Make money from your blog through print syndication

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A lot of people ask me how to become a syndicated print columnist (because I am one), and while I was answering someone’s questions the other day, it occurred to me that this is information that all bloggers can use as a way to make money from their blog.

Like publishing AdSense links or using affiliate programs, print syndication will not make you rich, but it’s another way you can add a bit of money to your coffers. And, even if you don’t need the money, you can use print syndication as a publicity tool by getting your blog name and URL in the newspaper so you can attract new readers to your blog.

Here’s how to do that:

1. Edit your post for print.
A column is 600-700 words. This rule varies, but it’s a safe one to start with. There are no URLs, and unless you’re writing an op-ed column, your best bet is sticking to giving people advice they can use. The same stuff that does well in the blogsphere — How-to’s and lists — does well in print.

2. Understand how newspapers buy columns.
Newspapers usually either promote a staff reporter to a columnist position, or the paper picks up columns from the syndicates they already pay to subscribe to. If you do get picked up by a paper, it is a risk for the paper, and the first two or three times you will probably be a test column rather than a weekly column.

4. Don’t bother with print magazines.
Magazine columns are more than twice as difficult to get as a newspaper column. There are fewer opportunities and the pay is often more than double what newspapers pay. Because of these factors, most magazines will not let you syndicate what you write for them — they want to hold all publication rights for themselves. Which means you can’t use your blog.

3. Don’t charge a lot.
My syndicated column runs in a wide gamut of newspapers. The large papers pay nearly a dollar a word. The small papers, which are most of the papers in this country, pay less than five cents a word.

4 Self-syndicate.
You can buy a mailing list of newspaper editors in your field (e.g. sports, travel, etc.) Each week, send a column with the headline in the subject line of the email. Write at the top of the email that if they want to print the column they should email you for pricing. This is how many syndicated columnists get started.

Keep in mind that in this situation the subject line of the email matters a lot. Study the headlines at CareerJournal to get a sense of how to write good headlines for an emailed column.

This is slow going, but you can pretty much automate sending your column out every week, so when a paper does run your column, it’s easy money.

5. Get signed with a syndicate and they do the work for you.
This might be your holy grail for syndication. There are three big syndicates: King Features, Creators, Tribune Media. These companies are famous for handling people like Dave Barry and Ann Landers. These companies pick up very few new columnists each year. They only pick up columnists who are already running in ten or fifteen newspapers. And in a lot of instances, you would have to wait for someone to die in order for you to get picked up.

Smaller syndicates will pick up writers who are not already well established as print columnists. You can send a place like that five or six sample columns, and ask if they will pick you up on a weekly basis. Then send one blog post each week.

6. Think in terms of publicity instead.
For many of you, the money to be made in print syndication is not worth nearly as much as the increased exposure for your blog. Many people offer columns to newspapers for free because it’s a great exposure.

You can ask that in exchange for giving the column to the paper for free, you want mention of your blog in the byline spot where the paper normally mentions the writer’s book or company.

Print exposure is a great way to expand an audience for your blog. I have written earlier about how to get print exposure for a blog via interviews with print journalists. But rather than waiting for a journalist to call you, syndicating is a little more proactive. And when it comes to personal success, it feels better to take action rather than wait.

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My plan to stop second-guessing myself

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I was overhauling my time management strategy. And believe it or not, things are getting a little better.

I have integrated my email and my to do list, which saves a lot of time moving information around my computer. And I have consolidated my work calendar and personal calendar so that I don’t schedule any more interviews during date night with my husband.

But it takes time to switch how you do something. And a certain level of self-confidence, too.

This reminds me of when I played professional beach volleyball. I was always working on something new — like being able to make my jump serve hit the left line of the court. But there was a saying, “Don’t practice in a game.” Which means, “You miss a lot while practicing, so don’t do it when it counts.” In fact, when you do something you don’t really know how to do in a game situation, you do it worse than you would do it if you were in a practice situation.

This is all true for work, too. The culprit of my time management situation is how much time it takes to write a good post and run a blog in general. But as I learn to manage my time as a blogger, there is no non-game time because I post almost every day. So I find that I have the stress of trying to do a jump serve I can’t really do, in a well-attended game situation.

What I find myself doing a lot is second-guessing myself about what matters on my blogger to-do list. How often should I link when there’s a blogger I like? How often should I comment when there’s a post I like? Do I need to chill out?

The problem with second-guessing oneself — in blogging and in volleyball — is that it wastes time and destroys focus. When you have a clear plan, you don’t second guess as much.

This weekend I’m going to do what everyone should do when they start a new job: Get very clear on what is important so you know what to-dos you don’t need to do. Instead of worrying all the time about the blog, I’m going to make a list of my blog priorities, and create a new blog schedule.

And I’m going to get some more sleep.

My husband tells me that last night, in the middle of the night, he said to me, “Wake up, wake up. Don’t you hear the baby crying?”

And without waking from my sleep, I said, “Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll link to his blog in the morning.”

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Blogger thoughts on building community

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It’s been a big few weeks here at Brazen Careerist.

First, I’ve been accepted at 9Rules, a smart, very picky, community of serious bloggers, and I’ve been invited to be part of the Washington Post’s blog program as well.

