SUMMARY: Want to syndicate your column or other content offline - in newspapers and magazines? It's not as easy as you might think. Here's some input from veteran publisher Dr Ralph Wilson.
For the past year, Dr Ralph Wilson of Wilson Internet Services has been syndicating his Dr eBiz column to Web sites in exchange for them allowing him to collect new subscriber names via a form imbedded in his articles. (See link below for more info.) Now, Wilson's testing a guerrilla marketing to get paid syndication spots in print newspapers.
He automatically adds the following to every outbound email he sends to dozens of fans that contact him daily:
"P.S. Would your city newspaper's Business Section benefit from carrying my weekly DOCTOR EBIZ column? If you'll write a two-sentence recommendation, I'll be able to approach your editor. http://www.doctorebiz.com/newspaper/yourhelp.htm" > http://www.doctorebiz.com/newspaper/yourhelp.htm Thank you for considering it."
Wilson says about 10% of recipients either use his online form or simply email him back with their local newspaper's info. Fancy printed press kits at $2+ each proved not to be worth the investment; so, now Wilson sends interested editors to his online press kit at: http://www.doctorebiz.com/newspaper/
Although he's had "considerable interest" he hasn't finalized any sales yet. Wilson notes, "Money for syndicated columns is unbelievably poor. But if I can get enough it brings in some money, and creates a lot of synergy with a book and website and [paid] speaking."
