'Savvy' Success in Self-Syndication

By: Dave Astor About 6,500 mailings and thousands of phone calls brought "Savvy Senior" columnist Jim Miller 400-plus newspapers and three upcoming appearances on the Today show.

The writer will demonstrate "senior gadgets" on the NBC morning program, most likely during the next two weeks. Among the products is a talking pillbox that reminds people when to take their medication.

Miller, who also appeared on the show last month, has become nationally known in an extremely short time. His weekly information feature entered self-syndication just last year, yet he already has more papers than all but 10 or so columnists distributed by major syndicates. How did he do this? Low prices, and hard work.

The average syndicated-feature rate of under $20 a week is already modest, but Miller's prices are between $3 and $5. "I'm not in this to make a lot of money," he said. "I want to reach and help a lot of people." Indeed, Miller is only earning about $20,000 a year from the column after expenses and taxes, despite his numerous clients (many of them weeklies and small dailies; his biggest subscriber is the Las Vegas Review-Journal). And he spends at least 40 hours a week on the column and related tasks.

The hard work first involved mailing packets to 6,500 potential clients. "Then I got on the phone and called and called and called," said Miller, not stopping until he got a yes or no. "If I hadn't done the follow-up calls, I would be in maybe 30 papers."

Miller -- who made 3,500 calls a month (on an $80-a-month unlimited-long-distance plan) -- added: "People who are writers don't always have the salesman mentality. You have to be able to shake off the 'no's.'"

It also didn't hurt that "Savvy Senior" has an easy-to-understand and not-too-serious approach. "A lot of senior news is depressing and complicated," Miller said.

His Range of Column Topics

The Norman, Okla., resident answers one question per 600-word column, while also answering several dozen other reader questions he receives during a typical week. Among his many topics are volunteerism, employment, taxes, grandparenting, health, insurance, travel, Medicare, and Social Security. Miller researches answers by calling experts, reading manuals, looking on the Web, etc.

Miller (http://www.savvysenior.org) has become a senior expert despite being only 40 years of age. "You don't have to be old to write about senior programs and issues, just like you don't have to be sick to be a doctor," he commented.

How did he get interested in the topic? Miller said his mother and father died within three weeks of each other in 2000. "I was pretty shaken up," he recalled. "I took a temporary job in a retirement community -- doing marketing and other things -- to be with people my parents' age." While there, Miller started a senior column for The Norman Transcript that was eventually picked up by a half-dozen other newspapers before he formally started self-syndicating.

"A lot of seniors read newspapers," he said. "'Savvy Senior' fits a demographic need of newspapers."

Miller is also trying his hand at another medium, having almost finished a "Savvy Senior" book scheduled to be published next spring by Hyperion. The information/resource volume is original, not a collection of columns.

Meanwhile, Miller also works as the stadium announcer for University of Oklahoma football and basketball games. He formerly spent eight years in operations and events for that university's athletic department in Norman. Miller -- who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Kansas State University and Wichita State University, respectively -- served as gymnastics announcer at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Future plans? Miller will do more public speaking (a number of offers have already come in) and may start another major marketing push next year that he hopes will increase his client list to 500 or 600 newspapers.

The Kansas native doesn't expect to sign with a major syndicate, noting that his prices might not appeal to a big distributor. Miller recalled that one syndicate wanted to raise his $3-to-$5 rates if it signed him, but he said many of his community-newspaper clients could not afford that.

Miller wants to continue "Savvy Senior" for "a long time" -- meaning he may write it as a senior himself one day.

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Huffington: Gov and Columnist?

But Her Feature's on Sabbatical for Now

Arianna Huffington has put her syndicated column on hold temporarily as she runs for governor of California. Will she drop the feature if she wins the Oct. 7 election? Not necessarily.

"I might continue the column," Huffington told E&P Online. "That would break new ground!"

Tribune Media Services distributes Huffington to more than 50 newspapers, including California ones such as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and The San Diego Union-Tribune, according to TMS Director of Media Relations Kristy Bremer.

Huffington, who entered the race as an independent Aug. 6, is running on a platform featuring many of the themes espoused in her TMS column. "There will be no negative ads and no polls," she said, by way of example. Issues stressed by Huffington will include trying to end tax loopholes, pointing out "the disastrous impact of Bush economic policy on California," and preserving the environment. She is co-founder of The Detroit Project, which focuses on how gas-guzzling SUVs not only affect the environment but increase U.S. dependence on oil from countries directly or indirectly involved with terrorism.

Her work on that and other projects has stirred some debate about the line between journalism and activism. "I suppose this is the next leap," she said, referring to her gubernatorial run. Other candidates in the race, which resulted from the effort to recall incumbent Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, include Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Can Huffington, who has become much more liberal in recent years, have greater impact as a candidate than a columnist? She replied that the campaign can help her reach people who don't read her column or books. Her ninth and latest book is Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America.

