Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 27. Writing for Newspaper Special Sections

It's how to get instantly published!

Special sections (aka special publications) are those parts of a newspaper in which advertisers pay to tell their stories.

A mobile home dealer writes an article about how to buy an RV. A real estate broker with a full-page ad writes about how to pick a sales agent. An accountant gives tax-filing tips.

It's called an advertorial. But it should be called an additional.

That's because there's usually not enough text for the editors to complete the publication. So they scramble for new material. Only they have to pay for it, and there's no budget because there are not enough advertisers. That's our cue.

Picking an Advertorial Topic

If you have something you'd like to write about (or they have a suggestion), that's your chance to submit it online and get it printed with your photo and bio.

Unlike the news or features departments, advertorial editors are concerned with sales of advertising space, not the content of what's around it.

If you want instant interview invitations, this is a major play.

Just write a short article (a thousand words or so) on some local topic that interests you. You can start by calling one of the advertisers and ask if they'd like you to talk about the wonders of their business. They're delirious to have you do it, since it's extra exposure for them. They basically own the advertorial department, so they're the de facto editors.

Getting Placed

Next, write your short piece, a short bio, ...