Get your Letter to the Editor published. Every. Time.

6 Mar

This guide has been written by Marnie Prickett - Coordinator, OraTaiao: the Aotearoa New Zealand Climate and Health Council. Proud members of the Kaitiaki Hauora | Together for Public Health alliance.

Follow these tips on what to do and what to avoid.

This may seem like a long list of things to do and not do but most of them are very easy and the harder ones you’ll quickly get the hang of. Once you’ve had one or two letters published it will be second nature and you won’t need to keep referring to this list.

You must…

Include your first and last name, (you cannot use a pseudonym or ask to be anonymous).

Include your position or job title only if it is relevant to your letter, i.e. you are speaking with that hat on.

Include the name of the town you live in or the suburb if you live in a city. If you live rurally, include some identifier of where you live, e.g. district or close by town.

Stick to the word limit. Aim for no more than 150 words to be on the safe side for all publications. If you go over this, it is less likely that you will be published.

Make sure your letter…

Is timely and relevant. Timeliness is essential. You are far more likely to get published if you are responding to recent reporting on an issue or to something that has just happened (or to a recent editorial, recent article, or another recently published letter to the editor). It’s best to send your letter in on the day or the day after an article you’re responding to. No longer than a few days after. The longer you wait the less likely you are to be published. Better to be timely than perfect. Get that letter in!

Is concise. The word limit is a limit rather than a goal. The shorter your letter is, the more likely it is to be published. If the word limit is 150 words, it is better to be 100 words than 160 words.

Stands on its own. Don’t assume readers (including the editors) know everything or have read the article you might be referring back to. Make sure that anyone reading it understands what has happened or is happening and what the point you want to make about it is.

Makes one or two major points at the most. This is important. Try not to say everything. Choose the main point you want to get across and aim to make that clear and memorable. If you find yourself trying to say more than two main points in your letter, it means you really want to write an opinion piece. Pick one main point, write the letter to the editor and then note down all the other points you’d like to make so you can get onto an opinion piece. Contact Marnie for help with opinion pieces if you need, coordinator@orataiao.org.nz

Takes a strong position and gets to the point swiftly. If your letter is unclear about what your point is or lacks a statement about what is needed, it’s less likely to be published. If it has two paragraphs of background before getting to your point, it is less likely to get published.

Makes the issue you are writing about real for a reader and establishes your authority to speak by making it personal or speaking from shared experiences. Your authority to speak isn’t necessarily your qualifications, it’s who you are and why it makes sense that you’re commenting on this issue.

To establish your authority, start your letter with a sentence that establishes you as a real person with a real reason to comment. e.g. “As a doctor in the emergency department…” or “As a working parent…” or “As a nursing student…” or “As someone who has lived in Waikato all her life…”

Alternatively, you could start with a shared experience that you know many people can relate to to draw the reader in and make the issue real for them, e.g. “Living in this country, we have all…” or “With summer here, many of us will be thinking…” “Over the past year, so many of us have…”

Editors are looking for real, credible people with real, credible issues they’re highlighting so make yourself and the topic real and credible (I hope this is clear).

Is accurate. Check you have something right if you’re not sure before you send the letter in. It’s your name next to the letter so you want to make sure you’ve got the story right.

Uses evidence if it supports your main point and is punchy enough, remembering that statistics are often not something that changes people’s minds but can strengthen your point. A supporting piece of evidence that clarifies or draws together reporting or ideas that hadn’t previously been connected can give your letter an edge, make it interesting and new to an editor and readers

Closes with the thought you'd like readers to remember. Instead of focusing your attention on a reporter, Minister, another letter writer or expert who got it wrong, consider the main point you want people reading the letter to take away.

Avoid…

Exaggerating or overegging your points, e.g. “This is absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened in the country” or “This is an unbelievable monstrosity of an idea.”

You can still express the severity of a situation without sounding unreasonable or ‘a bit much’. For example, “In my 30-year working life, I don’t remember another time when…” or “The kind of rhetoric we have been hearing from the Government on climate change is what I heard 40 years ago when I was…” or “As a 22-year-old nursing student, I’m hearing from my teachers and colleagues that this Government has been more harmful to…”

Directly insulting people or personally attacking anyone. Criticise Ministers, their decisions and policy and you can be strong and strident. However, don’t let it creep into “The Minister is an idiot” or “Are these people stupid?”. Don’t comment on the way anyone looks or how they speak or anything else that is a personal attack.

Jargon or acronyms (spell out any name the first time you use it, followed by the acronym in parentheses).

Writing words in capital letters, using bold text or underline to emphasise words. It will rarely be printed that way and may prevent your letter from being considered.

Exclamation marks. They! Aren’t! Needed!

Long sentences. Too many adjectives. Keep language simple, sentences short and clear.

FAQs

Can I send my letter to more than one newspaper at a time?

No, it’s best not to. Editors don’t want to publish the same content as other newspapers. Pick the publication you most want to get your letter published in, follow this guide and you will get published there.

Can I keep sending letters to the same newspaper once I have been published?

Yes, absolutely. Editors frequently publish their best letter writers again and again. You may not be published more than once in a week but you certainly could be published more than once in a month and definitely could be once every few months. If your letters are concise, clear, timely, relevant and say something interesting, Editors will be pleased to publish you more than once.

Should I try to get published in agricultural news outlets?

Yes, absolutely. I’ve added the Farmers Weekly editors email address to the list above. Farmers Weekly is delivered to rural households all over the country and very worth writing to.

Email addresses

Listener - letters@listener.co.nz

Farmers Weekly - bryan.gibson@agrihq.co.nz

Whangarei - Northern Advocate letters@northernadvocate.co.nz

Auckland - New Zealand Herald letters@nzherald.co.nz

Hamilton/Waikato - Waikato Times editor@waikatotimes.co.nz

Tauranga - Bay of Plenty Times editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz

Rotorua - Rotorua Daily Post editor@dailypost.co.nz

Gisborne - Gisborne Herald editorial@gisborneherald.co.nz

Hawkes Bay - Hawkes Bay Today editor@hbtoday.co.nz

Whanganui - Whanganui Chronicle letters@whanganuichronicle.co.nz

New Plymouth - Taranaki Daily News editor@dailynews.co.nz