Comments on: Tell me…

By: Mariella

Mariella — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:29:27 +0000

Teresa, if you allow other people to copy your work onto their own domains, perhaps you should start thinking of making rules such as the page your content is placed should not be served with any type of advertisement.

By: Teresawrites

Teresawrites — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:21:32 +0000

Here’s something I just ran into … what to do when someone takes an excerpt from content on your ad-free blog and posts it on their ad-loaded blog. They gave a link back to my blog and credited me, but still – they’re profiting from my work.

By: Adrienne

Adrienne — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:23:42 +0000

I’d be interested in learning about the best resources for new freelance writers, e.g. books on that topic, useful how-to sites (other than this blog, of course!), etc.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:55:12 +0000

another potential blog topic: Health insurance, where to get it

By: Amy Derby

Amy Derby — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:02:33 +0000

As my four year old nephew would say, “Awww, MAN!” Let’s try again. ♥

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:09:49 +0000

*PS: Semi-coloN. Sorry. Haha~

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:09:02 +0000

Ooh, I tried that ☆ too but it doesn’t work.

Amy, you forgot the semi-color after the &hearts

By: Shell

Shell — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:55:20 +0000

For the ♥ it is: & h e a r t s ;
For © it is: & c o p y ;

Remove the spaces in between the characters

I’m still trying to figure out how to do a star. Does anyone know?

LOL I saw in the notification email how it’s done ♥

Let’s try a star… whether it will work, I dunno!

☆

By: Amy Derby

Amy Derby — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:53:42 +0000

Ha. I love it! &hearts

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:50:05 +0000

Shell>> Thanks a lot! I’ll join the forum later this day after I get my work done. The help is truly appreciated! ♥

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:47:15 +0000

For the ♥ it is: & h e a r t s ;
For © it is: & c o p y ;

Remove the spaces in between the characters

I’m still trying to figure out how to do a star. Does anyone know?

By: Shell

Shell — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:42:34 +0000

Mariella – If you take a look at that forum you will find plenty of feedback on various companies and what the writer(s) think of them. Some companies sound good and yet some do not bother replying to submissions, so it’s always good to read others’ experiences and then make your own decisions

The forum is usually a mixture of greeting card writing and art work queries.

By: Amy Derby

Amy Derby — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:37:44 +0000

You’re welcome. How did you make that little heart?

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:30:54 +0000

Thank you so much Amy! I really really appreciate it! ♥

By: Amy Derby

Amy Derby — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:17:21 +0000

Mariella,

Last I checked in Writers Market, Hallmark was listed as not accepting freelance submissions.

Here are some links to submission guidelines for a few greeting card markets that did accept freelance submissions last I checked:

http://www.comstockcards.com/guide_base.htm
http://www.oatmealstudios.com/Writer'sGuides/WG-Pg.htm
http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/submissions.html#_submissions
http://www.designergreetings.com/Pages/jobs.html
http://www.recycledpapergreetings.com/artists.htm

Shell, I will have to take a look at that forum.

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:10:44 +0000

Shell>> thanks for the info! I understand~ I think i’ll just email the lot of them and ask which ones accept freelancers~

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:09:04 +0000

Oh wow Shell! You’re a blessing! Thank you so much! Thank you, really!

By: Shell

Shell — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:07:10 +0000

Mariella – I must also add that I think the majority, if not all of Hallmark’s writing is done in house these days.

By: Shell

Shell — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:31:33 +0000

Mariella – There are two links below… one is to the Greeting Card Organization’s publisher members’ listing. The other is to a greeting card forum where members share their advice and experience.

Hope this helps

http://www.greetingcard.org/gca_publishermembers.html

http://wwforums.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/9536054071

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:30:30 +0000

^LOL! Somehow that makes me sound like Adam Sandler in “DEEDS”.

By: Mariella

Mariella — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:15:44 +0000

Leigh>> that just sounds horrible. I think the worst I’ve come across is when I tried bidding in GAF during my first month freelancing. I quoted really low (2 cents/word) because it was a subject I was very familiar with. I just had written an ebook on the same topic, a few weeks prior to that so all the research has already been done. The client said my writing was outstanding and I was a perfect fit but my rate is “exorbitant”.

Shell>> May I ask for advice? I’ve been trying to break into the greeting card market as well. So far, I had two pieces considered by Blue Mountain Arts. One of them has already been rejected while the other one remains in their 24-month market review. Do you know where else I can submit? I’ve tried looking for Hallmark’s submission guidelines but it appears as if they don’t have any.

By: Amy Derby

Amy Derby — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:01:08 +0000

Leigh, that sounds horrible. That’s exactly the kind of thing I want to avoid, so thanks for the heads up. If Deb starts a new topic on this at some point, I’ll be very interested to see what others here have to say.

I’ll also have some feedback on the non-paying clients, contracts and queries if they become topics.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:51:11 +0000

Amy:

If you sign up for any bidding sites, I recommend you stay away from Guru. They are very pro-buyer, even if the buyer has done something wrong. I had a “client” from there about 18 months ago who sent me directions for a project and I sent back a reply with “will be starting this on Monday” and at about 7 p.m. on Monday, they cancelled the project saying I did not follow through.

Well, they were in a different time zone, and I tried to explain that to Guru, but they made me pay back my deposit and took the project away from me anyway!

Also, I had a Guru client call me at 3:30 a.m. once to discuss his project. He was from a different time zone, too, but I was still mad!

By: Erik Hare

Erik Hare — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:32:36 +0000

Another idea for a topic:

Networking.

It’s possible to do this online, visiting the blogs of people in the know and becoming part of the community. But what if the key agents and publishers that you’ve run into are people that …. well, let’s just say that you plain don’t get their blog at all.

How does one network online? What about “important” places to network that just don’t make much sense to you?

(feel free to call me an idiot, it’s OK)

By: Shell

Shell — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:22:38 +0000

Elisabeth – I started out applying to positions on certain job boards but it did take persistence finding what was new and what was worth applying for.

I also research various companies because I do a combination of business and creative writing. My creative side works for the greeting card market. This can be hard to break into though. The good news is over the years it has got better and better for me

A lot of copywriters advertise their services around the local market or even widen their scope on to an international level via a website. There has been quite a few copywriting job posted around but I have noticed them more due to the amount of research I have conducted over the years.

It may also help to expand on your skills and see if you can build a portfolio up for different genres. Okay, your main area is copywriting but can you do good articles too? There is a wide market for articles out there but you have to be careful not to land a very low paying gig. Having said that there are higher paying ones around, you just need to keep an eager eye open for them.

Then you get the PR / press release writing gigs, which can be quite lucrative but they often require one or two samples, likewise with article writing.