Greeting Card Writing Tips

I’d like to think that freelance writers are some of the most versatile creatives out there. Most of us can write about a variety of topics, use different styles, and reach out to various audiences.

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One interesting market for freelance writers, which challenges one’s creativity more than usual is the greeting card market. If you are thinking of trying this niche out, we have a comprehensive resource material about it: How to Break into the Greeting Card Market.

To supplement that article, let’s take a look at specific greeting card writing tips that will help you increase your chances of success.

Do research.

If you’re only starting to enter the market, you’ll have some groundwork to do.

Research involves different things.

First, you need to know the different kinds of greeting cards. We can loosely categorize greeting cards into three groups.

1. Traditional. Remember those cards that have rhyming verses? If you love poetry, then this is a good option.
2. Prose. Also called conversational prose, this type of greeting card features messages that have a more casual tone – as if the card were talking to the reader. There is no rhyme requirement.
3. Humorous. This kind of card has become so popular, with the messages full of puns and quips.

Naturally, how and what you write will depend on the type of greeting card your client requires.

Second, researching also involves reading existing greeting cards. Go to the bookstore, and spend time going through as many cards as you can. Visit online greeting card sites, and read the messages. By doing so, you will have an idea about what is expected. You can get some inspiration, but even better, you may come up with ideas that improve on existing messages.

Keep your writing tight.

Of all greeting card writing tips, this may very well be the most important.

Writing for greeting cards is a great exercise in “tight writing”. Even when you are writing for a prose-style card, your writing has to be as concise as possible. Eliminate all the unnecessary words. Get the message across, all the while sticking to the required tone.

Here’s a thought: practice by tweeting. Do you think this will help?

Write down notes.

Greeting cards convey all sorts of messages, and you never know what kind of message a client will ask of you in the future. That’s why it is a good idea to have a compilation of messages handy.

Your collection doesn’t even have to be complete messages. Notes, bits and pieces, ideas – they will all prove to be useful at some point.

Pro tip: Create categories for your notes. For example: Get well cards, condolences, birthdays, etc…

Greeting card writers, lend us your expertise. What greeting card writing tips do you have?

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