Newspaper Stringing 
                       by Michael A. Banks 
Copyright (c), 1992, Michael A. Banks


     Newspaper "stringing" was for many years a traditional means 
of breaking into print--and making a little money on the side.  
Throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, stringing was recommended by 
many writers' guides as the best way for beginning writers to get 
their work into print.  This was because it was so easy to write 
for small-town weeklies (or big-city dailies as a local 
correspondent), and because newspapers always had extra space to 
fill. 
     Unfortunately, much of this has changed.  To an extent, the 
techno-mash of the 1980s and the cash crunch of the past few 
years have greatly reduced opportunities for newspaper stringers.  
Technology led to widespread, low-cost "packaging" of newspaper 
content.  Before it became economically feasible to put out a 
newspaper in assembly line fashion, not every newspaper carried 
the same stories, and there was more coverage of local people and 
events--and thus more need for stringers.  Too, today's 
newspapers are competing with other media for readers and 
advertising dollars, and often losing. 
     Opportunities are still available, however, for those 
willing to be persistent, and work for little or no money.  
Actually, the money end isn't much different than it was 20 years 
ago, as you'll learn.  The benefits transcend money, in any 
event, and stringing can lead to other things. 
     In this article, I'll show you how you can get into 
newspaper stringing, how it can benefit you, and how to make the 
most of it. 

HOW I DID IT ... AND WHY 
     Although I don't do stringing nowadays (I'm more likely to 
be interviewed by my local papers than to write for them), 
stringing kept me going as a writer for a couple of years.  By 
that, I don't mean financially, but psychologically.  Until I 
started selling regularly to national magazines, seeing my byline 
in the newspaper a few times a month made me feel like a writer.  
That was important; without it, all the rejections I collected 
from national magazines may have induced too much self-doubt. 
     I got into newspaper stringing in sort of a sidewise 
fashion.  Some time late in 1970, I noticed that one of my high 
school classmates (from the class of 1969) had written an article 
for our local weekly paper, The Milford Advertiser.  Something--
I'll never know what--prompted me to see if I, too, could write 
for the newspaper.  (At the time, the only writing for 
publication I was interested in was short fiction.) 
     So, I met with the editor and proposed an article idea.  
(Actually, it was a feature idea; newspapers call anything that's 
not a news item a feature.  News items--and sometimes features--
are called stories, even though they're not fiction--or, at 
least, they're not supposed to be fiction.) 
     This was easy enough to do, since I knew the editor--she 
happened to be the mother of yet another classmate.  My idea was 
rather vague, but the editor wanted me to write for the paper, 
and suggested I do a piece on the recent postage rate increase. 
     I duly interviewed some merchants whom I knew did bulk 
mailings, talked with a post office clerk, and got a few "man on 
the street" comments.  (Back then, in those halcyon days before 
political correctness, you could say "man on the street" without 
offending anyone.  So, "man on the street" it is--though I 
interviewed both men and women.) 
     I then sat down at my desk, with several pages of scribbled 
notes, a portable manual typewriter, and a lot of blank typing 
paper.  After a few false starts, I typed the first of my nearly 
three million commercially published words to date.  When I 
finished the piece, which was maybe 800 words long, I delivered 
it to the editor on the way home from work. 
     She read and edited it then and there--not a really 
comfortable experience for someone whose publication credits 
consisted of one poem in a high school newspaper.  But it was a 
good experience, one of those "any experience you survive is a 
learning experience" experiences.  Leona Farley, the editor, cut 
a couple hundred extraneous words, put a new lead and a headline 
on the piece, and put it in the typesetting pile. 
     Three days later, I was in public print for the first time.  
Leona called with some more assignments, and suddenly I was a 
newspaper stringer. 
     In retrospect, it was rather exciting--I had wondered what 
newspaper stringers were, and now I knew.  (This was before I'd 
heard of Writer's Digest--or any magazines or books for aspiring 
writers.  Fortunately, the editor gave me some back issues of 
WD.) 
     Seeing myself in print also turned out to be another 
learning experience.  While friends and relatives who saw my 
little newspaper story thought it was wonderful and read just 
fine, I was less than satisfied with the piece's style and 
structure.  (Your work always looks different in print than in 
manuscript.)  I resolved to strive to improve my style and 
technique as soon as I read the piece, and I continued to do so 
over the next twenty years. 
     The newspaper sent a check for five dollars.  That's not 
much nowadays (actually, it wasn't a lot then, but it was worth 
more than now--better than a half a tank of gas in my car).  But 
it was my first paying gig as a writer. 
     In addition to the money and the accolades from those who 
read the piece, I received something of greater value: Getting 
published meant I was doing something right, writing-wise.  This, 
and ensuing newspaper assignments, bolstered my confidence.  As 
implied a few paragraphs back, it gave me something every writer 
needs--fast and definite feedback that he or she is indeed a 
writer, any rejections to the contrary. 
     Over the next couple of years, I wrote features and covered 
meetings and events for a variety of local weekly newspapers in 
several counties.  After getting a foot in the door with The 
Milford Advertiser, I found it was easy enough to go to other 
papers, offer my services, and get accepted because I had 
experience.  The pay rose slightly as I progressed, until 1975 or 
so, when I was receiving the munificent sum of fifteen dollars 
for anything I wrote.  Along the way, I got a press pass from one 
chain of locals covering several counties, and this came in handy 
several times. 
     I stopped stringing some time after that, mainly because I 
was getting regular work with magazines, and the newspaper work 
ate up too much time for too little return.  (The fact that one 
editor ran an assigned story as a "Letter to the Editor" didn't 
help--particularly since this guy was darn near the most 
illiterate writer I've seen in print.  Of course, he owned the 
newspaper, so he didn't have to be literate ... .) 
                                # 
     So it went for me as a newspaper stringer.  On the whole, it 
was a pleasant experience.  It was also a learning experience, 
something of an apprenticeship for a beginning writer.  And it 
"legitimized" my writing--in my own mind, at least. 
     For these reasons, among others, I recommend that any 
unpublished writer look into the possibility of writing for 
newspapers. 

