My weekend column comes early this week, thanks to distributor Scripps Howard
Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 10:02AM Working with Knoxville News Sentinel, I've gotten an agreement set with Scripps Howard to distribute my KNS weekly column. That agreement was to be in place starting in early October, and as such, I had great hopes that either my "Dr. No" column of two weeks ago or last week's "China/North Korea" column would start appearing in Scripps network of 400 or so news outlets, but I've yet to find any examples of this happening, which depressed me some over the past two weeks.
Even so, my gut instinct was that something bureaucratic was holding things up.
So I ego surf today (getting the Steyn hit, for example) and come across the column "A journey worth taking" on the Scripps website under the commentary file. My submitted title was "A bigger definition of 'us,' a better nation at heart," which--quite frankly, wasn't so hot, so I like Scripps' title better (or maybe it was KNS'). The direct page link is http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/15166.
Google's hit dates it as 23 Oct, which is weird, because I didn't turn the piece in to KNS til the 24th. At Scripps, the date is 25 October, or yesterday.
Now, I'm hoping this appearance doesn't suggest that I can only crack Scripps when I do an Erma Bombeck/sensitive Tom column. If so, then expect me to note that the crab grass is always greener in the other yard.
But seriously, I expect to find out that this one was the first to appear because it just took this long to get all the ducks lined up with Scripps.
Now, here's what I don't know:
First, is this all there is in terms of Scripps distribution? Being posted on their web site? I know that's not the usual case, as the whole point is to fill newspaper pages. So I'm guessing that anytime Scripps distributes a column that it also posts them on its website. Maybe this will be the usual drill: my "weekend" column goes on Scripps and on this basis is made available to papers for printing at that point. At least that's my hope here.
Second, if Scripps is going to post like this, does that dilute the utility of KNS's printing its hard-copy version in the Saturday or Sunday edition? Or will we have to control the timing of our sharing of columns with Scripps to avoid premature publication in the future?
Either way, I see this as a neat step forward that I'll do my best to exploit on behalf of Oak Ridge and Enterra and my general role as thought leader.
Reader Comments (2)
Congratulations on the Scripps deal.
What happens is that Scripps notifies it's subscriber newspapers that you are in the "bullpen". That however, is not marketing your column and unless the editor or managing editor recognize your name or has the time to research your work you'll spend some time in that same bullpen.
Small town newspapers have equally small staffs. In the case of our operation Scripps columnists are what I'll refer to as plug-ins. John Smith's column runs every Monday on the Opinion page, Mary Jones's column runs every Friday on the Business page. The news clerk drops the columns in as she builds the paper, often without even reading them. The line-up is changed occasionally, perhaps only once a year.
Other columns runs as subject matter dictates. They would search Scripps for a story related to subject matter they wish to cover and possibly find your work in that manner.
Marketing your name and your work is crucial. As the buzz about Thomas PM Barnett increases, editors will seek out the information and news clerks will determine whether you're available on Scripps.
Since the paradigm shift changed how information moves and where people get that information, newspapers have been struggling to come to terms with the differences between their newly created online product and the print product. It's taken awhile to embrace the online portion since the internet was initially seen as the enemy. In the case of our newspaper it seems they've finally moved to the point where they realize the online product does not dilute the print product, but supplements it.
It's an interesting process to watch old time newspaper men struggling with their new realities. I believe it's going to take a visionary from outside the newspaper world to step in and strike the new pathway for this industry.
I really appreciate the way you share some of your personal life with your readers. Your willingness to talk about both the upside and downside of some personal decisions is a very worthwhile thing. To know that a gifted, accomplished person sometimes struggles and has doubts can often help others put their own problems and travails in perspective.
Anyway, I thank you for all the insights this article conveys.