What Milton Friedman Taught Me About Guest Blogging

Since I was young I’ve been a bit of an economics nerd, and despite Milton Friedman’s evil creation (income tax withholdings) I’ve forgiven him and learned from his writings. Strangely, Friedman taught me more about guest blogging than any marketing guru I’ve met. Years ago I came across an interview of Friedman on C-SPAN Booknotes talking about F.A. Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” the pertinent quote is  “They’ve [The New York Times] turned down many an op-ed piece from me which I’ve subsequently published in The Wall Street Journal or someplace else.” You’ve read that right. Nobel Laureate, National Medal of Science & Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Milton Friedman had op-eds rejected. It wasn’t because his writing was bad or because he lacked the credibility. So when rejected, he submitted elsewhere. This was eye opening because as someone with dyslexia I never thought of myself much of a writer. When my posts weren’t accepted, I’d assumed it was because my writing was bad. Many, perhaps most guest posts meet rejection because the quality is lacking. This isn’t always the case as Friedman clearly proves. Like it or not, publications often have a narrative, and they don’t always want content that’s far outside of that purview. As Friedman put it “They [The New York Times] have not been very favorable to these ideas [Austrian Economics] in the past.” Since this isn’t a post about journalistic ethics, let’s just agree editors have the right to turn down any content for any reason. And let’s…What Milton Friedman Taught Me About Guest Blogging

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