How To and Make Money From Writing Jokes

Jokes bring out smiles, laughter and/or happiness. Jokes are told over and over again and passed down from generation to generation.

There are even comedians who have become extremely rich by writing and telling jokes. In fact, jokes are a staple in many television talk shows.

There are even printed and online magazines like the prominent Reader’s Digest that have joke sections, proving how popular and integral jokes are to popular culture.

There’s money to be made from jokes. Here’s a guide to writing jokes and how to make money off them:

1. What’s A Good Joke?
1.1 Content
1.2 Pace
1.3 Delivery
1.4 Punchline
1.5 Subversion

2. Joke Structure
2.1 The Setup
2.2 The Punchline

3. Joke Elements
3.1 Story Arc
3.2 Subjects
3.3 Situation or Problem
3.4 Resolution

4. Some Types of Jokes
4.1 Anecdotal
4.2 Observational
4.3 One-Liners
4.4 Self-Deprecating
4.5 Topical

5. Steps in Writing Jokes
5.1 Determine Your Brand
5.2 Jot Down Your Joke Ideas
5.3 Structure Your Jokes
5.4 Keep Your Jokes Simple
5.5 Insert Jab Lines
5.6 Test Your Joke to a Test Audience
5.7 Market Your Jokes

6. Make Money From Joke Sites
- List of Of Sites and Online Magazines

7. Others Ways to Make Money From Jokes
7.1 Upload Your Jokes Online
7.2 Sell Your Jokes to Comedians
7.3 Comedy Shows
7.4 Greeting Card Companies
7.5 Humor Competitions

Final Words

The Details:

1. What’s A Good Joke?

A good joke may be narratively short or long, but in the end, it would either make us laugh or at least elicit a smile. It may even teach us a lesson at times. But a good joke isn’t only composed of the words of the joke, it’s composed of other things too.

Here are the components of a good joke:

1.1 Content:

If you’ve been in the jokes section of my website, you would have noticed that jokes takes on a lot of form with varying lengths. There are also a multitude of subjects for jokes.

A good joke writer can find humor in almost anything, from common subjects up to seemingly taboo ones. There are even comedians who state that there is nothing sacred as long as jokes are concerned.

1.2 Pace:

Telling a joke requires rhythm and timing. Rhythm keeps your readers/audiences reading/watching, while timing ensures that you keep the interest of your readers/audiences going.

1.3 Delivery:

Without a doubt, the same joke resonates differently depending on who delivered the joke. If you have a clumsy delivery, you’ll probably lose your audience. Alternatively, an energetic delivery would probably lift the mood of your audiences, making them hang on to your words.

1.4 Punchline:

No joke exist without a punchline. A punchline is the finale of your joke. It’s what your audience waited for. If your punchline is lame, you’ll probably lose your audience. They may never listen to you next time.

1.5 Subversion:

Though jokes are meant to make people laugh, the first job of a joke writer or comedian would be to elicit initial interest in the joke. An intriguing, controversial, and even edgy joke usually piques the interest of a reader/audience even if they only heard the first lines of the joke.

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2. Joke Structure

Most jokes are structured around two elements: The setup, followed by the punchline. The setup can be short or long in length, while the punchline is usually short.

2.1 The Setup usually details the introductory information of a joke: the character, place, situations, and so on.

2.2 The Punchline is usually the funny ending of the setup which is usually nonsensical with respect to the introductory details of the joke.

Usually, the punchline is a plot twist or a divergent resolution to the one the audience was expecting.

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3. Joke Elements

If you analyze a joke much more intently, then you’ll realize that it is a very short story, albeit, a funny one. Jokes need these same story elements in order to engage the audience: Let’s use this joke as an example: What should you feed a dog when it has a fever? Mustard, it’s the best thing for hot dogs.

3.1 Story Arc:

Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. While it may not seem apparent, jokes have a beginning, a middle and an end too. When you’re telling a joke, always remember that you’re telling a story. A good joke is an engaging short story as well.