GETTING STARTED 
Writing for a newspaper is not unlike writing for a magazine.  
You must have a subject, something to say about it, and know how 
you're going to address your readers. 
     But first, as with magazines, you need a market.  Unless you 
know an editor, as I did, you will have to do a little door-
knocking to scare up business.  And, before you contact editors, 
you must prepare specific ideas to present.  (There are few 
propositions less likely to meet with positive receptions than a 
writer going into an editor and asking, "What do you want me to 
write?") 
     Before all that, you must know your market (again, as with 
magazines). 

Be Prepared 
     The first order of business, then, is to read several weeks' 
of the newspaper(s) for which you wish to write.  Get to know the 
paper's editorial (content) strengths and weaknesses.  Read 
editorials and letters to the editor to get an idea of what sort 
of person the editor is.  (Editorials are an obvious source of 
information here.  Letters to the editor may be less obvious, but 
perusing them will tell you something about the editor because it 
is the editor who selects the letters printed, and who writes the 
responses, if any.) 
     Study advertisements.  The general categories of ads, as 
well as ads from specific companies, will tell you quite a bit 
about the newspaper's editorial viewpoint and requirements.  
Editorial statements to the contrary, newspapers are more often 
than not careful not to offend major advertisers, and advertisers 
in turn do not support newspapers that publish material with 
which they don't agree.  (There are exceptions to the latter, of 
course--like when a paper is the only one around, or the 
largest.)  Finally, extended repeat ads (aside from the typical 
grocery and department store ads) indicate that the paper's 
readers respond to the ads, and can provide clues as to the 
readership's demographics and interests. 
     All of this will help you prepare the best possible 
presentation for the editor, and slant your writing for the 
editor and the readers. 

