Syndicates — links for Winter 2013
Want to be a syndicated columnist? The submissions pages of the majors give their rules.
- Canadian Artists Syndicate, with separate home page here
- Creators Syndicate
- King Features
- Senior Wire
- Tribune Media Services
- Universal uClick (includes Universal Press Syndicate, Andrews McMeel publishing, Newspaper Enterprise Association and as of 2011, United Features Syndicate)
- Washington Post Writers Group
The above are syndicates as commonly defined, not independent news services, such as The Associated Press and Reuters. News services generally do not accept free-lance columns, except possibly through member or subscribing newspapers.
Other news services belong to newspaper conglomerates. The chains’ news services distribute columns written by employees. As a rule they do not take free-lancers. But if your column already is published by a newspaper owned by a chain, ask your own editor there for information.
The chain news services include Gannett News Service, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, The New York Times News Service/Syndicate, and Scripps Howard News Service. Yes, there used to be more major syndicates and news services. Not anymore.
A recommended general resource is The Art of Column Writing by NSNC past-President Suzette Martinez Standring. Publication info on Amazon, or order from your local independent bookstore or from the author. Further sources can be found on this site’s Resources of Interests to Columnists, Bloggers.
The industry journal Editor & Publisher has published an annual Directory of Syndicated Services, for small, regional and specialty houses. Back volumes should be available at university libraries, journalism schools and some large public libraries. The company does not seem to have a current publishing schedule for the syndicate directory or even the E&P Yearbook.
