Chapter 11 Greeting Card Business

Chapter eleven contents

• Get to Know the Business
• Greeting Card Company Contacts and Guidelines
• Greeting Card Publishers
• Mistakes to Avoid

Excellent money can be made if you like writing greeting cards and get into the business of doing it. The pay-per-word rate can be astounding. Freelancers report earning anywhere from $25 to as much as $150 per card.

Get acquainted with the business
Greeting Card Association's site is a good place to begin, where you'll find links to instruct and guide you, http://www.greetingcard.org/ The Greeting Card Association is a must-visit site. You'll find contact information, http://www.greetingcard.org/mediacenter.html. And the Greetings, Etc. magazine, http://www.greetingsmagazine.com/greetings/index.shtml

Learn more about the market at About.com, http://freelancewrite.about.com/?once=true&, (a part of the New York Times, http://www.nytco.com/. New York Times web sites, http://www.nytimes.com/. New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login, required but free).

Please be advised that linking to an article on The New York Times is free of charge and does not require permission, but you MUST include the New York Times Publisher's URL, http://www.nytco.com/ which zips readers back to The New York Times web site at which they have to be a member, or become a member.

Membership is free of charge and only takes a minute to complete.

Generally, the way to be sure of who owns a web site is scroll to the bottom of the page (which is where I found the information, "a part of the New York Times, http://www.nytco.com/." About Us links, and Company Profile, are also places to find the information.

Search: writing greeting cards. Also, search write greeting cards.

Greeting card company contacts & guidelines
While searching for writing opportunities at greeting card companies, try About Us; FAQ; Company Information, etc., then follow links, looking for career opportunities or job opportunities.

American Greetings, http://corporate.americangreetings.com/. Check Careers link and study the entire site thoroughly. Contact information is also at the bottom.

To get the latest information, go to WritersWeekly.com's search page and search in all categories for Greeting Card Markets, http://www.writersweekly.com/search.html

Greeting card publishers
You'll find a large list of greeting card publishers here, http://www.writerswrite.com/greetingcards/publish.htm.

*Note: clicking on some links takes you to surprising results; not necessarily the company you expected. One time while I was searching the Hallmark Card webpages for writers guidelines (using their search engine) I discovered I could find and read about many of their writers!

Because I didn't first locate the Site Map (at the bottom of the home page) it took a bit of surfing the links before I finally found what I wanted at Hallmark; Career opportunities. http://tinyurl.com/nb2ey3

Be persistent! Search web pages diligently until you find what you want, or find someone to contact to get answers to your questions.

Freedom Greeting Card Company, is a leader in ethnic cards, http://www.freedomgreetings.com/. Link to guidelines by clicking About Freedom at their top of the page, and then Working for Freedom.

Find more resources online by typing "greeting card publisher" into, http://www.dogpile.com/.
End

Exercise,

1. Read the online information about greeting cards.

Advice FromThe Pros: http://writerinsidertips.blogspot.com/

5-3, Model Release: http://tinyurl.com/35dg3ws

5-4, Photographs: http://tinyurl.com/29wxh44

Next, Chapter 12 - Other Writing Opportunities: http://tinyurl.com/35w2nj