First, you'll need to get your hands on a layout sheet. Here's an example of a standard one that's probably like the one you'll be using at your newspaper.

 

They're usually printed in 8 1/2 by 11 inch pads as well as a larger size. Some newspapers don't use any special sheets like this, but they are very helpful.

 

The reason these are so helpful is that every ad you sell will need to conform to the column widths of the newspaper (unless your newspaper only allows a few "modular" sizes, which we'll talk about on the rate card page).

 

The width of every newspaper page can be broken down into columns of equal size. You can usually see how wide a column is by looking at the how the stories (or "editorial" as any content created by the editorial department is called) flows on a page.

 

In many cases, the stories will run down columns two-and-a-sixteenth inches wide, with an eighth-inch blank space between the columns. And since ads often appear on the same pages as the editorial content, most newspapers will sell ads in one-column-width increments to simply make things fit better.

 

To give advertisers a break who would be running the same ad in more than one newspaper, most of the newspaper industry decided to standardize the width of their columns on ROP pages to two-and-a-sixteenth inches. A space this width and one inch deep is called a Standard Advertising Unit, or SAU for short.

 

Although it would make sense that the column width that editorial uses always matches up with what advertising defines as a column, occasionally there are exceptions.

 

Additionally, the width that a newspaper defines as a column will not only vary from newspaper to newspaper, but will actually vary within each publication. For example, you'll probably notice that the columns within the classified section where the line ads flow are narrower than in the rest of the newspaper.

 

But one thing's for sure. As newspapers are trying to reduce costs and hold on to profits, newspapers, along with their column widths, are getting narrower and narrower.

 

Next: Indicating copy and art