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RE: [GWL]: syndicated columns

Congratulations, Doreen, . . .

. . . on your being named contributing garden editor at Woman's Day.
Way to go!!!

And thanks for your insight.  As always -- well rounded.
Suzi

-----Original Message-----
From: Doreen Howard [d*@ticon.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 10:26 PM
To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
Subject: Re: [GWL]: syndicated columns

I've been following the conversation about syndication with interest.
For
those of you who did not attend the workshop at the GWAA symposium last
month on syndication, let me capsulize.  Marty Ross writes for Universal
Syndicate, and they distribute her column nationwide to about 250
newspapers.  She is the one who stated she gets about $1 per word for
her
weekly column.  She provides art at no additional charge.  Jan
Riggenbach,
the other panelist, self syndicates her Midwest Gardening column to
about 40
newspapers.  I may be wrong on the number (I didn't take notes), but it
is
under 75 outlets.  She gets between $10 and $100 per column, depending
on
the circulation numbers of the newspaper buying.  The bigger the
circulation, the higher the fee.  In total, Jan probably makes more per
column than does Marty.  These two ladies presented an accurate account
of
both sides of syndication.

In the 1990's, when I lived in Texas, I started writing a newspaper
column
for the local paper, which was part of a chain of 23 papers in Texas and
the
Deep South. Within 6 months, the entire chain was running my garden
column
weekly, and I was billing them individually-- $15 to $40 each, depending
on
size.  I wrote the first 12 columns for free to show the local editor
that
there was a demand for gardening news and that I could deliver on time.
Even though I was a former editor at the Houston Chronicle (a much, much
bigger newspaper than the local one), that editor didn't know who I was.
Which brings me to my point.  Local gardening columns and regionally
syndicated ones give you exposure that national publications don't.
When I
started writing the local column, I had just been named Contributing
Garden
Editor at Woman's Day magazine (circulation 23 million at that time).
My
neighbors didn't have clue about what I did for a living, other than I
stayed home all day, puttered in my huge garden and spent hours in front
of
a computer.  Frankly, they thought I was strange.  Within a few weeks of
the
local garden column's inception, I was locally famous.  People stopped
me at
the grocery store.  My husband's co-workers sent home gardening
questions
for me to answer.  And, the local cable TV station asked to film my
garden.
With the regional columns, I had even more regional notice.  The PBS
station
in Houston came out to film my garden.  I started to appear on network
TV
affiliates as a garden expert, etc.

So ask yourself.  Do I want to make money or do I want fame?  You don't
make
big money in syndication, but you can with magazine writing.  On the
other
hand, magazines don't bring you recognition.  It's up to you.
Doreen Howard

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