The Star is very lucky to have readers such as yourself. People who are involved with their community, are interested in politics, love or really hate Bill Walton, and are willing to share this by writing a letter to the editor. While I am indeed buttering you up before the part where I start complaining, as the person tasked with reading every letter to the editor submitted, I can say with all sincerity that our readers are (mostly) thoughtful, (definitely) opinionated and (blessedly) vocal.
My favorite part of the editorial pages is the letters-to-the-editor section. Although I enjoy a good liberal tirade by Robert Reich or watching George Will go through half his word-a-day calendar in one column, it’s the 160-word volleys from readers that top my list.
With this in mind, I thought I would clear up some misconceptions, offer suggestions on how to get a letter to appear in print and share some of my pet peeves. Here we go.
We get lots of letters: The system we use to read and process the letters keeps a tally of how many letters we’ve received and published. This year, up to noon on Friday, Jan. 26, we had 640 in total, with most of them going online and about 200 of them appearing in print. While some newspapers struggle to put a letters page together, we have an embarrassment of riches.
We don’t print conservative letters: Maybe that we don’t print enough conservative letters is a more accurate charge, since most days there is at least one. Either way, we can’t print what we don’t receive, so if you are pro-Trump, don’t just complain about all the haters, write a letter saying what’s great about the president.
If anything, left-leaning letter writers get short shrift because they have more competition. This may upset some conservative letter writers, but there’s a strong affirmative-action program going on behind the scenes. Because we want to represent more conservative voices, the odds of your letter appearing in print are much, much better than if your letter is another diatribe against Republicans (unless it’s a really good one).
On name-calling: Our guidelines frown upon name-calling, but there’s plenty of leeway on this (even more so online) when it comes to public figures. Trump is a liar, Hillary’s a loser. Both statements are not very nice, but they are accurate. Besides, the big boys and girls can take it. If it’s a local column by a member of the community, you cannot get away with calling them dumb. Their ideas, though? Fair game.
Everyone is edited: I hate being edited. I’m a combination of those annoying people who think every word they write is precious and someone filled with so much self-doubt that the editor changing my words clearly means I’m a terrible writer. Don’t be like me. Everyone gets edited — sometimes it’s the their/there/they’re; thens and thans; its and it’s; or de-Irishing O’bama — and sometimes it’s for clarity of thought. But unless there’s a typo, everyone gets to show off their best grammar.
Don’t get discouraged: Some days I wish we had space for a full page of letters, there are so many smart, interesting takes that deserve to be in the newspaper. Not that there’s anything wrong with being online only, of course, but, at least for me, you still can’t beat the thrill of print.
If your letter doesn’t make it in the paper, don’t be discouraged. Sometimes we get too many letters on one topic and only a few make it, sometimes the news cycle has moved on and your carefully crafted missive no longer applies. Local and state issues will generally take precedence over national matters, so write local. Also, the more people write about the same topic, the lower the odds that your letter will be selected. But if you are a frequent writer, you will probably be published a few times a year.
Challenges don’t work: In the “notes” field of the submission form people will sometimes say things like, “I’m sure you won’t print this” or “I bet you don’t run this.” Last week I got, “Bet you don’t have the balls to print this.” And it wasn’t even a sports letter. Such statements neither help nor hinder.
Pet peeves: Just three. 1) In English, only proper nouns are capitalized. In German, you capitalize all nouns. I spent nine months in Germany recently, and sometimes when I read the letters it feels as if I’m still there. 2) Please, no double spaces between sentences. I know many people were taught to do this, but they just get removed. 3) People complaining that the opinion page, its editor and contributors, have opinions. To quote the ’90s, well, duh.
I hope this was helpful, but if a lame joke got in the way of any useful advice, please feel free to email me your questions or any suggestions on how to make the letters section even better. I look forward to reading them.
