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Home > Arts Education Month> placing an op ed
Placing an Op-Ed: What Editors Want
Thinking Through Your Message
- What is your goal—sustain or increase public funding, influence education practice or educate opinion leaders and the public?
- Who is the audience you need to reach—the “thinking-talking” public, local, state or national policymakers, or specific groups such as principals, business leaders, and education professionals?
- Which is the best outlet to use to reach your target audience—your local daily or weekly paper, a professional education or business journal, or a state or regional paper?
Checking Submission Guidelines
Most publications want an exclusive op-ed, so decide where you would most like your op-ed to appear, and plan to send it there first. If it is not accepted for publication, you can try another outlet.
Call ahead or go online to confirm the name of the op-ed editor and to ask about criteria for submissions. Be sure to find out how to submit an op-ed, if any word limits apply, and how you will be notified if a submission has been accepted or declined.
Writing the Op-Ed
Here are some helpful hints to consider when writing the op-ed:
- Try to reduce your point to a single sentence. For example: “The arts are a vital component to every student's public school education--no matter where they live.” See if your sentence passes the “wow” test or the “hmm” test; if not, the point needs sharpening.
- Any point worth making will have to be defended. Determine your best three or four supporting arguments, and state each one in a single paragraph. Be as specific as possible.
- Use the active voice rather than the passive voice.
- Challenge your opponents’ best arguments with offsetting facts, irony, disdain, or whatever is appropriate, but address them.
- Ask yourself: what’s the minimum background information a reader absolutely has to have in order to grasp this point? Write two paragraphs that summarize this information.
- Grab the attention of your target reader in the first sentence. If you can raise questions and provoke enough interest to entice the reader past the first paragraph, you stand a better chance of obtaining an editor’s interest as well.
- Now, write the piece. Re-state your key points in the final paragraph.
- Edit to eliminate repetition. Trim words, not ideas. Give the piece to someone else and ask that person to review it. If re-writing or cutting is required, you want to do it yourself, rather than leave it to the discretion of the newspaper editor.
- Stay ready to update and revise in the hours before publication if there is late-breaking news relevant to your topic.
- Do not forget to include your name, title, and affiliation and contact information at the end.
- Remember, follow all directions you initially received for submission guidelines. You will be notified if your article is accepted for publication. Constant calls to the op-ed staff may not help and could hurt you.
What to do if your article is accepted or rejected
If your piece is printed—
Check with the permissions department of the publication to determine its guidelines for reproducing copyrighted materials. Policies vary widely. Op-eds may be considered differently than are other materials.
Usually you are allowed to photocopy the entire op-ed, but there may be restrictions on the number of copies you can produce. Ideally, you will want to send copies colleagues, elected officials, funders, reporters, and others who can help move your issue.
Usually you may post a link to the op-ed from the publication’s Web site. This link will not exist indefinitely, but it can be an excellent way to get your exact message to key influentials and help frame the debate.
Use the appearance of the op-ed as a springboard to pitch radio and television talk show appearances, panel discussions, and countless other opportunities.
If your op-ed is rejected—
Revise it and try the next publication on your list.
Or try again in a few weeks or months on another topic. Your piece may have arrived during a very busy week with lots of competition. Often it is just a matter of your op-ed being in the right place at the right time.
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