I bought the Guardian for a change the other Saturday and was surprised at how many slots there are in the paper for readers’ contributions. Some of them pay and some of them don’t.

The Family section pays £25 for each of the 4 slots listed below:

• A letter to – This is an open letter to someone who has had an impact on your life in some way (& can be published anonymously). In the issue I looked at it was a letter to half-siblings that the author had never met. Read it here.
• Snapshot – This comprises a reader’s old photo and the story behind that picture.
• Playlist – The effect a particular song has had on you.
• We love to eat – share a favourite family recipe and include the story behind it or the memories it evokes.

Recent pieces published for Snapshot, Playlist and We love to eat can be found here.

In addition the Travel section of the Saturday Guardian offers a camera for the best travel tip received. The tip must be on the topic specified in the previous week’s paper.

In the Magazine section there is a traditional (non-paying) letters page plus 3 other slots where the reward is the prestige of appearing in a glossy weekend broadsheet magazine rather than a cheque:

• What you like – email a couple of sentences about something you love plus a website offering the reader further details.
• Weekender – email a photo plus a brief description of how you spend your weekend. Read an example here.
• What I’m really thinking – your (anonymous) thoughts on an aspect of your life (job, hobby, appearance etc). Read an example here.

If you fancy targeting any of the above slots grab yourself a copy of the Guardian on Saturday and do a bit of market research to ensure that you write in the correct style and to the right word length. All the email addresses are in the paper too. If you fancy trying some of the other weekend papers see my previous post on the subject.

Or, if you’re single and fancy a night out rather than another night toiling away over the keyboard in your garret, email your details to the Blind Date feature in the Guardian Magazine and have yourself some fun!