Write a Letter to the Editor

Many newspapers publish short “letters to the editor”. Each paper has its own guidelines regarding the maximum length of the letter they will publish.

Use the webform below to submit a letter to paper. The content of your the letter will be bcc’d to us.

TV and Radio

These require additional knowledge and training before you can get your opinions publicized through these mediums. If you’re interested, please contact us.

Tips on how to get published

• Be timely.  Newspapers prefer to print letters that relate to current news.  Compose and submit your letter within a day or two of the news or headline that you’re responding to. If you’re responding to a feature that wasn’t particularly time-sensitive in nature, submitting a letter within a week can be ok. But sooner is better, and within a day of publication is best.

• State Your Point Early: Be sure to state your main point in the subject line and in the first sentence of the letter.

• Stick to one topic and keep it short! Letters exceeding their word limit won’t get published. Don’t submit a longer letter in the hopes “they’ll cut something out” to make it the proper length. Letters that are half of the maximum length are more likely to get published.

• Think about what your audience cares about and how they might react, not just what you want to express.  We’ve seen many letters backfire because they did not clearly explain cause and effect or what should be done or seemed hateful. Don’t rant — state the solutions or actions you desire.

• Edit and edit again. Figure out how to say the same thing with fewer words. Distill your points into their essence. With judicious and aggressive editing, you can generally cut your first draft to about half of its original length. Make it easy for the paper to choose your letter out of dozens they receive by submitting a letter that they don’t need to edit.

• Very IMPORTANT:  include your full name, address and daytime telephone number.  Most newspapers will only print a letter to the editor after calling the author to verify his or her identity and address. Newspapers will not give out that information and will usually only print your name and city should your letter be published. Small city papers may print your name and street if you live in that city, but not the house number.

One final note: these things are hit or miss, and you might get unlucky if a big tragedy or scandal hits the news that pre-empts all other topics. But following the above guidelines will greatly improve your chances of getting published.

If you’d like to send us a draft of your letter for our suggestions before submitting it to a newspaper, contact us with this webform instead.