How you structure an oped matters more than anything else.
1) Bad structures
A beautifully written oped that uses the wrong structure will fail. An oped with pedestrian writing -- but the right structure -- will succeed.
The worst opeds hit the reader with a sledgehammer. You can spot these right away: they make their point in the first sentence, then beat that dead horse for another 600 words until they run out of room.
This kind of oped uses the wrong structure (inverted pyramid) and tone (all-knowing and arrogant).
Persuasion is best when it’s more nuanced and balanced. Acknowledge other points of view.
2) Making a non-argument
Newspapers won’t take opeds where the choice is cartoonish and obvious. They won’t publish a piece making the case that murder is wrong; they will print an oped arguing the death penalty is obsolete and a waste of money – or that it’s worth the money because every execution prevents seven murders.
Opeds deal with a controversy where people face a tough choice. Should a town with 14 percent unemployment push to get a new coal plant built there for the jobs – or fight the plant because of the pollution?
3) Save the best for last and aim to inspire
Do an outline first. A common structure is problem-solution, except you want to pre-empt the opposition first. So one good way to build your oped is to start with your problem, talk about the non-solutions (competing ideas) and end with your solution.
Opeds are usually 600 to 800 words. Check with the newspaper for their guidelines on length, format and who to contact. These are posted online at 99.9 percent of newspapers.
Read good oped pages before you sit down and write. Check the columns – not the editorials – in the Washington Post and New York Times and see how people who do this for a living build their arguments. They don’t work their trade like pundits on TV, where it’s often a contest on who can be snarkier and yell louder. The best opeds are quietly powerful.
Unlike news stories, it's not the first sentence that matters the most. Great opeds save the best for last, building up to a climax meant to inspire the reader. It's a call to action.
So ask yourself: What do you want readers to do, and what might inspire them to do it?