Using our Joke example: Beginning: What should you feed a dog when it has a fever? Middle: Mustard End: it’s the best thing for hot dogs

3.2 Subjects:

The subject of the joke: people, objects, animals, plants, places, and so on. Almost anything can be the subject of a joke.

Using our Joke example: Subjects: Dog, Fever, Mustard

3.3 Situation or Problem:

The situation or problem is what the characters are facing.

Using our Joke example: Situation: Fever

3.4 Resolution:

The punchline.

Using our Joke example: Resolution: it’s the best thing for hot dogs

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4. Some Types of Jokes

There are plenty of ways to write a joke. Just make sure that the elements and structure of a joke is present in the joke you’re writing. Here are some joke types:

4.1 Anecdotal:

The content of these jokes are taken from the comedian’s life.

4.2 Observational:

Jokes about the absurdity of everyday life.

4.3 One-Liners:

As the name implies, these are jokes told in one sentence or less.

4.4 Self-Deprecating:

These jokes make the comedian the target of the humor.

4.5 Topical:

These are jokes about currently popular subjects such as current events, news items, entertainment, politics, and so on.

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5. Steps in Writing Jokes

You don’t have to be a comedic genius to write jokes. Like any form of writing like storytelling, you develop your skills by practicing constantly and by following certain steps:

5.1 Determine Your Brand:

Your jokes are products and you are the company. Just like any company with a product, you should have a brand. Study successful comedians. Don’t you notice that they differentiate themselves from each other?

For example, there are comedians that focus on clean jokes, while others specialize in crude jokes. There are comedians that specialize in sex jokes, while others specialize in celebrity jokes.

Determine what kind of people you want to write jokes for. Remember that just like anything in life, you can’t please everyone with your jokes.

5.2 Jot Down Your Joke Ideas:

Good jokes don’t usually come to mind in an instant. There are instances when joke ideas would present themselves to you by themselves, but most of the time, jokes are developed by brainstorming, observation, and so on.

Make sure you have plenty of joke ideas written because not all of your jokes would be good. What would usually happen is that you make a joke idea list and only select the best ones to polish to perfection.

5.3 Structure Your Jokes:

Now that you’ve selected your joke idea candidates from your list of joke ideas, its time to structure your jokes. Create your setup and punchline and keep improving them until you are satisfied that they are funny.

5.4 Keep Your Jokes Simple:

The longer your jokes are, the more is the probability that they’ll use their effectiveness. Audience these days usually have a very short attention span. They want instant satisfaction.

This is why you should keep your jokes to the bare minimum as much as possible while still retaining their effectiveness. Continuously cut down your jokes such that they are as concise as possible.

One rule in writing jokes is that if you have to explain your punchline, then your joke is no good at all.

5.5 Insert Jab Lines:

If your jokes are a bit long, it might be necessary for you to add jab lines in your jokes. Jab lines are funny segments throughout your jokes that build the comedic tension.

5.6 Test Your Joke to a Test Audience:

You might find your jokes funny, but other people might not. This is why you have to test your jokes not only on yourself, but to other people as well. Your first test audience would be your family and friends who would surely give you their time to test your jokes on them.

Next comes a real audience composed of complete strangers who have no affinity with you. They would give you an unbiased reaction to your jokes.

5.7 Market Your Jokes:

Ultimately, the reason why you’re making jokes is to grab attention and to maybe become popular & rich. As previously said, you as a joke writer or comedian is a one man company and your jokes are your products.

So, market some of your jokes online, preferably in social media and if you can, even on television to widen the reach of your jokes.

