West Marin Citizen contributors’ guidelines
The West Marin Citizen is pleased to print reader contributors in the form
of letters to the editor and guest columns.
We ask that letters be 250 words or less and columns be 750 words or less.
Longer contributions may be edited for space.
Both letters and columns should contain information specific to West Marin.
A simple test of a contribution’s West Marin specificity is if someone
reading the piece who knows nothing about West Marin would conclude that it
was written for readers in West Marin.
Any topic or issue can be made relevant and appropriate for the West Marin
Citizen. The challenge for contributors is communicating to readers how your
topic Darfur, apple sauce, climate change, your rash, terrorism, green
tea, etc. should matter to them and why they should take an active
interest for the betterment of the community.
In one vivid example, one reader’s essay about 17th century Italian
ecclesiast operas conveyed as much if not more insight about the people and
life of West Marin as an essay submitted the same week about kayaking in
Bolinas Lagoon, which ultimately conveyed much information about that
essay’s author. It all comes down to execution.
As a matter of course, we also ask contributors if their contribution is
presently under consideration by any other publications in Marin County. If
so, that doesn’t automatically mean we won’t print it. The information just
helps us to determine how to best plan its use. Some overlap in topics is
unavoidable for local publications covering the same community. But to the
extent possible like any publication we try to provide unique content
not available elsewhere.
Send contribution to the editor. Please include your full name, town of residence and phone number for verification.
