Dear Sir…

Who reads letters to the editor, anyway? You’d be surprised. So here are some tips.

At some point in our lives, most of us feel a powerful urge to write a stinging letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine. Mostly, those who get their letters published are the ones who take up their pens and write straight away, rather than just sitting and fuming. That is because most people who take the trouble to write letters eventually get at least some of them published. Generally, the more often they write, the more likely it is they will get published. Just knowing that fact can often be enough to launch a resentful reader into an illustrious career of letter writing.

That said, it certainly does help to know a few general rules about letter writing to maximise your chances of getting published. Speaking as someone with experience as a letters editor on a national newspaper, it is quite astonishing how many people who actually make the effort to write break one or more of the most basic rules of letter writing.

But before moving on to the details, it is probably useful to answer the question: why write? Many people feel that it is a waste of time. Who, they wonder, reads the letters page anyway? The answer is: you would be surprised. I certainly was when I took over as an acting letters editor. Previously, I had been through a number of incarnations as a journalist, including theatre and film critic, features writer, legal correspondent, court reporter, education editor and so on. But none of these titles seemed to impress people anywhere near as much as letters editor. Soon after taking over the job, I noticed more people were interested than they had been in any of my former roles. In short, it became clear that many more people than you would suspect actually read letters pages.

So writing letters is definitely one of the most effective ways that an ordinary person can have an impact on public opinion, not to mention on the attitudes of journalists themselves. You see, journalists hate being challenged or criticised in letters columns – particularly if the letters editor is of the opinion that they have already had their say and doesn’t allow them a right of reply.

Editors themselves are also influenced by letters. Although, contrary to popular opinion, editors generally do not choose and edit letters themselves, the better editors do keep a close eye on letters and they can even change their own opinion if reader response is strong enough.

Another reason for continuing to write is that even if you don’t get published, you may help someone else with the same point of view to get published. The fact is that if there is only one letter stating a particular point of view, it is far less likely to be published than if there are 10. If one hundred people write in offering the same opinion, several letters will normally be published. And if there is a very strong response by letter writers, the letters editor may even alert the editor and the publication’s policy on that issue may change.

A good example arose once when I was editing the letters page of a publication that had published a critical article about an organisation in the Catholic Church. When the editor found out that there were more than one hundred letters defending the organisation and only two attacking it (and in both cases the writers had had no personal experience of the organisation but were simply responding to what the article said), he immediately offered the organisation two full pages to defend itself.

So the old saying “there is strength in numbers” certainly applies where letter writing is concerned.

Following are some points to keep in mind when writing a letter:

Timing is all: Don’t seethe over an issue for a week before you write. Issues come and go very quickly, sometimes in the space of a day or two. Often it is not the best letters that get in, but those that arrive first.

The KISS principle: For those who are convinced that letter writing is not a waste of time and are ready to get started, the first thing to keep in mind is the KISS principle – always keep it simple. Don’t try to grab the biggest space on the letters page on your first try. Only the best of letter writers get the lead letter. If you count the number of sentences in the average newspaper letter, it normally averages around five or six. In fact, some of the best letters are only one or two sentences long.

Study the form: The best way to start out is to study the letters page of your favourite publications. You will quickly realise that published letters are generally short, pithy and have a lightness of touch. It takes practice to get it right. In fact, most writers don’t. Letters editors often have to edit letters heavily, whittling them down to the essential point or two that is being made. So when a letter arrives that doesn’t need editing, it is even more likely to get in.

Lead with your conclusion: Always remember that writing anything for a newspaper or magazine is the opposite to academic writing. Academics build up slowly to their main point. Journalists and letter writers clobber you over the head with it in the first sentence. Always lead with your conclusion: “George W. Bush was a fool, and this is why…”

Prepare to be cut: Remember too that you should try to write so that your letter, like an article, can be easily cut from the bottom. Make your essential argument clear quickly and only then add any additional points that can be cut out if necessary.

Be simple: Don’t try to run before you can walk. Write simply at first. Once you have fully mastered the basics of letter writing you can get more adventurous and introduce elements like irony and humour.

Don’t over-estimate the competition: Contrary to popular opinion, the competition to get into a letters column is not that stiff. In fact, often a letters editor is scratching to find enough letters to fill the column, either because too few have arrived, or because too few are good enough to print.

Be biased: When writing letters, don’t feel you have to be balanced. It doesn’t matter if you display your prejudice – newspapers thrive on controversy. Be as forthright as you like.

Be prepared: When possible, a good technique is to prepare letters on issues about which you feel strongly well ahead of time. Then wait until the issue is in the news, edit your letter appropriately and send it off. For instance, if you are interested in an issue like stem-cell research or euthanasia, write some letters expressing your main ideas and then wait until something relevant is in the news.

Finally, whatever you do, don’t be fazed by the task. All sorts of letter writers get published. Those who do get published play the odds. They write regularly, and sooner or later they get in. But don’t just write the same thing all the time. Even if you have one issue you are most interested in, try to vary your contributions. There is nothing worse than getting pigeonholed as a one-eyed crank.

Good luck.

William West is a Sydney freelance writer and the editor of Perspective magazine, where this article first appeared.

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