In my time when I’m blocked in writing my novel, I usually move on to something more immediately satisfying like a 2,000 word column, usually observational or ranting. They are all on a similar theme (I’ve been working on them for a while), and looking back, they’re pretty good, and pretty original…not quite the ‘slice of life’ Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck, but humorous and opinionated.
But what do I do with them? You can’t just pack up fifteen columns and send them to the Chicago Tribune…
I work for a newspaper and we sometimes get sample columns sent to us to see if we’re interested in picking up a columnist. Often the author writes a short letter introducing himself or herself, and includes anywhere from three to five sample columns. I’d try sending samples to several newspapers in this way, along with your contact information. Then you could make up a follow-up call in a couple of weeks. Good luck to you!
Interesting! Since I live in Chicago, I’m considering sending them to smaller, perhaps suburban newspapers. Would you say those are easier to break in to?
The story was told, way back when, that Roger Ebert was on staff at the (then) Chicago Sun-Times, and when the movie reviewer position opened up, he was the next one in line… he really wanted to do a sports column. So, that would say, get a job at a newspaper – any job – and let the tenure/promotion system work its magic.
I was wondering this too. I read a book called “The Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club” which was the second-worst book I’ve ever read. (Worst? “Deep End of the Ocean.”) Turns out it was a collection of this gal’s columns from a real-live major newspaper and I was flabbergasted; first that she was able to get a job doing that, then that she lasted long enough to make enough columns to put together into a book, and finally that a book company actually published it! Any couple dozen posts here would make a better book. Yes, ANY of them!
I’ve worked for a string of small newspapers over the past 20 years (usually in a production capacity, not an editorial one), and nearly all of them have published columns and/or cartoons of mine. Getting PAID for them is a different matter entirely.
You might want to try trade/airline magazines to see your byline clips on higher-grade paper. These tend to pay between 2 and 5 cents a word, and nearly all their writers are trying to step up to something better.
Yes. Start by offering them your column just to see if they’ll run your stuff. Once you’re established you can start asking for dough.
And if you get enough attention you don’t want to get a regular gig for a local paper…instead see if one of the syndicates would be interested in picking you up. Then you could be in dozens of papers every week.
My column runs in a number of papers (when you think about it “1” is a number, but it is more than “1”). I got my first column decades ago while I was still in college and every time I moved on to another paper I asked for a column. Usually, if a writer on the paper wants one and is not overly disruptive of editorial policy, he or she can usually step in when there is an opening.
If you are lucky enough to get some popular (or intellectual) aclaim, people start requesting your column. In my case I then sent it to a firm that distributes the things and they figured that I had the track record to pull it off.
That track record is kind of important. Anyone can put out two or three columns but 52 of the things a year can be challenging. Editors want to know you can pull it off. If you do approach an editor - show up with at least 10 or 15.
Me, too. I got my Movieline column (which ran through most of the 1990s) because Ed Margulies, the editor-in-chief, wrote to tell me he liked one of my books. I called him and said, “Great–hire me!” And so he did. I quit the column when Ed died and was replaced by a poorly-trained chimp (explaining why Movieline is such a piece of crap today).
I miss it and would love to have another regular humor column, but no one is buying. My only option would be to work for free for some online 'zines, but I am too overbooked to work for free these days.
