Re: Fw: garden columns

**K*@aol.com**

I am in a slightly different position, but have problems that I was going  to 
ask for help with regarding garden columns.

The paper is just a yr old and serves three town. Each has their own  council 
news but everything else is regional. For the one town we run the legals  
too. Total circulation is just 70,000 but will get larger later this yr. Total  
staff (sales, editorial, financial) is 9 - very small.

After 8 mths with the weekly paper doing education and  business,  I finally 
got him (publisher) to run a garden column. We  want to brand it, as he wants 
everything branded, and we started the column 6  wks ago.  

I am limited to 500 words, preferably 350 and get the usual $75 that i  get 
for anything accepted. We know that is under market value, but until the  
finances are stable it is fruitless to demand more.

On a good week (ad-wise) when we get to run 34 pages the column runs, but  on 
crunch weeks of 32 pages I get ousted in favor of sports/politics and  
anything non-gardening.  The paper in general is very conservative and runs  
primarily serious commentary on politics, local events and sports. Gardening is  
'fluff' - I mainly cover education and business profiles.

So my dilemma is how to keep the content timely so that it goes in and  
builds that loyalty base that I know is there in the readership, if not in the  
eyes of the publisher.

It is frustrating to sit in the editorial meeting listening to the  managing 
editor fuss about how to fill the pages in two towns, to replace the  legals 
in the main town. They were thinking press releases - but never thought  about 
running the garden column in the two .

So I guess the question is how to keep a garden column going when it is  
clearly seen as disposable?  

As to writing 350 words - keep the topic very focused. Don't try to give a  
good introduction to small trees for urban gardens, but make it 2 or 3 trees  
that work well.  
Kate

Kate  Copsey
Education and Parenting
_www.beaconcast.com_ (http://www.beaconcast.com/) ,

Gardening
_www.katecopsey.com_ (http://www.katecopsey.com/) 

In a message dated 5/12/2008 1:02:24 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
ez@acmeplant.com writes:

I'd put  that in the "you're not charging enough" category.  I agree w/   
Catriona that $1/word is the norm.

LN

On May 12, 2008, at  12:32 PM, Fran Gustman <fgustman@gmail.com> wrote:

> Would  those of you who write for publications be willing to say what  
>  you
> make per number of words, how long your articles are, and what  type of
> publication (if you don't want to share the name)? I know I'm  getting
> royally ripped off and want to know what is more typical .  I'm  
> embarrassed
> to say that I'm getting $60 for 1000  words, sometimes including a  
> photo, for
> which I am not  paid extra. This is for a weekly paper. You can write  
> to  me
> individually or to the group, your choice.
>
>  Fran
> fgustman@gmail.com
> Boston
>
>
>> If  you are getting the same money for fewer words, you just got a   
>> raise!
>
>
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