Legal Commentary

One thing it seems that a good number of law prawfs do from time to time is to write op-ed pieces for newspapers.  I've tried to do this a number of times.  My attempts have always failed.  Generally, some issue comes up that I think I could say something about, so I write 700 words about it and email it to the editors of some newspapers and then nothing at all happens.  Maybe the pieces are still under consideration, but given that I sent most of them at least three years ago, I doubt it.

So, I'm wondering if those of you who have successfully written and placed op-eds could provide some advice for those of us who would like to publish one but have no idea how to best go about it.  I guess one question is whether people really do just write up op-eds and send them cold to editors and get them published, or whether they are instead generally solicited.  Assuming that they are not all solicited, what are your tips for getting an op-ed published?  To what papers and what people do you send them?  Do you send them to one place at a time or are multiple submissions OK in some circumstances?  What papers are most receptive to unsolicited submissions?  What issues are most likely to grab an editor's attention?  What else?