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Topic: How do you syndicate a column?
| Author | Message |
| donnabarnes | Posted – 10/25/2007 7:34:28 PM | show profile | email poster I just started writing a Life Style & Relationship advice column for a weekly newspaper in South Beach. (the South Beach News). I'd like to syndicate it to other papers all around the country. Does anyone know how to go about getting it picked up? Thanks! |
| pamstone3 | Posted – 10/25/2007 11:29:54 PM | show profile How to syndicate a column. Actually, I'd like to know the same thing. I've syndicated domestic one-shots for the Los Angeles Times and New York Times syndicates, but I'm not sure how to self-syndicate. I think you need to send at least eight sample columns in a package to editors with a pitch letter. The letter should address the marketing advantage of the column and how it fits into their demographics. After you have snail-mailed this, follow up with a telephone call. Get the senior editor or the decision maker. The metropolitan newspapers pay more than regional. And don't forget to avoid crossing competition lines. If one newspaper is located less than 100 miles away, you cannot pitch to them. That is all I know! Try calling a editor and ask him/her how to package a column for them. Make sure you have a reference and and find out a convenient time they can talk to you. Or, you could send him a package and then follow up with a call or email. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 10/26/2007 2:53:32 AM | show profile The above advice is pretty right on. I self-syndicated a weekly humor column for about 8 years. At its height I think I was in about 15 pubs and made about $10,000 a year. I won a few national awards from the National Headliners and Society of Newspaper Columnists, but getting and keeping new clients was always a challenge. All you can do is mail out samples and call, repeat, and steady yourself for a constant stream of rejection. |
| donnabarnes | Posted – 10/27/2007 2:16:46 PM | show profile Thanks! Thanks so much for your advice! |
| writesonwater | Posted – 10/28/2007 1:01:08 AM | show profile I recently bought a book entitled just that, basically, so I'm looking forward to some indepth insights. At one point I had a humor column that I could have syndicated had I put the effort into it, and I'm interested in doing that again in the future. |
