Get featured in Asbury Park Press

To get featured in the Asbury Park Press, you need a story with a real Jersey Shore angle and a route to the right person. In practice that means one of three things: pitching a reporter who covers your town or subject, sending an opinion piece or letter to the opinion desk, or having a feature developed and placed with professional help.

Pitching the newsroom yourself is free, but it is slow and the editors decide what runs. DNA offers another way in: we develop the story with you, write it to the paper's standard, manage the placement, and you approve every word before it goes live.

What the Asbury Park Press is

The Asbury Park Press is the long-standing daily newspaper of the Jersey Shore, serving Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey. It is owned by Gannett and sits within the USA TODAY Network, which links it to other New Jersey titles and to the national paper. Its website at app.com carries the same local reporting as the print edition.

What the Asbury Park Press covers

The paper is built around local news: town councils, schools, courts, development, property and the coastline that shapes so much of life on the Shore. It follows New Jersey politics and government, local business and the restaurant and bar scene. Sport is a large part of its offer, with close coverage of high school teams across the two counties alongside the professional and college sides New Jersey readers follow.

Entertainment coverage reflects the area's music history and the venues of Asbury Park itself. The opinion pages carry editorials, columnists and letters from readers. Because the readership is concentrated in one part of the state, almost everything the paper runs has a clear local stake.

How to submit a story to the Asbury Park Press

People searching for how to submit a story to the Asbury Park Press usually mean one of two things: a news tip or a feature about their business or work. For a tip, the paper lists ways to contact its newsroom on its site, and bylines make it clear which reporters cover which towns and beats. Read what the right reporter has written recently, then send a short note with the facts, the people involved and the local reason to care.

Keep the pitch tight:

• Say what happened or what is changing, in one or two sentences.
• Name the Monmouth or Ocean county town and the people affected.
• Offer someone who can speak on the record.
• Explain why it matters now rather than at any time.

Opinion pieces and letters go through the route the opinion desk lists on the site, and that page sets out the current requirements. A tip or an op-ed is a suggestion, not a booking, and coverage is at the paper's discretion.

What makes a strong piece for the Press

Local relevance is the first test. A builder explaining how a planning change affects a Shore town, a restaurant owner opening in a revived downtown, a physician on a health issue facing coastal communities, or a family firm marking a real change all fit. Strong pieces carry named people, local detail and good timing, such as the run-up to the summer season when the Shore economy is in focus.

A national story with a Shore town mentioned in passing is a weak fit, and so is a straight product announcement. For a sense of how national stories are shaped differently, see the guide to USA Today, which sits in the same network as the Press.

How the process works

With DNA, the work runs in four steps. We check whether your story has a real Jersey Shore angle and tell you plainly if it does not. You share the substance: what you do, what has changed and why it matters locally. We draft the feature to the paper's standard and revise it with you. Once you approve every word, we manage the placement and send you the live link.

How long it takes

Expect weeks rather than days. Finding the angle, drafting, your review and the placement all take time, and news events on the Shore can move schedules. We do not promise a date or an outcome.