On top of that, blogs with very heavy traffic have been linking here, so average daily page views for December have jumped to about 4000.

With all this attention has come an amazing community of people who comment on the blog and who email me directly. The conversation is a gift to me — a bunch of very interesting people who are willing to talk about topics I’m interested in. The community is what makes blogging fun. People told me that at the beginning of my life as a blogger, but I didn’t get it until a few months later.

Hosting a conversation is tricky. I’ve been writing a column for seven years. People who have been reading for the whole time have put up with a lot of repetition as I revisit and revisit my pet topics. And when I see a bunch of new readers, I think, the conversation will be better if I get everyone up to speed on these issues.

It’s a fine line, though. Sarah Davis pointed out that I’m repeating myself. It’s true. In the post she’s referring to I link five or six times to other posts of mine.

I think, though, that sometimes to grow with a topic you have to revisit the topic, and look at a slightly different angle. It’s a fine line between that and sounding like a scratched record. I am working on finding the right side of that line.

Meanwhile, I like that Sarah is sticking with me – and reading critically – while I’m figuring out when to revisit a topic within a fast-growing community. I hope there are lots of people like her out there.

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How to get your blog (or yourself) mentioned in print

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One of the mantras of the online marketing world is that if you want to get something noticed, you need an offline and an online marketing plan. Because each type of marketing is more powerful when used with the other type.

Bloggers are generous with advice about how to get mentioned on blogs, but what about the other way around? How do individuals — bloggers and nonbloggers — get mentioned in print?

We all need to get ourselves noticed for what we are doing. Sometimes you will promote yourself as an employee, sometimes as a consultant, sometimes it’ll be a product idea you have. Also, today job hunting is a lifestyle, not an event, and you are always on a publicity campaign for yourself (via CM Access). So advice for bloggers about how to get into print applies to the nonblogging careerist as well.

Here are six tips for getting yourself into the mainstream print media:

1. Don’t pitch yourself, pitch an idea.
Bloggers get popular by infusing their personality into their information, but the mainstream media doesn’t care about your personality as much as your ideas. (This might be why it’s so hard for many mainstream journalists to become bloggers. But it’s also why bloggers are so annoying to many mainstream journalists.)

Also, most articles in print are not about bloggers. If you want to get into the majority of articles, you need to pitch yourself as an expert on an idea. The blog is secondary -it’s like an author’s book. The book or blog is not the news, the ideas are.

2. Pitch an idea with the print audience in mind.
Your idea needs to appeal to the hundreds of thousands of readers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, not the 40,000 readers of your blog. So for newspapers, pitch broad. If you wrote a gardening blog, for example, broad would be ten winter gardening trends.

Magazines are more niche-oriented, but it’s their niche, not yours. An angle for Self magazine is how gardening gets you in shape. And you, the gardening blogger, can be quoted as an expert. An article in Maxim would be how to have sex in a garden. You can still be quoted as the gardening expert – like, don’t do it near rose bushes.

The trick is to pitch a topic that gets the media outlet excited. So you really have to know what they have written about before in your area so you don’t sound redundant.

3. Tailor the idea to the journalist.
Here’s something print journalists and bloggers have in common: They love when you do the heavy lifting for them. And like bloggers, sometimes if you write a pitch well, a print journalist will run the pitch almost verbatim, (even in the New York Times).

Also like bloggers, print journalists have an area they write about, and you need to pitch ideas that are in their area. For example, I write about careers, but not all career stories are right for me; I almost never write topics that are geared toward someone over 60, but people pitch me those topics all the time. (Those ideas are perfect for AARP magazine, which, by the way, has an enormous readership.)

4. Sign up for Profnet.
This service costs a few hundred dollars, but it’s worth it if you really want offline publicity. Journalists go to this site to ask for specific information from a specific type of person. If you meet those criteria, you can send the journalist a pitch via email and if you really are a match, the journalist will contact you. Profnet is a key tool in most publicists’ toolboxes and it’s accessible to anyone (who can pay).

5. Answer questions strategically.
Just because you get an interview doesn’t mean you’ll be in the piece the journalist is writing. You need to give a useful quote.

You will not get a treatise into the San Francisco Chronicle, so when they call, don’t spew one. Give succinct summaries of big ideas because that’s what’s quotable. If the reporter asks for more information after that, then give it.

On a broad topic – like what are the new snowboarding trends? – have three main points. On a narrow topic – like snowboarders break a lot of bones – give a snappy quote that supports the journalist’s point of view, if you can. The person who gives the journalist the key quote is the last person to be cut.

6. Be available.
A lot of people want to be quoted in the paper. And you are probably not the only person who would be appropriate. So respond to an interview inquiry quickly, and be available when the journalist needs to talk. Unlike bloggers, print journalists answer to someone else’s schedule. They are on deadline. Help them and they’ll love you.

This is, indeed, a lot of work, but remember that viral marketing isn’t only online. When a print journalist sees you quoted in one print publication, she is more likely to write about you in her publication.

Conversely, if you gave an interview and you’re not in the article, you did a bad job in the interview and probably won’t get a call from that journalist again. But keep working at it. I have found that the people who give the most interviews are the best at doing them.

And when I interview someone who is great at giving an interview, I realize that this skill is really about talking in a way that makes people feel engaged — a skill anyone can use at any time in their career.

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