Writing Effective Letters to the Editor

1. Before you begin, determine your objective. What point do you wish to make? How will you make your point?  Stick to one central point!

2. Keep it short and simple. The longer your letter, the greater the chance the editor will abbreviate it -- and take out the most important parts. For a list of newspapers and their length limits use the links on the right.

3. Understand the paper's protocol. If the paper requests that you include specific information with a letter, do so. If the paper restricts you to one published letter in a given period of time, know this limit. You can't win if you don't know the rules of the game.

4. Write about a timely issue and be prompt. If you wish to respond to something the paper has printed, do it immediately. If you wait two weeks, the chance that your letter will be published decreases drastically. For some topics of recent interest visit the news section.

5. Humor is good.  Include a funny line or two if it is relevant.

6. Include all of your contact information including address and phone number.  These won't be printed, but are needed by most editors.

Paid for by Coble for Congress