I am a freelance education columnist for two daily newspapers. My column has been running on the Sunday op-ed page of one newspaper for four years, and the Sunday feature page of the other newspaper for three years. The column has been well received by readers.

I would like to get the column into more newspapers. What is the best way to go about this? If I send clips, is it better to send a hard copy, or an e-mail?

Also, are you familiar with a company called Market 2 Editor? It is a company that will send your clips (via email) to 950+ daily newspapers, for a fee. I've been researching the company and it seems to be legit, but I don't want to get ripped off!

Kelly

A: Companies that send your work to potential syndication clients may certainly be legit, but we need to know whether they are effective.

I can just see what happens when companies start sending out hundreds of copies of unsolicited editorial submissions. For $125, this company says, it will e-mail your query about a syndicated column to hundreds of newspapers. To this editor, that feels like spam. You need to do some selling.

To make it into syndication, you need a better approach. If you can personally pitch your columns to some newspapers you want to get into, I would try that. They'll tell you whether they want e-mail or hard copy. If they go with you, they'll certainly want it by e-mail to save them the trouble of retyping and the danger of making mistakes.

It seems unlikely that dozens of newspapers would want an education column without local material in it, so I would start close to home -- but not so close that your client will object that you are selling to a competitor. Check with that newspaper before you start selling so there are no unpleasant surprises.