Bring Your Own Ideas 
     Some editors will expect you to provide news and feature 
ideas; others would rather you not.  Still others will look for 
ideas from you, and look for you to put their ideas into print.  
Be prepared for either or both. 
     While you're familiarizing yourself with a newspaper, look 
for gaps in coverage that you might be able to fill.  For 
example, if school is in, and there is no coverage of education 
issues and school board and PTA meetings, consider offering your 
services covering same.  Local civic, professional, and business 
organizations are often neglected, and do little to promote 
themselves in the way of press releases; you might offer to 
provide random coverage of various organizations and charities in 
your areas (you can do most of your research via telephone). 
     Next, look to the future for topics.  What major events are 
coming up in your area?  Elections?  Plan ahead and steal a march 
on assignments that might otherwise go to overworked staff 
writers or other stringers; offer to interview candidates and 
voters.  In the Spring, you might offer to cover local county 
fairs and festivals through the Summer and Fall. 
     Or, get creative and offer something completely different--
perhaps a continuing series of features on major advertisers.  
(This helps keep the advertisers happy, fills space, and 
generally makes everyone happy.)  Perhaps you can do what a 
number of stringers have done: Weekly features on interesting 
individuals in your community.  Typical subjects include the 
much-decorated war hero, published book authors, media 
personalities, activists of note, actors, inventors, and more.  
Just about any community has at least one of each--on their way 
up, or with their glory days behind them--and lots more 
interesting people.  There are endless possibilities. 
     Play on any special expertise and contacts you may have.  
Many editors look to buy expertise as well as writing talent.  
For instance, teachers should consider covering education--they 
have both the expertise and the contacts for that.  Have you 
served in any political office, or worked for local government?  
Not matter how minor, you can probably use your experience as a 
qualification to write about politics and government.  Do you 
have experience--vocational or avocational--or training in a 
specialized area such as financial planning, insurance, or 
consumer affairs?  Again, you have qualifications as an "expert." 
     Do not, however, plan on an editor buying any of your ideas; 
you may end up as a general assignment stringer, and have to 
write on subjects about which you know nothing or--worse--
subjects you detest.  (These are banes of the full-time 
reporter's life.  More on how to handle this in a bit.)  That's 
okay, though; you can always quit if it gets too boring--but 
turning in just a couple of good assignments may open the door to 
your own ideas. 

Credits and Samples 
     Assuming you've studied the paper and have some ideas, it's 
time to put your knowledge to work in preparing for selling your 
ideas and yourself to an editor.  If you've been published, put 
together copies of the articles (or whatever you've published) 
most likely to impress that editor, while showing off your 
writing ability.  If you have no publishing credits, don't worry 
about it--and don't bring it up when you meet with the editor.  
Editors find "I've never been published but I know I could do a 
good job" even less impressive than "Here I am!  What do you want 
me to write?" 
     Also, write a sample feature for the paper.  It doesn't have 
to be long--just a few hundred words--but it should incorporate 
what you've learned about the newspaper, its editor, and its 
readers.  If you have no publishing credits, a sample feature 
shows the editor that you can write.  If you have publishing 
credits, the sample shows how you can tailor your writing to the 
newspaper's needs. 
     (Wait until you have ascertained that a given newspaper even 
uses stringers before you go to the trouble of writing a feature.  
As noted earlier, many newspapers have dropped stringers 
altogether, and those who use stringers may be full-up.) 

"By Way of Introduction ..." 
     Now comes the most difficult part: Selling yourself to an 
editor.  First, make a contact by phone or letter with the 
newspaper's managing editor, because this is the person with whom 
you'll work.  (For larger daily papers, your contact will be the 
features editor, or the editor of the section for which you wish 
to write.)  Your call or letter should be brief and to the point: 
You are so-and-so, you live in the community, and you are a 
writer.  (Not an aspiring writer, but a writer.)  Does the 
newspaper use stringers?  If so, can you arrange an appointment 
to show the editor samples of your work?  (Those being the 
aforementioned published samples--if any--and your sample 
feature.) 
     If you don't get turned down because the editors don't use 
stringers or they have enough to meet their needs, you'll most 
likely be asked to come in for an interview.  (A few editors 
prefer to work by mail.  In this case, send off your samples, 
along with a brief letter referring to the editor's request to 
see your material, and include some news and feature ideas.) 
     Treat the interview as you would a job interview.  Follow 
the editor's lead as to whether to be casual or formal.  Try to 
be relaxed but not over-confident or pushy.  If you get an 
interview, the odds are that you'll leave with an assignment or 
two. 

