Mary Emma Allen, however, broke into the greeting card industry by writing, designing and selling her own finished cards. From there I was given a royalty contract and I've been with them ever since 1992." Too bad for them as RPG responded favorably and out of my first submission to them, they had one of my cards finish number one in the country in their test market research. I received back two responses: one from Oatmeal Studios and the other from Recycled Paper Greetings," Reynolds said. "First, I collected a lot of my best material, then I mailed card companies and asked for their submission requirements. That was the beginning of Miller-Louden's writing career in the greeting card business.ĭan Reynolds, on the other hand, began writing for the greeting card market eight years ago when one of his works was accepted. Later that same year, I sold two more verses to Oatmeal Studios in Vermont for $50 each." It was a Halloween caption and even though I only netted $15 for it, I was thrilled that someone paid me for my words. "But even so, sold my first card to Current of Colorado Springs, the same card catalogue I was browsing through, three months later. "I knew no one in the business and I made every mistake in the book," Miller-Louden said. Miller-Louden was flipping through a greeting card catalogue in February 1986 when she read one of the verses and thought to herself, "I could do this."
"A writer can really get spoiled in this genre, because not only is it fun, immediate writing, it also pays quite well!" said Miller-Louden. According to Sandra Miller-Louden, a veteran greeting card writer/teacher and author of the book Write Well & Sell: Greeting Cards, each greeting card verse can earn a writer between $50 to $150. The greeting card market is one of the most profitable and high-paying markets for writers. Negotiating ContractsSetting Fees/Getting Paid HELPFUL LINKS | EDITOR'S CORNER (Ramblings on the Writing Life) We never read scripts, so please don’t send them.HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SITE MAP | MASTER ARTICLE INDEX | ADVERTISE WITH US!
Hallmark Publishing isn’t involved in acquiring the movie or TV rights of books published by other publishers. We no longer consider previously published works for publication. We’d love to see diverse stories from diverse authors.
For mystery, either first person or third person is fine. In murder mysteries, the murder must happen “off the page,” and we tend to avoid other heavy or disturbing content.įor romance, we prefer third person, alternating between points of view, but we’ll consider a first-person narrative with an entertaining voice. We avoid backstories about infidelity or promiscuity. Physical interaction must be limited to hugging and kissing.
No nudity, sex, profanity, or graphic depictions of sexuality or violence will be accepted. We aren’t looking for children’s books, young adult novels, other fiction genres, or nonfiction at this time. We aren’t interested in paranormal romance in general, but we’re open to time travel or a little bit of magic. We aren’t looking for stories with strong religious themes, but faith may be depicted as a part of characters’ lives. We tend to avoid stories with very sad or distressing elements, including but not limited to terminal illness, abuse, addiction, early stages of grief, and children or animals in peril.
We’d especially like to see series ideas with female amateur sleuths.Ī sense of humor is always a plus for us. For Christmas and winter romances, we like to see snowy locales.įor Hallmark mysteries, strong seasonal themes are discouraged. We’d especially love to see seasonal themes for romance (winter, Valentine’s Day, spring, June brides, beach reads, fall, and Christmas). We’re looking for contemporary stories set in the United States. We love romances and mysteries that also celebrate friendship, family, and/or community ties. We’re looking for wholesome or “sweet” romance novels and cozy mystery novels of around 75,000 – 90,000 words in length. If you have an agent and you would like to submit a proposal or an unpublished manuscript, your agent should contact Stacey Donovan via email at ( for details. We are closed to unsolicited submissions of novels in 2020, but we are always open to agented submissions.