Well, the National Book Critics Circle has some advice for you.
In my experience, assignments are all about clips and relationships, so this advice is right on. You have to know who the editors are, you have to get to know them, and you have to be able to prove to them that you can get the job done.
I broke into print as a critic back when I was an online-only reviewer. I was able to do so because I had professional reviews written in a journalistic style that I could show to editors. Nobody seemed to care that they had only been published on my own website. The quality was good enough to impress them.
The first newspaper my book reviews ever appeared in was the Washington Post. Since then I've written for 8 of the country's 37 largest newspapers. There's no doubt that breaking into this business is difficult, but it can be done.
Be smart, be professional, be polite and be persistent.
