Last month, we got on the phone with an opinion editor at The New York Times. We had a killer pitch for an op-ed by a high-profile nongovernmental organization facing a high-profile legal fight against a powerful opponent and about to go to trial. Good moment, good voice, good story — can’t lose, right?
The editor told us they had received more op-ed submissions that month than in the history of The New York Times (for those counting, that’s 173 years). The Times is known to get well over 1,000 submissions a week. So, the competition is stiff.
What is the Times largely publishing these days? You guessed it: reactions to President Donald Trump and the havoc he is wreaking on America’s communities. We received a polite rejection.
We went through and counted the op-eds in the Times for March 10-14. Of the 40 opinion essays published (including columnists), those about Trump or those he is directing outnumbered other topics by two to one. Just twelve were about other topics, although even among those, you could find a direct tie to Trump that likely helped it get to “yes” with an editor — such as Trump’s obsession with California’s water supply.
The problem isn’t just too much demand — “the most number of submissions ever received” — and the opinion staff focused on the five-alarm fire in our nation’s capital, but a lack of supply too. CNN.com stopped accepting op-eds and laid off its opinion staff. So did Fast Company. USA Today said it would cut back on opinion columns. What’s more, corporate control of papers means a harder line on the opinion section. Jeff Bezos recently limited the Washington Post’s Opinion sections to opinions supporting “personal liberties and free markets; Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, announced he would install a “bias meter” to “alert readers of the ideological tilt of the paper’s content.”
So, as communicators, what do we make of the situation?
If you’re thinking about writing an op-ed, you’re off to a good start. You have an idea you are excited about. You potentially have an idea of who might say it. You have an outline of what you want to say — maybe even a draft.
We’ve placed hundreds of op-eds and reviewed thousands of drafts at Spitfire and over the course of our careers. No matter where you are, if you are trying to pitch nationally or locally, here are guidelines we recommend before you flesh out a draft, run it through reviews and hit that submit button:
- Consider your audience and whether an op-ed will reach them. Just because you read the outlet doesn’t mean your audience members do. We once worked with a client who wanted to reach people living on modest means and encourage them to apply for a “guaranteed income grant.” This client texted us and asked what we thought about an op-ed in The Monocle, a print magazine covering international news and culture. We went and picked up a copy … for a whopping $15. The ad on the first page was for a luxury watch. So were the second, third and fourth ads. The fifth was an ad for a luxury … necklace. We texted the client back, “Are you sure that the people living on modest means whom you are trying to reach are paying a whopping $15 to read this magazine?” He admitted he wanted it published so he could feel good about it being in something he (and his donor friends) read. There is nothing wrong with that — but The Monocle is not going to reach his intended audience. This Charleston Gazette-Mail op-ed we worked on has a very specific audience: Sen. Capito and former Sen. Manchin.
- Determine whether another means of communication will reach your audience. Ford CEO Jim Farley, who recently spoke out against Trump’s tariffs, wrote a personal reflective op-ed on LinkedIn, and it landed him coverage in Barron’s. Delta CEO Ed Bastian penned 317 words on LinkedIn apologizing for the Crowdstrike outage of summer 2024. Although many audience members were still upset, take one look at the comments and you’ll see he reached his audience — customers and investors — as directly as he could. The best thing about these platforms is you don’t have to win the lottery — beating 1,000-plus other submissions — to publish it. You just click a button.
There are also those with established columns who are responsible for publishing regularly — sometimes every single week. People usually holding a title of “opinion columnist” or something similar are the individuals you want to get to and convey your views. One look at Thomas Friedman’s column, usually on foreign affairs, and you’ll see how he conveys the views of or even directly quotes senior leaders of various nations. Pitch and build relationships with these individuals.
- If you still want to proceed, wisely pick three outlets and work backward with your timeline. Make a first, second and third choice (anticipating you’ll get some rejections and want to have a backup plan in place), carefully review the publications’ submission guidelines (especially word count) and identify the right op-ed editor to pitch. Confirm that your desired outlet still accepts op-eds.
- Artificial intelligence is a tool at best, not a lead writer. Services like Claude or ChatGPT are great for getting you from staring at a blank piece of paper to editing something or for brainstorming some catchy titles — which for many of us is a better place to be. But you do hit walls. We first tested out ChatGPT with something fun in July 2024 — asking it to write an op-ed making the case that (then newly minted) Democratic nominee Kamala Harris should pick Taylor Swift as a running mate. ChatGPT spit out 700 words making a pretty good case … at about a 10th-grade writing level. We asked it to refine by emphasizing how Swift could swing the youth vote and the women’s vote. It did but still not good enough to get placed. Make sure you are carefully editing so your draft follows the other guidelines below.
- Your author needs to be right for the piece and strong enough to get published. While it would be nice if every executive director were high profile enough to be published, that’s not the world we live in. Prominent activists, celebrities, thought leaders, authors – these should be your first choice. Not everyone needs to be famous, though. This US News & World Report op-ed we worked on, co-authored by McKnight Foundation President Tonya Allen and former Indianapolis Republican Mayor Greg Ballard, captured authentic midwestern voices communicating to two Midwest audience members: Vice Presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance.
