Ad Layout Introduction Put it in writing The layout sheet Indicating copy and art The copy sheet Keying copy Keying art Other things about art Digital artwork How art scales The model release form Proofs Managing proofs Credits and adjustments More on adjustments The fastest way to increase sales! Participate in this award-winning, newspaper-specific ad sales course on-site or in a Webinar.  • Get past upfront stalls and objections without any pushing  • Make the account believe he really needs you  • Get better information from your prosepct  • Develop quick ad strategies that work the very first time  • Eliminate size, frequency, content, cost and most other objections before they ever arise  • Get dramatic responses for all kinds of advertisers  • Never have to push an advertiser to run again click here

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. 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 editorial copy flows on a page.

Usually, 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.

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