Whether you are new to freelance writing or are a seasoned pro, you may be considering just how you can add some diversity to your income. Most freelance writers spend a large portion of their work time each day focusing on a niche like article writing, blog writing, ghost writing books and ebooks, and other such niches. One of the most overlooked and often most fun niches that you can spend some time on is writing greeting cards. If you are interested in writing greeting cards for money, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Independent Contractor. The vast majority of greeting card companies do accept submissions from freelance writers, but a handful only work with their staff writers. You will want to spend some time researching which companies you can write for as an independent contractor. While you make think of greeting card companies as all the same, the fact is that many of these companies focus on a specific target audience. So before you can start drafting a single greeting card message, you will want to take time to identify the companies you want to make submissions to and learn more about their target audience.

Research. Up-front research is absolutely critical for writing cards. You first will want to research submission requirements. Some companies have some pretty specific requirements, such as the need to have each message submitted on a separate 3 x 5 inch index card or for all of the submissions to be emailed in a single .doc file. Many also require that you submit at least 10, 25, or some other number of submissions with each batch. In addition to the submission requirements, you will want to research deadlines for holiday-specific greetings. For instance, if you are writing Christmas card greetings, you may find that the deadline for greetings on this theme is in July or August for many companies.

Unique Content. You absolutely want to review some of the greeting cards that a specific company has published. By doing this, you can get an idea of their theme, tone, and writing style that they prefer. However, you also want to keep in mind that a company isn’t going to pay you for a re-write of a card they already have published. So you will need to absolutely come up with fresh, unique content in each message that you write.

The Downside. There is a downside to writing greeting cards over working on projects for clients. This downside is that you can submit dozens, even hundreds, of greeting card messages and never have a single one get published. Of course, this means that you never get paid for your efforts. However, those who have a knack for writing greeting card passages find that the job is fun and can be quite lucrative, too. Because of the fact that the money isn’t a sure-thing, many freelance writers will dabble in writing greeting card passages on the side until they get the hang of it.

Writing greeting cards is one of those things that many people, even freelance writers, just do not think about writing. Yet this niche can be fun, exciting, and completely profitable if you have a talent for it. Take some time to research how writing greeting cards can add some income to your bottom line.