Guest Post

Write for us – guest post guidelines

If you’d like to write and submit a guest post to Writers’ Treasure for potential publication, that’s great. Thanks for considering!
Before you write and submit your post for my review, here are some guidelines to boost your chances of approval.

Principle #1: Useful articles

My focus is on providing readers with useful, practical, helpful, actionable information that brings readers significant benefits. Be an expert – it helps if you know what you’re talking about! Educate, teach and solve problems. Noticed that readers in this field have problems with this topic? Write a solution. Articles which solve readers’ problems tend to do really well here.

Principle #2: Unique articles

I think I’ve got it covered (and people agree) when it comes to offering content that has a different style and way of teaching, content that is fresh, or content that presents a new angle on something. So, what should you do?

• Be creative. It goes without saying, this is a creative writing tips blog. So you must be creative! Don’t know what this means?Think outside the box. Think different. Read Creative Writing 101 for some tips.
• Innovate. Think of opinions or ideas that haven’t been covered yet (or haven’t been covered extensively) on other blogs. Say something new and say it with a fresh voice that hasn’t been presented before. Notice what everyone’s already doing – and figure out what they’re not doing. It’s not to say that you can’t write on common topics, it’s just that you shouldn’t cover it with the exact same opinion as others have done.
• Be original and unique. Go through this blog’s archives and figure out what I haven’t written about yet. If you want, and if you’ve got the reasons, you can take an opposing stance to one of my opinions. Got a fresh idea? You increased your chances of my getting interested in your post.
• I like interesting articles. Give your writing some swing. Tell a story, use a great metaphor, or write some thought-provoking material.
• Please don’t fill articles with links to your site in every paragraph. You have the byline for that. If one of your articles is extremely relevant, then a link is encouraged. Otherwise, a post with unnecessary links to your site is not allowed.

Principle #3: Relevant articles

My blog’s focus is on creative writing tips, with broad subcategories of fiction writing, poetry writing, irresistible writing (dubbed by me as “magnetic writing”), creative nonfiction writing, writing nuts-and-bolts (grammar, spelling and punctuation), web writing, etc. Therefore random articles which are not based on the above topics will be rejected. Make sure to write on one tight topic, not many small ones.

Principle #4: Well-written articles

At Writers’ Treasure, I focus on high-quality articles that offers strong value and solutions to problems for my readers. My readers rely on me to accept only the best of the best.

• This is a creative writing blog. As such, posts need to be well-written and demonstrate good command of language, grammar, punctuation, clarity, style and tone. Run your content through a spell check, and try to catch all the typos. Even after that, it’s best to manually proofread for those contextual spelling errors. As for grammar check, don’t even get me started – please don’t rely on automation.
• Edit your post well, and rewrite it a few times. It’s a good idea to set your post aside for a day or two and come back to it to edit, change some sentences for better flow, and in general make it better.
• Your post may be also be edited prior to publication for quality or clarity. Please don’t be offended if I make changes that improve your post even more.
• Make sure you have a strong introduction that hooks readers and draws them in.
• Use good structure and formatting. Sub-headers and bullet points or strong impact statements help my audience read your awesome content.
• Keep your posts above the word count of 350 words. Articles around here tend to be on the longer side – but shorter ones can be awesome as well. Word count matters, but the main tip is this: write as much as you need to, no more.
• Have a well-rounded wrap-up. I’ve noticed that the conclusion is one of the most neglected areas of guest posts. Please finish your post well and summarize with a good bang that encourages conversation and commentary.

Some more guest post guidelines

• Include a small paragraph crediting yourself as author. Make it fun and interesting, and go ahead — include a link to your site, and one more which can be controlled by you (e.g. to your Twitter / Google+ account, your cornerstone content page etc.)
• I like internal linking, so please include a link or two to a relevant post on my blog. You may also link out to other relevant posts on the web if you like – but no more than three links, please.
• Affiliate links in your post are not permitted.
• Submit your posts in .txt / Microsoft Word format. Using HTML for the content is recommended, but not necessary.
• Please credit all sources if your post demands any.
• All articles must be in the English language, and have a basic structure of paragraphs. One vital but basic tip: write short paragraphs. Long ones are harder to read. And of course, if you use sub-headlines, lists, bold and italic text in the right context and right amount then it’s always a bonus. But too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and therefore, make sure you don’t go overboard.
• Your post must be original work that hasn’t been published elsewhere. No copy-pasted articles from anywhere else, even your own site. And yes, I do check with tools to be sure that your post is original.
• If your article is accepted, it in its entirety should not appear elsewhere (such as on your own blog).

I have a great guest post! What do I do now?

Email me and send a post idea. Give the details of the post. Write the headline and a brief summary. Let me know a little about who you are, and please provide a link to your site or blog (if you have one — it’s not mandatory). It’s a great idea to also link to one of your articles on your blog that you think are great. If you also have a guest post published elsewhere, tell me about it. It gives me more confidence when deciding whether to approve the post or not.
I do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Please be patient. Some days are pretty busy around here, and I can’t always reply as quickly as I’d like. But I will reply and let you know if your submission has been approved.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Mattson