GUIDELINES

Thank you for your interest in submitting to The Edge!

Here are the categories we’re currently looking for entries to:

WEEKLY:

MONDAY MAYHEM: Pick a topic likely to provoke a heated debate!

WEDNESDAY WRITER: Articles on writing craft: highs and lows, challenges and techniques.

FRIDAY FEAST: Quick, easy recipes for the busy writer

SATURDAY: THE WEEK IN REVIEW – A weekly round up of Scribblerati and publishing news by Brittany Langrebe, Editor-in-Chief.

SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT: Feature articles, interviews, reviews, your favorite indy bookstore, market trends, spotlight on specific publishers or agents, and what they’re looking for, etc.

MONTHLY:

CONTEST GIVEAWAY: We all have books lying around that probably aren’t worth trying to sell on eBay or Amazon. Wouldn’t you rather give them away to our readers? By announcing the contest on Twitter we will bring attract many more new readers to subscribe to us for updates on our monthly giveaways. So let Brittany know if you have a book available. Each donor bears the cost of wrapping the book sufficiently well to avoid damage in transit and mailing it via media mail.

So the first thing to do is to let Brittany Landgrebe know, well in advance, which slot you want to reserve via Scribblerati.com’s internal mail system so she can add you to the calendar.

Upload the article at least two days before your scheduled date for posting, but save it in DRAFT form only.

Please DON’T publish it.  Brittany will approve all posts, publishing only when they are as polished as they can be. View this e-zine as a way of showcasing your skill as a writer. Put only your best scribbles forward. You never know who might be reading.

Some hints to help you write a good article:

Use spell check. We all get tired and make mistakes, but with spell check there’s no excuse for submitting sloppy work.

Make the first paragraph a strong teaser for the rest of the article. It’s the only part readers will see on the front page as Brittany is planning to cut off all articles on the sixth to tenth line so we can squeeze more headlines onto the front page. In this way we can keep your work visible even after others have added later posts. There’ll be a link leading readers to the rest of the article on it’s dedicated page, so if you want your article to be read, you’d better make that first paragraph enticing.

This is good practice for novel writers, of course. Every book should open with a hook of some kind, whether atmospheric, shock value, or by raising a question in the reader’s mind. All three would be best of all. So use your submissions to The Edge as a means to hone this valuable skill.

Plan ahead. As in novel writing, it helps to know what you’re trying to say before you begin saying it. Take a few minutes to outline your article and figure out what it’s ‘angle’ or direction is. If you’re a pantser you’ll just have to do an extra edit. A first draft to get the ideas down, and another one to order your thoughts and clarify your argument.

Even a young child knows that to build something structurally sound with wooden blocks you need a firm base on which to build your structure, block by block, paragraph by paragraph, adding new information and insights to keep the reader intrigued about where you’re taking them till the very end.

Now your house of wooden blocks is standing firm, but it needs a roof, that final crowning glory of every well-constructed piece of architecture. How will you crown your argument? What emotion do you want to leave your reader with? And if it’s a Topic of the Week you’re writing, what question in the last sentence will spark the most enthusiastic and opinionated comments?

And lastly, tidy up after yourself by setting the categories and tags that will help your post get found if a keyword is entered into the search window on the front page.

eg:
if you’ve interviewed an author, set the category for your post to “Interview” and “author” (two boxes to check)
only tag the author’s name, not your own—our site automatically tags your name and creates an index of all your published posts.

I hope you find these guidelines helpful to you as you put your best scribble forward for submission. And don’t forget to include a link to Twitter and Facebook friends so they know your articles exists!

Postscript:
There are two Assistant Editor positions available to those who are interested. Contact Brittany Landgrebe for details.

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