Do you wonder how some poets and writers manage to sell their greeting card verses while others miss the mark completely or only get an acceptance on a rare occasion? This Q & A will give you the information you need to see your writing in the greeting card aisle (and help you make a little money at the same time!).

Q. Where do you find companies who will buy your greeting card verses?

A. I look in market books for writers or online at www.google.com. Then search for “paying greeting card markets.”

Q. How do I know what type of greetings to send to each company?

A. Always request the company’s guidelines. Follow them to the letter. If you don’t, your ideas may be disqualified just for that reason.

Q. If I only write rhyming verses, should I try to write non-rhyming verses or one-liners?

A. Definitely. Why limit what you are writing? Who knows, you may have a flair for writing non-rhyming verses. If you don’t give it a try, you will never know. You could be losing out on sales. I find it is a lot of fun to write different types of greetings rather than limiting myself to one form.

Q. When should I give up on a company if I keep getting rejections?

A. Only you can decide that. If submissions have been rejected for a year, it’s time to rethink what you are sending to the company. Something obviously isn’t meshing. Either you can sell your greeting card verses to another company, or you can rework them and try again. I always find it is best to send my ideas to another company, wait a few months, and then send other ideas to the first company. An editor might move on to another greeting card outfit, and the new editor might love your work. This has happened to me.

ABOUT SUZAN:

Suzan L. Wiener has had numerous greetings, stories, poems and articles on writing published in magazines such as Reader's Digest, Canadian Writer's Journal, T-Zero, Gallant, etc. She has been writing since 1987.