Writing a letter to the editor
We’ve provided an example, but customized letters work better. Tell your story. Explain how the waitlist or the lack of ABA in schools affects you and your family. Highlight our solutions. Tips to get your letters published:
1. Relate your letter to a recent article in that newspaper. Mention the article and the date it appeared.
2. Send your letter the same day as the story you’re connecting it to appeared.
3. Keep your letter brief. When the letters page advises that the letters must be kept to two hundred words, they mean it.
4. Be sure to include your address, work and home numbers, and e-mail address. Many newspapers will check with you to verify that you really sent the letter. They need to know how to reach you. Never send an anonymous letter.
5. Send the letter to only one newspaper. Editors dislike seeing an identical letter to one they have published in another paper.
6. Use humour. Include a zinger. You are more likely to be published if you make your point with wit.
7. Don’t be discouraged if your letter is not published. Try, try again.
8. The secret to getting letters published is volume, volume, volume.