of Rochester
VT accepts humor only, and a copy
of their writer's guidelines
(the letter starts: "Dear Funny
Person:") is a necessity
for their writer. They pay well, too -
$50 for each idea they
buy.
Amberley Greeting Card
Company of Cincinnati is interested in a
wide variety of ideas,
and it would be wise to consult them
first about the current
needs. They pay $40 for each usable idea.
Contenova Gifts Inc.,
of Seattle, Vancouver and Toronto look for
funny card ideas which
can be easily translated to a card by an
artist. Write to the Vancouver
office for current wants.
Portal Publications is
seeking artwork only at this time.
Those firms have proven
to us to be responsive to the writer and
will probably be your best
bets for sale. If you'd like to give
this hobby a try, read
the section of greeting card markets in
Writer's Market to get
better ideas of exactly what is involved
in submitting professional-looking
ideas. And sad to say, the
days when the flowery verse
writer could sell to greeting card
companies appear to be
almost gone.
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