Are you interested in writing articles? Do you think you write well but you don’t find space? Are you tired of sending your write-ups to editors but you never got published? Well, you’re not alone. Every scribbler has gone through this phase. The good news is that you may considerably increase your chances by making the following considerations. Here are seven steps to get your article published in a newspaper:-
Develop your writing skills: Logical, isn’t it? But often overlooked. We think we write and we’re good. But the fact is that our writings do not match the standard of what a newspaper article must have. We don’t work towards continuously improving our writing skills. As a dear editor says, “First deserve, then desire.” Therefore, read books on writing, and develop your skills continuously.
Idea—Relevant, important, current and your specialisation: An idea is the brainchild of a good writeup. Read and watch news etc so that something strikes your mind and you get an idea to write about. Once you have got an idea, see to it that it must be something important. Something that is going on in the world around you currently. Next, the idea must be of mass relevance. People should relate to it. It must be something that is happening currently. Something that is in news. Once you find that, the writeup must be matching your area of specialisation. What we call niche. It must be your niche, your area of expertise, education, work, etc. As a respected writer friend often laughs, “One day an author is a religious scholar, the other day he is an economist and the next day a scientist.” You must write around your niche and not just everything. Let’s strive to be the masters of one and not jacks of all subjects. The more relevant and current your topic of writing is, the more the chances of publication.
Outline, write and rewrite: Now when you have a suitable idea, the next step is to outline your writeup. Here you make a plan—what to write, what are the arguments, content, paras, points and in what order, what to conclude with. Remember, this is as important as writing. Here you should arrange your piece according to the flow, chronology, strength and significance of your points. The next step is to write the full draft. While doing this, try to cover all your points, illustrations, examples, sources, quotes, etc, your content and everything else as per the plan made already. Here, what new writing hacks and skills you’ve been learning, must be used. When such a complete draft is ready, pull up your sleeves to move on to the next and more important step, rewriting, editing and reducing to the minimum. Amazed to hear that? Yes, this is what we usually ignore. But trust me, piling up words and sentences is just the tip of the iceberg. The real macho skill lies in editing, deleting, changing, adding, pruning and reducing your writeup to its bones. As William Zinsser writes in his book “On writing well”, “Rewriting is the essence of writing.” You must be ready to press that delete button. I know you have an emotional attachment to the words you’ve written. But, precise writing is a boon. This is where the real skill lies. Here you should delete everything that is not needed, redundant or insignificant. Weigh words to check if the sentence conveys what it is ought to in the absence of the word. If it does, cut it out. Go back to your school where you studied precise writing or what we call the one-third. Reduce your piece to its third part. Give it some time. Come back to it after a couple of days with a fresh mind and new imagination and idea. Make more changes and finalise a draft. That must be what you pitch to the editor. And this brings us to the next step.
Pitch to the suitable editor: Okay, now when the draft is ready to post, look for a few probable newspapers that publish such pieces. Before that, you should screen some newspapers and see what their style of publication is. What kind of articles do they accommodate. And see where your piece would fit the best. Shortlist a few such papers and shoot an email properly to them one by one—let the first editor respond, give them some time, say a week or ten days. If they don’t respond or don’t publish, send them to the next shortlisted editor.
Remember the etiquettes: Don’t send a single writeup to multiple publications. Also, while drafting the email, introduce yourself briefly, and write a line or two about your niche and about the writeup you are sending. Attach the piece in a word file along with your photo—a decent one, not the one in sunglasses! Briefly explain why the write-up is important and why it should be given space. This is called pitching the story to the editor. Finding an appropriate editor for your piece increases its chances of publication manyfold.
Word Limit: This is very important, especially when you’re a beginner and not known by the editors. Keep your write-up short. 700 or 1000 to 1200 words. Enough. It becomes easy for the editor to give space to it on the Op-Ed page. If it’s a lengthy piece and not that important, the editor may ignore it. The editor may find it hard to make such a big space on the page available to a naive writer. Write short pieces that get accommodated in a small corner. Can be used as fillers sometimes. A small 6 by 8 corner is empty on a page and the editor may use your piece to fill in the blank space! Of course when the piece is good, relevant, and valuable. The shorter the article, the higher the chances.
Build contacts & network: Contacts are helpful in all fields. Writing is no different. Build contacts. Get known to editors and writers. Join writing communities, email newsletters, clubs etc. For example, I know a club of writers in which there are well-established writers and beginners as well. I have seen how the beginners have been published by using references and recommendations. This works. Keep a good liaison with other writers and editors. Anybody can be helpful anytime. You may also find new writing opportunities from such contacts. Remember, the more, the merrier.
Postscript: Writing is a work of patience and belief. And so is publication. Don’t lose heart if your write-ups get rejected. It happens with every writer. Some famous writers have been rejected till their old age and finally published. Patience and perseverance are the keys. And yes, the most important thing is to first deserve space and then desire for the same. Happy writing!
(The author has been writing for various reputed newspapers and magazines for the last eight years. He has won numerous awards in the field of writing. Views are his own)
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