Re: Building an Iris Club (was:Enjoying the list in Nebraska)

After much excellent advice, Clarence adds:
>If there is no gardening column in a local newspaper, call the newspaper and
>offer to write an article or two on irises <snip>  This will work with
>smaller local newspapers because they operate on a tight budget and are
>always looking for fillers.  And also furnish a few good pictures with any
>article.

Clarence has put you on exactly the right track. Our marathon society shot
from 50 members to almost 500 after we enlisted sports columnists - and
this was a group of flatlanders that ran up and down Pikes Peak!

However, the days of plucky small newspapers hungry for local copy are
slipping away. Too often now your local paper is merely the branch office
of a newspaper chain operated by underpaid, overworked flunkies under
orders to plug their newshole with wire copy and pre-packed syndicate
fillers supplied by the chain.

If your local paper is one of these scrawny tykes, forget it. When they
will take a local-origin column, often as not they ruin it with typos and
"butchering" - slashing the copy to fit whatever space is left outside the
ads. You may be mortified by what appears under your byline.
Most likely they will offer to *sell* you the space.

But should your local paper be one of the old-fashion public-oriented
organs with the fabled "nose for news"and a managing editor or even the
publisher living in your county, I can give you a few detailed ideas on how
best to proceed. (Newspapering is one area in which I have factual
expertise, a novelty for me on this list.)

Anyone interested in my "how to crack the local rag" rant can e-mail me at
storey@aristotle.net

celia
Little Rock, Arkansas ... cleanup continues after killer tornadoes and
excessive rain. Water standing everywhere and more expected tomorrow. Dead
fish in peculiar places. Many people in sad straits here.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index