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6. Make Money From Joke Sites

Here are Websites and Online Magazines that pay for Jokes and Humor:

Alaska Beyond
Job Profile: Humor Writing
Earning Potential: Around $150 per article
Availability: United States and Canada

Chicken Soup for the Soul
Job Profile: Humorous Stories
Earning Potential: Up to $200 per article
Availability: United States

Clubhouse Magazine
Job Profile: Humorous Stories
Earning Potential: Up to $0.25 per word
Availability: United States

CollegeHumor
Job Profile: Write Humor
Earning Potential: $25 per article
Availability: United States

Country Magazine
Job Profile: Funny Articles
Earning Potential: Up to $250 per article
Availability: United States

Cracked
Job Profile: Funny Article Writing
Earning Potential: Up to $250 per article
Availability: Worldwide

enRoute
Job Profile: Write Humorous Articles
Earning Potential: Up to $1 per word
Availability: United States

Funds for Writers
Job Profile: Funny Articles
Earning Potential: Up to $50 per article
Availability: United States

Guide
Job Profile: Write Humorous Articles
Earning Potential: Up to $0.1 per word
Availability: United States

Minnesota Monthly
Job Profile: Write Humorous Articles
Earning Potential: Depends on the article
Availability: United States

Mother.ly
Job Profile: Write Humorous Parenting Stories
Earning Potential: At least $50 per article
Availability: United States

Reader’s Digest
Job Profile: Funny Articles
Earning Potential: Up to $100 per article
Availability: Worldwide

Sasee Magazine
Job Profile: Write Humor or Satire
Earning Potential: Depends on the article
Availability: United States

Saturday Evening Post
Job Profile: Write Humorous Articles
Earning Potential: Around $25 per article
Availability: United States

The Funny Times
Job Profile: Funny Articles
Earning Potential: Up to $60 per article
Availability: United States

The Imperfect Parent
Job Profile: Write Short Essay
Earning Potential: Around $25 per article
Availability: United States

The Offing
Job Profile: Write witty articles
Earning Potential: Up to $100 per article
Availability: United States

The Writing
Job Profile: Write Jokes
Earning Potential: $10 Gift Card per joke
Availability: United States

The New Yorker
Job Profile: Write Humorous Articles
Earning Potential: Depends on the article
Availability: United States

Weekly Humorist
Job Profile: Write Humor or Satire
Earning Potential: $20 per article
Availability: United States

Writer’s Digest
Job Profile: Write Funny Column
Earning Potential: Up to $150 per article
Availability: United States

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7. Others Ways to Make Money From Jokes

Here are others ways you can make money from your jokes:

7.1 Upload Your Jokes Online:

You can earn ad, affiliate marketing, sponsorship and other sources of online revenues when you upload your jokes online.

7.2 Sell Your Jokes to Comedians:

Comedians make their living by making people laugh. That’s why they need a constant stream of jokes and other funny materials. Who knows, a comedian might just make your jokes famous. Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld are just two comedians known to have paid for jokes.

7.3 Comedy Shows:

Comedy shows like “Saturday Night Live” employ writers to create funny jokes and humor for them. They could also pay for your jokes if they deem them worthy of television.

7.4 Greeting Card Companies:

One of the staples of greeting card and similar companies is humor. This fact exemplifies the continuing popularity and big market for jokes and humors.

For example, the company Ephemera, which sells stickers, magnets, novelty buttons and other novelty items would pay you USD 50 per slogan.

7.5 Humor Competitions:

See Reedsy’s List of The Best Humor Writing Contests of 2023.

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Final Words

You don’t need to be a comedic genius to be able to write jokes. There are time tested steps in writing jokes which anyone can follow to make it seem that they’re a comedic genius.

From brainstorming and creating a list of joke ideas to select from and improve, to testing your selected jokes to a test audience; you can liken your jokes to products with you as the one-man company offering them.

However, this doesn’t mean that you have to take writing jokes lightly just because they’re jokes. There is a big demand for jokes. Online magazines, Comedians, Comedy Shows, and Greeting Card Companies are just some companies that could buy your jokes.

But you shouldn’t write jokes just for the money, writing jokes is both a worthwhile and a fun activity in itself. Worthwhile because you are making people happy, and fun because you yourself can laugh at your own jokes.

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