7 reasons why your op-ed was rejected
Consider these common missteps that editors cite as why they can’t run a guest piece, even when they would like to do so.
“Why was my op-ed piece turned down?” clients occasionally ask me. And well might they ask.
Most submissions, after all, are declined. Getting your guest essay to run in The New York Times, for example, is probably harder than admission to Harvard or reasoning with an alligator. So it goes with most top tiers.
And clients tend to take these rejections hard.
Hey, welcome to the club.
Rarely do opinion page editors offer any feedback to explain why, either. But this much I know for a fact, if only because they’ve repeatedly told me so themselves: They frequently turn down many pieces they would like to run.
Here, based on my experience helping clients with op-eds for the last 30 years, are the top reasons why even submissions elegantly composed and argued may wind up getting rejected:
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