What are some alternatives to Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology column?

October 28, 2006 10:29 AM

What are some alternatives to Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology column?

I'm the editor of a free alternative paper on the East Coast of Canada. We're expanding, and we want an astrology section. We love the literate, funny style of Free Will Astrology, but it's already being published by one of our competitors. What can we do?

posted by stokast to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

I would be more likely to pick up your paper if it had Rob Brezsny's column even if the same column ran in your competitor's paper. He is incomparable.
posted by cda at 11:45 AM on October 28, 2006

Hire a smart, funny, literate college student to write it weekly as an unpaid intern in exchange for credit.
posted by maxreax at 3:10 PM on October 28, 2006

And by "it" I mean another smart, funny, literate astrology column. Speaking as a literate college student who's worked as an intern, we'll write for nothing if it gets us published and makes us connections.
posted by maxreax at 3:11 PM on October 28, 2006

Just make the crap up. It's how the pros do it.
posted by Marky at 3:32 PM on October 28, 2006

Or hire a smart, funny, literate freelancer to do it on the cheap. Come up with a theme. Go a little absurdist on it.

You can have the freelancer submit six weeks or so at a time so that you're never lacking copy.

I have a few ideas, if you're interested in something unique/not syndicated. E-mail address in the profile.
posted by brina at 4:18 PM on October 28, 2006

For a reference point, I can't stand Rob Breszny AND I am very much into astrology. And being someone who is into astrology, I take all sun-sign newspaper astrology columns with a hunk of salt. But that Bresny--self-important smug hippie who thinks he is dashingly disarmingly witty. Yet he is lame. I agree with the idea of hiring someone less experienced. You could even have try-outs on the internets!
posted by apostrophe at 8:19 PM on October 28, 2006

apostrophe wrote...
You could even have try-outs on the internets!

Oooh, that could be really cool. Get a website going where people can submit next week's horoscope (for one sign or for all of them) and just pick the best ones each week.

Call it "Community Horoscope" and make some noises about Carl Jung and Gestalt if anyone asks questions.
posted by tkolar at 8:27 PM on October 28, 2006

Rockie Horoscope runs in the LA Weekly.
posted by brujita at 8:38 PM on October 28, 2006

We have Rob Brezsny's column in the free alt. weekly I work for. The only drawback I can see to having a contest to see who'll write the next week's column, or having the column duties rotate from writer to writer, is the in-joke factor. Too much wink-wink, nudge-nudge in the writing, and you might as well be putting out a college paper.

/dated a girl in college whose roommate wrote the astrology column.
posted by emelenjr at 8:49 PM on October 28, 2006

Mod note: a few comments removed, please keep it on topic or take it to metatalk or email
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:45 AM on October 29, 2006