Most op-eds are rejected before the second paragraph. Usually because they aren't arguing anything.
Start a conversationAn opinion page is not a place to explain what your organization does. It's a place to take a position that somebody could reasonably disagree with. That's the whole test, and most submissions fail it.
I find the argument that's actually in there, sharpen it until it has an edge, write it so it survives an editor's first pass, and put it in front of the person who decides. Sometimes the honest finding is that there is no argument yet. I'll tell you that too.
A conversation, usually one hour. I'm listening for the sentence you'd say out loud that you wouldn't put in a press release. That's the piece.
Op-ed editors have a form in their head. Length, structure, where the position lands. The piece has to fit it, and it has to say something.
The pitch goes to a named editor, not a general inbox, with a subject line that survives a crowded morning.
No. Nobody can, and an editor's decision is theirs. What I can do is make sure the piece isn't rejected for the reasons most pieces are rejected: no argument, wrong length, wrong outlet, or a pitch that never got read. That removes most of the failure modes. It does not remove the editor.
Either. Some clients write a draft and I rebuild it. Some hand me the idea and a transcript and I write from that. The byline is always yours and the argument has to be yours. I'm not putting words in your mouth that you wouldn't defend at a dinner party.
Then I'll say so, and we'll either find one or you'll save the money. An op-ed with no position is just a press release with a byline, and editors can spot it in one paragraph.
Let's talk
Send me the idea, or the draft that isn't landing. I'll tell you whether there's a piece in it.
Start a conversationor email me