These small-scale victories will lead you to better opportunities with bigger payouts. Contact the speechwriters who work for your local legislators and offer up some political humor. A batch of jokes can sell for 5,000 to 7,500. According to the Wall Street Journal, more money is made by selling a batch’ of related material to comedians, rather than selling individual jokes. Type the query 'write for us' in your Internet search engine and see what humor sites show up in the results. You can approach a comic in a club after a performance, through social media, or through the comedian’s agent. To find a list of magazines and greeting card companies that pay for jokes, invest in a copy of “Writer's Market.” One sale will likely recoup your initial investment.

They may not not be as glamorous as showbiz, but they are a great place to start. Other possible markets include magazines, websites, greeting card companies and speechwriters.

Contact a show’s producer or head writer to learn their current submission policy. Policies of any given show may change along with host or staff changes.

Their doors are closed to freelancers accordingly. Some show runners consider it a violation of the Writers Guild of America contract to employ non-union writers and pay them a fraction of the union rate. The “Late Show” and “The Tonight Show” have been known to accept submissions for their opening monologues and pay $75 to $100 per joke.

How to sell your screenplay online