GET TO WORK ON TIME, AND GET IT RIGHT 
When you get an assignment, be it your idea or the editor's, get 
right to work on it.  Newspaper deadlines are quite firm, and you 
never know when your work may be vital.  (It usually is vital, as 
a matter of fact; editors who use stringers count on them to fill 
space.  One of the editor's major goals for each edition is to 
fill up the blank space left over after the ads.  And quite often 
there are last-minute ad cancellations, and/or stringers or 
reporters who don't deliver copy--in which case your work may be 
needed to fill that sudden blank space.  "Copy," by the way, is 
newspaper parlance for "manuscript.") 
     The bottom line: Stringers who don't deliver on deadline 
aren't likely to be given assignments. 
     (Related to this, I was unaware of the problem small-town 
weekly editors had filling space when I first started stringing.  
If I had been aware of this, I might have wondered whether some 
of my work was accepted not so much because of its quality, but 
because it happened to fit.  All of which leads up to an 
interesting point: Many editors are willing to use beginning 
writers for stringers because they need to fill space, and 
stringers cost relatively little or nothing.  Thus, many new 
writers whose work may not quite be up to par stylistically have 
a ready market in which to develop their talents.) 
     In any event, get your work in on time--early if possible. 

Writing About What You Don't Know (or Like) 
     The most common bit of advice given to beginning non-fiction 
writers is "Write about what you know."  That's good advice (even 
though it doesn't always apply), as it saves you having to do 
research and lets you concentrate on turning out a good 
manuscript.  I extend that with this bit of advice: "Write about 
something you're interested in, and/or like."  After all, it's 
easier to write in an interesting manner if you're interested in 
your subject. 
     Newspaper reporters rarely get to do either (which is one 
reason I never wanted to be a reporter).  The same can be true 
for stringers; the editor decides what the stringer gets to write 
about--and may or may not be a subject near the stringer's heart. 
     Forget fears of writing about what you don't know; you can 
research anything in enough depth to be informative to readers in 
a surprisingly short time.  As long as you don't detest research 
(looking up facts and interviewing people) it will be less work 
than the writing. 
     Whether you like an assignment or find it interesting can be 
a much bigger problem than research.  But you can learn to write 
an interesting piece about on any subject.  You don't have to 
like your subject--all you have to do is get the facts right, 
then organize and present them in an interesting manner.  A local 
school board meeting may not be on your list of important 
functions, but you will have to write about it as if it were a 
vital part of community life--which it is for many of your 
potential readers. 
     The key to this is to write for the reader.  This is best 
accomplished by assuming the role of the reader as you write, or 
by pretending the reader is looking over your shoulder as you 
write.  (I've used both techniques to good effect.)  Consider who 
will be interested in your subject, and what they will want to 
know about it.  After thinking this through, write your story 
with the reader in mind, and you should have few problems.  If 
necessary, look for stories or features similar to what you're 
writing in past editions of your newspaper, and emulate the 
style, organization, and techniques their writers used. 

Who, What, When, Where, and Why--and How 
     All this in mind, use the "who, what, when, where, and why" 
structure of newspaper stories for your piece's basic structure.  
If you're dealing with a news item, boil all the facts down to 
one paragraph, and put that paragraph at the beginning of the 
story.  Use ensuing paragraphs to elaborate on the "who, what, 
when, where, and why."  For features, you can relax into more of 
a magazine-article mode, taking time to present the subject and 
theme of your story, along with background and such quotes and 
facts as are necessary. 
     As you write, follow the newspaper's conventions on issues 
such as how to write numbers (numerals or spelled out), whether 
to underline titles or enclose them in quotes, and the like.  
Most newspapers follow The Chicago Manual of Style in these 
elements, so you might do well to invest in a copy of that book. 
     Look to the newspaper--and the editor--for guidance as to 
length.  Most news items are 150 to 300 words in length; features 
rarely go over 1,000 words. 
     When it comes time to deliver your manuscript, use standard 
manuscript format.  That means your copy should be typewritten 
(or printed using the best quality your word processor's printer 
offers), and double-spaced. 