If you have a good story, the storyteller is the best person to write the piece. That may mean that the executive director of a domestic violence nonprofit needs to step back in favor of a domestic violence survivor bravely and powerfully telling her own story. Choose the author who has the highest likelihood of placement.
- Does your piece say something interesting? To make the news, you need to be saying something, well, new. Are you announcing, declaring, challenging someone to do something or boldly calling for something? Is the author someone really interesting who is saying something surprising? Has what you wrote been said ad nauseam elsewhere? If everyone is already saying it on cable news, it’s not new or interesting. Think of submitting a piece as similar to submitting a job application: Hundreds or even thousands of people are clamoring for just a few spots, so you need to stand out.
- Does your piece fit with the moment? Opinion editors are looking for topics that are timely and in or closely tied to the national conversation. A good way to tell is to scan the opinion pages of major national outlets. In fall 2024, most national opinion pages were focused on (roughly) 90% presidential election coverage, 5% Middle East conflict coverage and 5% other news. In late March, it is 85% coverage of the Trump administration and the response to it, and 15% other topics, such as takes on the Academy Awards that aired on March 2nd. If you are looking to write about, say, the dangers of cryptocurrency, now may not be the time.
If you are looking to publish on a topic not currently in the zeitgeist, look for an anniversary, a major news event (like an upcoming Federal Reserve Board meeting), a major announcement (like Apple’s periodic product launches) or something already in the news. Consider whether what you want to comment on is a fleeting, one- or two-day news event or an ongoing saga. If you are looking to discuss a specific topic that’s not in the news, look to tie it to the current news. For example, “Fueling Innovation to Navigate the Wildfire Challenge Ahead,” on which we lightly advised, was perfectly timed as commentary on the Los Angeles wildfires when the Stanford Social Innovation Review published it in January 2025.
- Speed is of the essence. To avoid missing the moment, write fast and streamline review chains as much as possible. We can’t tell you the number of clients who have labored endlessly in a Google Doc for 10-15 business days only to find that they missed the moment and it was a lot of wasted time (and money). Remember that most outlets require 48-72 hours to consider a submission. If last Wednesday you wanted to write about Senate Democrats voting to keep the government open, and the vote happened Friday, and further discussion about it lasted just another news cycle or two, when will you have “missed the moment”? How fast do you need to act?
- Be careful about word count and authors. Your first choice allows 900 words, but your second allows only 750. It’s wiser to work toward 750 so you don’t run into trouble trimming later — especially if you have multiple authors who need to sign off again. You can have multiple authors, but each one you add slows down the time to submit, and you may miss the moment. Some opinion editors decline to publish what they see as a group blog post by 15 people that is better suited for your website. And each author has their own opinions, potentially making the piece weaker, so be careful who you invite. Candidates, elected/appointed officials, CEOs and corporate board members in particular are risk-averse, which can turn bold, declarative language into weak, vague language. For example:
“Our leaders must carefully consider making sure cities are places where all immigrants, regardless of status, can live and thrive.” (bland, vague)
“We call on the mayors of California’s largest cities to respond to Trump’s deportation threats by immediately declaring sanctuary cities across the state.” (bold, clear)
There’s no point in going to all that trouble to write a piece that takes twice as long and that you have trouble getting placed only for the piece to land with a thud with your audience because it’s a lot of vague platitudes.
- Use clear, direct, accessible language and have an ask. Avoid terms like “we need to.” Terms like this give a free pass to those with the power to create change by avoiding naming them. Who needs to do what and by when? Name those with the power to make change or role model norms. Here’s an example: “The governor should immediately hold a press conference, where she calls for healthy disagreement and civic engagement instead of violence. Then, this Sunday, she should visit church services in Detroit to reiterate that call.”
- Don’t forget a strong title. Your title should raise eyebrows and draw clicks. Something that goes against conventional wisdom or surprises the audience is a good place to start. Ultimately, the outlet will have final say on the headline, but giving it a strong option will help get the outlet to open your email and consider your piece for publication.
- Not everything has to be an op-ed. Op-eds are usually the first tool in the toolbox people reach for, but they aren’t always the wisest. They are time-consuming to write, review, finalize and pitch, and there is no placement guarantee. If your op-ed by one author has grown to 15 authors, is very unwieldy and now is unlikely to be published, consider a shorter open letter and publish it as an advertisement. If timeliness matters more than visibility and prestige, write quickly, publish it on your website or post a thread on social media, and use your networks to send it far and wide. Sometimes being first to say something profound will win you more attention, thought leadership and funding than being last to say it, even if it’s in the pages of USA Today.
- Make sure you have a plan to distribute this piece. If you do publish in, say, the Los Angeles Times, not everyone you want to reach will actually read that publication that day. You will have to send it to them. Just because you send it to them does not mean they will read it. You will have to ask a question like, “I’d love your feedback on my piece. What do you think?” to nudge them to do so.
Whether you have a final draft you are touching up or a blank piece of paper, we’re here to help. If you are considering saying something and you’re unsure if it should be an op-ed or something else, let’s talk about it. Write to us via abink@spitfirestrategies.com and daniela@spitfirestrategies.com, and we’ll work on it together.
