There are plenty of ways to make money from writing, but poetry is certainly one of the more unlikely ones. After all, most poets struggle to make anything at all, let alone a significant amount of money from their efforts.
But if you think laterally you can actually do quite well from this branch of writing. It may never be a full time career but there are people making a nice second income from penning a few rhymes and poems every now and then.
The secret is to make sure you are writing for the right markets. Read on to find out what they are.
There is one very large market for poetry that you probably look at virtually every day, and yet most people simply don’t realize that it exists as an opportunity to make money.
The market we’re talking about is greetings cards manufacturers. After all, how many greetings cards do you see that have simple poems inside them, conveying a message to the recipient which could be funny, heart warming, emotional or joyful? If you can come up with this kind of poetry then you could be well rewarded for each one you write that ends up being accepted.
There are two ways to find the best markets to write for. Firstly you can visit your local card stores and see which manufacturers publish cards with these types of poems on them. You might know that you have more of a talent with some rather than others, so concentrate your search on the manufacturers and publishers that create the cards you feel you could write.
Make a note of the company name and then do a search on the internet to find them. This is also the best way to find other companies who you may not easily find in the stores.
Not all greetings card companies will be looking for freelance work, but those that are will often have guidelines on their websites, so print these off and read them carefully in order to stand a chance of succeeding. You might find it helpful to jot down some ideas while you are reading them, since they may be looking for specific ideas or themes that you could work on.
Companies such as these usually let you send in a batch of ideas at the same time because of the brevity of the work involved, so make sure you have several to send in and take your time over them to make sure they are the best you can do. Editing your work is very important – even on items as short as these will be – since there is a lot of competition on many occasions and even the odd change of a word here and there could make all the difference between acceptance and rejection.
Persevere with your efforts too, because it might take a few attempts before you get anything accepted. The great part of making money from your poetry in this way is that you will get to see your poems on the cards in your local store once they are published – and there is no greater reward than that!
You could also make your own cards and sell them if you have a lot of poems you would like to use that are turned down by the card companies. A lot of people will pay handsomely for hand made cards and if you feel confident enough you could even charge a premium for writing unique poems for specific people.
If this has got your creative juices running then why not start jotting your ideas down right now? You’ll find it useful to keep a notepad with you at all times for writing them down whenever they come to you – but the first thing you should write is a comment for us in the box below!
I’m a poet of sorts
Just seeking my place.
You’ve given me hope.
You’ve shown me grace.
I’ll write and compose
‘Til my heart strings are worn,
Yet, I can’t stop my quill
Poetry lines to adorn.
Thanks for inspiring me to pursue writing my poems…sometime I lose hope,but again I will do it and take chances.:)
I have submitted several poems to a company in the past known as poetry.com I was given false hopes of success w/my poems and also told that these poems would be published in their compilation of a collection of writings/submissions from many various poets/artists.
I received absolutely NO compensation for my work and was extremely frustrated and disappointed. I felt that my work was worthy of much more and was hoping to be compensated for it!
I am hoping that this website has given me the tools necessary to get on the right path to open up a whole new window of opportunity for me…
Thank You!!
I used to submit to poetry.com, too. They make a big anthology of poetry every year and then sell it to the people who submitted poetry. My cousin warned me against them or I would’ve been frustrated with them, too. I liked the site as a spring board of ideas, though.
Hi Jen, I tried Poetry.com also. I got the letter saying that I was accepted and that my poems where winners. I was invited to the awards conference in Florida; of course I had to pay my way and was given the opportunity to buy my award plank and crystal trophy and Book. After doing more research on them I found that it was just another scam trying to get money from people that the book that are “ Published “ is the one book that I would have bought if I had the money. For a while, I was doing this to have my stuff copyrighted.
Now I just put the copyright symbol on myself along with the date, so that it can be seen that it belong to someone. I use the following: “©”, the word copyright or (c). The symbol © can be made by using the ( C ) keys
with out using the space bar. There are a lot of good help for use that write songs and poems on the internet. If though they try to have you to pay them for your poems, then stay away. They are just trying to rip you off, and probably make money on your stuff in the process. Sorry this is so long, I hope this helps.
I have wanted to write short stories, a book and then incorporate my ability to write poems beit cards, songs or scripts. I never followed my heart due to raising my 4 kids but now nothing is in my way but knowledge of how to start. Thanks for the tips. Watch out world, here I come!
question: where did my email go as I wrote this at 7:47am arizona time and it is posted as 2:46 pm?
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I was inspired. I am planning to put this into practice. Thanks a lot
Its worth a try hey?
this is a great insight. i might try this..
Great idea! I think I’ll try this!