WHAT'S THE PAYOFF? 
     I've already said that newspaper stringing doesn't pay well.  
The most you can expect from a large weekly or mid-size daily 
paper is $25.00 for a feature.  News stories pay less.  With big-
city dailies, you might luck out and pick up a couple hundred 
dollars--or a lot more--for a feature, but this kind of money is 
drying up rapidly.  (National newspapers are another story; 
writing for an outfit such as USA Today or The Wall Street 
Journal is like writing for a monthly magazine, with pay, quality 
requirements, and competition to match.  Beginning writers will 
find no opportunities in such markets.) 
     Quite often, you'll receive no money.  But the "fringe 
benefits" make it worthwhile.  Most of what a beginning writer 
wants is there: Publication with a byline, prestige among the 
non-writing crowd, some peer recognition, and, once again, 
"proof" that you are a writer.  You'll also hone your style and 
learn to deal with deadlines, among other things. 
     As you build up a collection of published newspaper work, 
you're also building up your list of credentials--which may one 
day be a deciding factor in your getting a magazine assignment. 
     I've mentioned press credentials as a benefit.  A press card 
is useful in a variety of situations--from being able to go 
behind the scenes at a major event (concert, disaster, or 
whatever), to obtaining admission to social and political events 
otherwise closed to the public. 
     Less easy to gauge are the value of the contacts you'll make 
through research and interviews for various assignments--and the 
skills you'll develop while doing research and interviews.  Too, 
some assignments can be spun off to bigger things--an article for 
a national magazine, for instance. 

