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If you’d like to get published in the weekend newspapers have a look at my article in the February 2011 edition of Writing Magazine.
It’s extremely difficult to get a feature in one of the weekend nationals unless you have a well-established track record in journalism. However, many of the papers have ‘filler’ slots and actively ask for people to fill them. To list just a few:
- Confessions of a Tourist in the Sunday Times
- What I’m Really Thinking in the Saturday Guardian
- Just Back in the Saturday Telegraph (which I seem to have missed out of the article)
There’s also the letters’ pages to consider (the tabloids tend to pay whilst the broadsheets don’t) and have a look at your local regional weekend papers – these are often easier to break into than the nationals, especially if you have a story with local human interest.
As always market research is the key to success with any of these markets – buy and read several issues before you submit. It’s essential to get the tone and content of your piece just right.
If you’d like to know more about this area of writing then have a look at the full article in Writing Magazine.
Don’t forget the prize draw running on this blog at the moment, click here for more details. If you’ve already entered and haven’t received your confirmation email, please check your spam folder.
Sally Jenkins 
#1 by blogaboutwriting on January 6, 2011 - 12:57 pm
Sally, thanks for this interesting post. My copy of Writing hasn’t popped through the letter box yet (probably just as well because I abandon everything else for hours once I’ve got a new issue in my hands!) but I look forward to reading your article.
Just a small note of caution: don’t automatically assume that you will be paid for all of these slots. While ‘Just Back’ clearly offers £200 for each published article, I know from experience that ‘What I’m Really Thinking’ does not pay (I had a piece published recently and I double-checked and was told by the Guardian that there was no budget for it). You may not mind that and just want the clipping, but it’s worth bearing it in mind!
Helen
#2 by Sally Jenkins on January 6, 2011 - 1:42 pm
Thanks for that information, Helen. I’ve tried a couple of pieces at the ‘What I’m Really Thinking’ column but no success yet.
#3 by Josephine-Anne Lodge on December 7, 2011 - 3:55 am
I submitted a short article to the Guardian (Life & style – Family) and was published. This was on October 29, 2011. I also got paid. This all thanks to your blog and suggestions to submit. Thought you would like to know that your readers are getting some success.
Josephine-Anne Lodge, Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies
#4 by Sally Jenkins on December 7, 2011 - 1:27 pm
That’s brilliant news, Josephine-Anne! I really like to hear when people have had success from something I’ve mentioned. Best wishes for lots more!