That's what this forum is for, helping and advising garden communicators and those just entering the field. I would say complete the web site first else you will have two things (or more) demanding your immediate attention. As far as the bosses go, I would just be open and honest with them and tell them what you want to do and why. Do you expect to promote yourself, your web site, gardening in general? What do you expect in return? payment for articles, free advertising? Also, be realistic in just how many articles you can turn out. When I first did something like this I could write articles off the top of my head. After a while I began having to do more research for my articles which translated into more time. I also found out that when I was writing a weekly column, I would no sooner turn in an article when it was time to start on the next one. I would advise an article every two weeks, especially if you are donating your time and knowledge for free publicity. Even if you are getting paid, small papers do not pay much at all.

Well, *whew*...good to know I'm in the right spot. Had read a few threads and wan't sure if this was for pros (or wannabe-pros like me), or if it was more of a journal-writer's club kinda thing (most of the active topics seem to be pointed in that direction).

I guess this is more or less a heebie-jeebie thing going on with me...I became a farmer almost a year ago, and pulled all advertizing (even the signs on the trucks) because I wanted to take time to set things up here. Now I'm making ready for the whirlwind life of taking new clients again, but feeling rusty. My "employee" skills are even rustier, hence the worry about having a boss.

I already solved the website issue...found a few old essays from the old site that could serve as publishable newspaper stuff, and working on cleaning up a couple that I've written in the past couple-few weeks (helps to have a wife who works as a copy-editor). Oh, another question: should I be cleaning up the 400-500 wd stuff or the 1000 wd stuff?

BTW: to wax bloggish, one of the big reasons I want to write for a paper is just out of sheer frustration at rebuilding a website! I need to do it, because I wasn't as picky about what I put up 4 yrs ago, but now I'm faced with the nasty task of editing and posting 1,392 interlinked pages, a task that was making me VERY grumpy until I decided to just scrap the whole mess and start it over. Will probably lose my google ratings, but I'll get them back over time.

As far as what I want from the paper: was thinking of getting paid with one graphical 4ci ad and 1 classified ad per week (would cost me a whopping $65.80 for the priveledge otherwise). Do you think they'd go for that?

Also, this paper has a website (not a bad one, actually), and I'm wondering if my website would be viewed as an asset or a liability to an editor. For example, if I mention a particular plant in an article, I could provide links to my page about that plant in the internet version of the article (most of my website is just detailed information about plants). My website's pretty much a plant-geek blog now, but I'm hoping to start getting some advertizing activities going (mostly so I won't feel so guilty about wasting all this time studying plants). So, asset? Liability? Maybe it's good to put a foot in the door while there aren't hundreds of documents floating around on the web?

The newspaper is probably going to favor the shorter articles as they presume, and probably rightly, that their readership want the shorter articles. The free ads would be a good deal for the paper as that costs them less than cash. On your articles you should insist that your web site domain name be included in your byline. That won't cost the paper anything either and it will drive a few readers directly to your site. Have 3 or 4 articles written up in advance and Go For It.

Organic_Johnny, all this talk about a website. Where is it?

The link to John's site is below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Web site

Wow...talk about catching a guy with his virtual pants down! I'm switching servers this weekend and thus am pretty much tearing down and rebuilding that website :).

Do any of you folks have websites too? Ever have to rebuild it? It's a miserable process...finally decided to just abandon all the old pages rather than try to re-write them. I'm having a Michelangelo moment, I guess.

Still in the "feelers" stage of newspaper publishing...too much work to do with the website stuff. I'm wondering if maybe I should just send in some sample articles without mentioning the website? Is it really that much of a good thing to have one?

My website is one of the greatest joys I have. It defines me . It is not a great source of revenue but is a pretty good source of recognition. If I knew I was going to change servers I would copy my website on a disk and try to transfer it that way. Of course my webmaster handles all that technical stuff for me so all I have to think about is gardening and writing. If I was in the green industry I would no more be without a web site than I would be unlisted in the Yellow Pages.

Here is a link that might be useful: BittersweetGardens.Com

Well, I'm pretty much my own webmaster...the HTML scripting/editing is just part of the fun for me. One of the main reasons I'm switching servers is because my old one is phasing out shell access, and I've just never trusted the GUI stuff.

I've actually found that having a website is much more of an asset than a yellow pages listing, but that's in part because I have client-specific pages (garden descriptions, photos, etc.).

Feeling annoyed now: being "my own webmaster" means rewriting templates for every page, and every sort of page.

I'm bored/frustrated to tears, which is exactly why I'm gunning to do some in-print publishing, because contrary to my last post, I do have a patience limit when it comes it HTML scripting :(.

Nice job on getting a column. There shouldn't be a problem linking to your web site, the newspaper should be responsible enough to have a pop-up or something that says "You're leaving the ABC Daily News Web site now." I'm an editor - my suggestion for dealing with the bosses is get specific requirements, and then meet them! (i.e., word count, deadlines). Be sure to either tell a story or be colorful and conversational. You should be sure to post your first column for all of us!! How fun, I bet it will be a hit!

OK I'm new here, but thought i would add a few ideas here. First, the local press is a wonderful avenue for free advertizing if you use it right. DO NOT promote your business in the article, or presume that the popolus can only get X-plant if they come to you. This puts some people off and the others just ignore you. Write inteligently about what you know and specialize in.

As for what they pay you, I have averaged $0-$100 for the regular places I write for - depends on the circulations and the need. I tend to like newspapers who pay stringers on a very variable scale but on the other hand they are short, topical and can address the immediate problems if needed - like storm dameage, floods, unusual hi/low temps/snow etc etc. If you are flexible enough to be able to do this - go for, and show your expertise and the customers will come to you (we hope).