What does a TMS executive think about all this? "From my perspective, she's a terrific candidate," said Vice President/Domestic Syndication Walter Mahoney, adding that if Huffington wins and decides to drop out of syndication, "we'll miss her column and so will her readers."

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Cartoon Called Anti-Semitic

Tony Auth Defends the Drawing

A number of readers and Jewish organizations are complaining to The Philadelphia Inquirer that a Tony Auth cartoon may be anti-Semitic.

Auth said this isn't true. "If you look at the body of my work, you can't cling to the belief that I'm an anti-Semite," he told E&P Online, noting, for instance, that he has frequently done cartoons critical of Israel's opponents.

His July 31 cartoon showed a Jewish-star-shaped fence penning in Palestinian men, women, and children. It was referring, of course, to the real-life fence Israel is building for what the country says is security reasons. "When I created the cartoon," said Auth, "I asked myself, 'How can I do a drawing showing that building a fence separates Palestinians and is an obstacle to peace?' I did not do it gleefully but with sadness."

About 150 people wrote the Inquirer as of Aug. 7, with most mail critical of the cartoon. Some said Israel is using the fence to protect itself from terrorists, not to imprison Palestinians. Others complained that Auth's use of a Jewish star was problematic because that symbol represents not only Israel but Jews in general. Israeli Consul General Giora Becher told the Jewish Exponent publication: "It was insensitive for the cartoonist to use the Jewish symbol of a Magen David, and to use it with barbed wire and some connotation of the concentration camp." And Harold Goldman, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, told the Exponent: "To me, the Tony Auth cartoon crossed a line between what is acceptable political commentary and satire to what is clearly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel commentary."

But, Auth said, criticizing Israeli policies doesn't automatically make a commentator anti-Semitic. He did note that he's giving some thought to whether using a Jewish star was the right thing to do. The cartoonist acknowledged that the star may represent Jews in general, but added that "it is the symbol of the state of Israel. It's on Israeli jets and tanks and the flag."

Lee Salem, executive vice president and editor of Universal Press Syndicate, said in an e-mail to a critic of the cartoon: "From what I've read in the Israeli press, not even the Israeli populace is unanimous [about] the present policy. But that seems to have little avail here in the States. Questioning or criticism of Israeli policy by Americans is just labeled anti-Semitism."

None of Auth's 50-plus newspaper clients complained about the cartoon to Universal as of Aug. 7, according to Kathie Kerr, the syndicate's director of communications. She added: "When Tony did a cartoon critical of radical Islam, there was an outpouring claiming he was anti-Muslim. It's the lot of the editorial-cartooning profession." The Islam-related cartoon brought in about 3,000 critical responses.

Auth said the Inquirer has been "very supportive" of him with the July 31 cartoon and over the years. He joined the newspaper in 1971, and won a Pulitzer Prize five years later.

You can see the cartoon on the uComics site.

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9/11 Book Raises $300,000 More

The New Donation Total Is $800,000

A collection of 9/11 newspaper pages has raised another $300,000, bringing total proceeds to $800,000.

The book -- September 11, 2001: A Collection of Newspaper Front Pages Selected by The Poynter Institute -- was released in Nov. 2001 by Andrews McMeel Publishing and now has over 480,000 copies in print.

The first $500,000 was given to The September 11th Fund. The latest $300,000 is going to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Poynter's Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships.

CPJ will use its $200,000 for such purposes as printing and distributing the handbook A Survival Guide for Journalists.

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'Streetbeat' on Universal Site

Stories Focus on Teens' Accomplishments

Paul Wisenthal's "StreetBeat News" is being offered online by Universal Press Syndicate (http://www.upsoneshots.com).

The stories focus on teenagers overcoming challenges and making positive changes in their lives and communities.

Wisenthal (http://www.streetbeatnews.com) has been a frequent contributor to Newsday's "Student Briefing Page," and has written about young people for publications such as The New York Times and USA Today.

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Et cetera ...

"The Conservative Advocate" columnist William Rusher of Newspaper Enterprise Association has reached his 30th anniversary as a syndicated columnist.

Tom Plate's "Pacific Perspectives" column, distributed by Tribune Media Services and Tribune Media Services International, will move from weekly to twice-weekly next month. Plate teaches about Asian media and politics, as well as U.S. media and public ethics, at UCLA. He has worked as editorial page editor at the Los Angeles Times and at other media outlets.

United Press International named Arnaud de Borchgrave interim editor in chief until a permanent replacement is named for John O'Sullivan, who resigned July 22. De Borchgrave -- who is currently editor at large of UPI -- has served as president and CEO of UPI, editor in chief of The Washington Times, and in other positions.

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Editor's note: This fall, E&P is scheduled to run its third annual "Features of the Year" spread. If you have any syndicated features you'd like to nominate, please e-mail Dave Astor (at the address below) their names and a brief explanation of why you feel they're doing a particularly good job in 2003. The four categories include best comic, best editorial cartoons, best column, and best feature. The last category can include non-Op-Ed columns, puzzles, children's features, paginated pages, etc.