Market Round-Up May 2007

© Jodi M. Webb – All Rights Reserved

 

Too often as writers we think big: books, bylines, months of research. We overlook the small: twenty words, no byline, written while waiting at the bus stop. And the small can help pay the bills just as easily as the big. You don’t have to be a poet to write greeting cards—many are just looking for one cover line and one inside line. Various companies pay from $20 to $300 per card. The best route to success is a visit to the greeting card store where you study the cards from the company you want to submit to, like magazines each company has their own style and specialty. Ditto for guidelines!

 

This first one is the company most often seen posting for submissions on writer’s job boards. They have many different card lines and, although they like poems, rhyming is a no-no. Blue Mountain Arts, Inc. http://www.sps.com/greetingcards/index.htm

 

If funny one-liners pop into your head while you’re drinking your coffee, Oatmeal Studios is the company for you. These are the goofy cards teenagers enjoy giving—they were always a favorite of my little brother. Oatmeal Studios http://www.oatmealstudios.com/Writer'sGuides/WG-Pg.htm

 

This company’s product line is made up of boxed cards, 12 or 18 identical cards. So you have to keep the verse generic enough to fit an entire group of card receivers. Their largest line is Christmas cards but they also have Sympathy, Birthday, Get Well, and Friendship. The majority of their cards have the entire verse inside—no cover line. P.S. Greetings http://www.psg-fpp.com/creative_guidelines.htm

 

Are you "hip"? That’s how this company’s website describes their products. Many of their cards have humor but its more an amused smile than the laugh out loud guffaw of Oatmeal Studios. Design Design Inc. http://www.designdesign.us/submission_guide.cfm

 

Jodi’s Tip: I spent my entire senior year of high school sitting next to a poster of Frost's "The Road Less Traveled". It must have sunk in(thank you Father Maco)because I always try to use it in my writing. For example, every greeting card company makes Christmas cards. Now imagine how many writers submit Christmas ideas every month. Your verses are competing against a thousand other verses. But with a slight twist(the road less traveled)you could be competing against a much smaller group.

Now, I'm not suggesting a "Merry Christmas to You and Your Iguana" card--that would be the road never traveled. One example would be cards that don't specify a December holiday and are appropriate for friends celebrating Christmas, Hannukkah or Kwanzaa. Although most greeting card companies produce several in this subset each year, they probably choose the verses from a much smaller group of submissions. So take the time with your greeting card verses, and all types of writing, to pinpoint the road less traveled. Especially when you're just starting out, the road less traveled can lead to the road of more acceptances.

 

 

About the author:  Jodi M. Webb spent years writing articles for dozens of magazines such as Pennsylvania Magazine, American Profile, and Christian Science Monthly. But recently she’s been discovering a wonderful new market: business writing. Her new specialty includes catalog copy, customer newsletters, and writing in the voice of her alter-ego the Organizer Genie. Like every writer Jodi feels she has a book(or two…or three) in her but she hasn’t managed to get an agent or publisher to agree with yet. Stay tuned for updates!

 

 

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