Four Steps to Becoming a Newspaper Columnist

Barbara Glenn reports:

"There are many jobs that a writer can have and some are going to be remunerated in different ways than others. The important thing to consider is that you might want more prestige at first than income and writing in a [n]ewspaper as a columnist is always going to be a very powerful way to introduce yourself to the world as a professional writer. There is no denying that newspapers are no longer as useful as they used to be. The modern world is no longer in need of printed news as it once was. The good news is that newspapers are still read by millions of people. The bad news is that you are probably not going to earn much of a salary if you become a columnist for a local newspaper...The first thing to do is to find out how many papers there are in your area and then do a research in order to find out as much as you can about them. Get their contact info and remember to include weekly papers too...Purchase each of those papers to get a good idea of the kind of writing that you could be doing if you get hired. This is important because you might not be interested in a sensationalist paper...Let them know who you are, what you know and what you can do. It should be obvious, but make sure that you write a letter with proper grammar and punctuation. This is going to be a deal[-]breaker if they find mistakes and you are trying to apply for a job as a columnist...If you find a paper you particularly [like and it] call[s] you and offer[s] you a job, you should also go to the other interviews you managed to land because you might find the staff in another paper to be a better fit for you...If a prestigious paper offers you a job without pay just to test your skills for a few weeks or months, you might want to consider taking that job if you know this will boost your professional career...Remember that writing requires a great deal of responsibility on your part. You need to learn to analyze every single word you will say because your audience could easily make you lose your job if they are infuriated or displeased with something you say...Stay professional and try to avoid making things personal unless your column is meant to take things personally...Having a job as a writer will always require that you become a great researcher and learning to make the most out of your [I]nternet searches is going to give you excellent results. Some search engines will provide different results from what you would find in others, so always make sure that you know your way around the top engines instead of only using one for your results...Becoming a columnist for a newspaper can be a great experience and even if you don’t make any substantial money, you will be able to gain a reputation for being a professional writer and that is extremely valuable."