Columns 
     It's the dream of just about every writer to do a column.  
Few do, but columns appeal to writers on several levels, and 
offer a number of advantages over contributing the occasional or 
even regularly scheduled article.  You get published regularly.  
You get paid regularly (if you're getting paid).  You may amass 
enough published work on the right theme to turn into a book 
manuscript.  You're usually on a slightly higher plane than other 
contributors (you have a title, like "columnist" for a newspaper, 
or "Contributing Editor" for a magazine).  And you get to write 
whatever you want (no distasteful assignments). 
     In addition to a weekly newspaper "opinion" column I did for 
a very short time in the 1970s, I've done columns for five 
magazines in the past nine years, and I'm writing two of them 
now.  All the benefits are there, except for the fact that I've 
never turned a column into a book (although I've been given 
columns based on books I've written).  I write what I want, 
within the limits of my ostensible topics, the money's good, and 
my name's on magazine mastheads.  I've never written a newspaper 
column, but I'm sure the benefits would feel just as good.  (Look 
at Lewis Grizzard--he's as happy as a pig in slop with his 
newspaper column.) 
     Before you build up hopes of selling a column to a 
newspaper, you should be aware that a column is far more 
difficult to sell than the occasional feature or news item.  More 
writers come to newspapers with columns than come asking to be 
stringers, and newspapers have less space for columns than for 
news and features.  Besides which, newspapers tend to hand out 
column assignments to their staff reporters.  (The newspapers 
save money.  And the reporters like it; they may get paid extra, 
they get to write about something they like for a change, and 
they get to keep their jobs.) 
     The most common types of columns provided by non-staffers 
used to be the neighborhood news (or "gossip") columns, and local 
history columns.  Like big money for newspaper stringing, these 
are disappearing fast.  (But if an editor wants such a column, 
you can probably get the job.)  Nowadays, columns are in one of 
three categories: special-interest topics and written by experts 
(automotive topics, business, finance, etc.); general-interest 
topics (book or film reviews); or humor/personal 
opinion/commentary (politics, social issues, satire, and so 
forth). 
     The best way to sell a newspaper column is probably to work 
for a paper as a stringer, and gradually move into a column that 
focuses on what you write about the most.  It helps to be an 
expert on something (most columns, as we know, are written by 
experts on something). 
     In my experience, most newspaper editors are reluctant to 
commit to a column, so when I advise that you work your way into 
a column "gradually," I mean just that.  Don't ambush an editor 
with a column idea out of nowhere.  Establish your expertise by 
doing several stories or features in your area of interest--
preferably an area in which you're an expert.  The editor may 
come up with the idea himself, in which case you're in.  Failing 
that, you can always go to the editor with, "You know, I've 
written three dozen stories on ammonia as an alternative to 
ozone-damaging fluorohydrocarbons as the operative fluid in 
refrigeration, and I have an engineering degree.  What with all 
the positive reader response to those articles, maybe I should do 
a column on environmental-friendly refrigeration and saving the 
spotted snail darter whale." 
     All they can do is say "No." 
     Or, you can put some of the information you gained in 
studying the newspaper to work, and offer to do a more general 
column.  If, for example, the newspaper doesn't offer movie 
reviews, but carries ads from several local theaters, you might 
offer to do a movie review column--pointing out the lack of 
coverage and the fact that you can mention where a given film is 
playing in every review.  (Here again, everyone's happy: The 
editor fills space, the theaters buy more ads, and you get to see 
movies for free in the bargain.) 
     As for opinion, commentary, and humor columns, I'm sure that 
most of you reading this would like to do one or another.  After 
all, you get to say whatever you want, you get quoted a lot and 
might get famous, and it's easy. 
     "Easy?"  Ha bloody ha!, as some of my British friends would 
say.  Writing a personal opinion, commentary, or humor column (or 
some combination of any or all) is anything but easy.  You may 
think that writing a personal essay on a different subject every 
day or every few days--or even once a month--is as easy as 
talking because you will be doing nothing more than putting a few 
thoughts on paper.  Taking on such a column would quickly 
disabuse you of that notion; contrary to what most people think, 
you have to do a lot of research to back up your opinions, and 
making your opinions make sense to others in print takes a lot of 
time and effort.  The research, time, and effort required for a 
1,000-word column are, in fact, more than you'd put into a 6,500-
word article on a complex subject like, say, making the 
transition from part-time to full-time writing for Writer's 
Digest.  (I know; I've done both.)  And it's not easy to come up 
with an interesting and viable column topic after you've done a 
dozen.  Humor is even worse; being consistently funny is just 
plain hard work without the heavy lifting. 
     But, what the heck--if you're game, give it a shot.  All 
they can do is say "No." 
                                # 
     In post-script, the experts report that the term "stringer" 
originated a long time ago, when freelance newspaper writers were 
paid not on a per-story basis, but by column inches.  A column 
inch is one inch of text vertically, one newspaper column wide.  
Stringers kept track of the number of column inches they 
accumulated between pay periods, and invoiced based on the total 
column inches times the per-inch pay rate. 
     Most stringers found it convenient to measure their work 
with a piece of string, marking the cumulative inches for each 
story along the length of the string, end-to-end, as it were.  
When it came time to send in an invoice, the stringer would 
submit his or her invoice based on the number of inches 
accumulated on the string.  I'm told that many stringers just 
sent in the string--which provides a likely origin for the term 
"stringer." 
                                # 
Michael A. Banks is the author of 38 novels and non-fiction books 
and some 2,500 magazine and newspaper articles and columns, as 
well as 40-odd stories of the fictional variety.  A Writer's 
Digest Correspondent, Banks is currently preoccupied with raising 
the level of literacy in the computer field: Among his recent 
books are The Modem Reference, 3rd Edition (Brady Publishing) and 
The WordPerfect Shareware Book (John Wiley & Sons).  He has sworn 
never to write a gossip column, but he's open to other offers