Columnists

Employers

Newspapers of all kinds run columns, as do certain magazines and even public radio stations, where a recording is played over the airways of the author reading the column. Many columnists have their own Web sites or work for newspapers, magazines, and other employers that have an online presence. Some columnists are self-employed, preferring to market their work to syndicates instead of working for a single newspaper or magazine.

Starting Out

Most columnists start out as reporters. Experienced reporters are the ones most likely to become columnists. Occasionally, however, a relatively new reporter may suggest a weekly column if the beat being covered warrants it, for example, politics.

Another route is to start out by freelancing, or sending columns out to a multitude of newspapers and magazines in the hopes that someone will pick them up. Also, columns can be marketed to syndicates. Large syndicates include Creators Syndicate, King Features Syndicate, Andrews McMeel Syndication, and Washington Post News Service & Syndicate. You can learn more about syndicates by visiting these companies' Web sites and that of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, http://www.columnists.com.

A third possibility, one opened up by the Internet, is simply beginning your own site, blog, or even podcast and using it to attract attention and thus jumpstart your career.