HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR THAT WILL BE PUBLISHED!
You can both raise awareness of your cause and also catch the attention of decision-makers or corporate targets with a well-crafted, well-placed letter to the editor.
Why letters to the editor are important:
The pen is mightier than the sword! The editorials page is one of the most-read pages of any paper making LTEs an effective way to reach a large audience including your Members of Congress and other elected officials who tend to read the editorials pages religiously.
Even if your letter does not get published, you are still helping to educate the editors on these issues and increasing the chances that they will publish letters on this topic in the future.
How to get your letter published and make it count:
1. Make your letter relevant to their paper! Editors are more likely to print letters that are responding directly either to breaking news or an article or commentary published in the previous two days (for dailies) or the previous issue of a weekly paper. The typical format is to open your letter with something like: “Re: your article “Bag Ban Bagged?” (city news, June 13)…”
2. Stay focused. Don’t try to address more than one issue in your letter – it’s much more effective to focus on just one important point (these letters have to be pretty short, after all).
3. Do drop any and all relevant names! Whether you’re trying to catch the attention of a member of Congress or local decision-maker or a corporation or local business, putting their names in your letter helps ensure that they’ll see it. Elected officials scan news clips with a vengeance and chances are that any self-respecting business or individual will have a google news alert set up.
4. Play by their rules. Make sure to follow all the guidelines and stay within the word count limit of the target publication (usually 200 words or less).
5. Do a ruthless edit before you submit. Remove every non-essential word. For example, don’t say, “I think…” – as that’s implied. Avoid using jargon or acronyms without first spelling them out. Cleaning up your language also minimizes the chance that the editor will make significant changes to your letter.
6. Just the facts, ma’am. Back up your argument using only verified facts and take the time to check original sources rather than repeating “facts” cited in another media outlet. You should footnote your letter to help ensure that the editor trusts your facts.
7. Draw the connection. Explain how readers will be affected by the issue you address and don’t be afraid to share your own reaction, informed by your place in your local community, profession, age, gender, race, etc.
8. Make a call to action. Ask your readers for action, including your elected representatives. You can also point people to more information or explain how to get involved whenever possible.
9. Don’t let your letter get lost in the shuffle. Put your letter right in the body of your email as most papers do NOT accept attachments. If the paper does not include specific instructions about what to include in your subject line, something like “Letter re: TOPIC or ARTICLE YOU ARE RESPONDING TO” is a good default option. And you MUST include your contact information, including a phone number where you can be reached.
10. Follow up if your letter gets printed. If your letter does make it into print, send a clip of it to your elected officials to make sure they’re aware of it – this can provide particularly useful leverage if you’ve had trouble getting them to agree to a meeting… Don’t forget to tag them if you share it on social media, too.
11. Let us know your good news, too! Email us the link or a scanned copy of your printed letter at beyondplastics@bennington.edu. And share it with the world via social media if you’re active on any platforms. In addition to tagging your elected officials and/or the corporation your letter mentions in your post/tweet/gram, please tag Beyond Plastics so we can help amplify it. We’re @plasticsbeyond on Twitter, @beyondplasticsaction on Facebook and @beyondplasticsbennington on Instagram.