How to Become a Love Advice Columnist

You can start a career in writing about relationships by writing for your local newspaper.

When you give love advice, you are helping readers make better choices in establishing relationships and maintaining the ones they have. You should offer love advice that's mature, well-researched and that reflects your own experiences and views concerning relationships. You also want to give advice with compassion while still telling the truth about certain readers' situations.

Instructions

1. Students can start by writing for a campus newspaper. Since entering the major newspaper market can be difficult, you want to get some writing experience and published clips under your belt. Talk with your campus newspaper editor about starting a love advice column where students e-mail their relationship questions to your e-mail address and every week you answer their questions. When you leave college, take these articles and put them into a portfolio to show to potential employers.

2. Seek out opportunities with local alternative media. If your city has a few independent magazines, prepare your cover letter, resume and copies of your published clips and mail them to the editors of the magazines. You can also call the companies and arrange to meet with the editors where you can show your previous work and discuss your goals for the column.

3. Send query letters to various publishers. Offer to write short articles on various aspects of relationships. For example, if you want to write about relationships from a Christian perspective, research Christian magazines and look at some of their articles on relationships. Then write query letters about your article ideas and mail some of your published clips. If some of the editors publish your articles, you may get the attention of another magazine editor who could give you a permanent position as a love advice columnist.

References

• MadeMan.com: How to Become an Advice Columnist