AIW Blog Submission Guidelines

Want to write a guest post for The AIW Blog? We’d love to have you! Please read the guidelines below in their entirety before submitting your article. Note: Submissions are open to AIW members and nonmembers alike.

Post Content

All posts on The AIW Blog should be of interest to AIW members and the general US writing public. You’re welcome to be creative with how you craft your post, but you must relate it in some way to writing or writers’ issues. If you’re not sure how to make the connection for the topic you have in mind, contact the blogmaster. The following content is strictly prohibited:

• Anything that is not in some way related to writing, however tangentially. See the opening remarks.
• Specific complaints about a client, agent, editor, etc. If you’ve had an issue, either seek legal counsel or recount the experience in general terms with lessons learned to help other writers better conduct their business. Any articles in which the “offender” can be identified will not be accepted.
• Anything that could be viewed as promoting rate-setting. AIW’s nonprofit status could be jeopardized by discussion of specific rates for writing work, so don’t do it. However, general tips about calculating fee or negotiating higher pay are certainly welcome.
• Political rants, raves, etc. We’d love to read about your expertise in political writing so we can improve our skills, but please don’t try to get us to vote for who you’re voting for.
• Any content that’s not safe for work (NSFW). Profanity, graphic sexual language, etc. We’re all grownups here, but some of us like to read at the office and don’t want to get fired because of it.
• Blatant self-promotion, including reviews of your own book. We’re happy to sell advertising space on the AIW website or The AIW Blog, and there is a public discussion list available for you to share great news about yourself and your work. A blog post is not appropriate for this type of content. However, if you happen to be, for instance, a manuscript editor and want to write a post about how authors can benefit from hiring a manuscript editor in general terms, you’re welcome to do so.

We strongly encourage the use of subheadings, bulleted lists, and links.

Word Limit

Please limit your post to 600 words or fewer. If your content lends itself to a longer format, please break it into two posts (or more) of no more than 600 words apiece, and we will publish it as a series. See “Post Content” below for more details.

Images & Artwork

We are very pro-images here at The AIW Blog, so we welcome the inclusion of images you own to publish along with your content. If you do not own an appropriate image but have something in mind that would be a good fit for your post, please let us know by describing or linking to something that matches what you want.

Editing

We reserve the right to edit your post for typographical errors, dead links, or to adjust formatting (including adding or revising headings). In the event that we feel our edits result in a material change to the content, we will consult with you before publishing the post. If the submitted post requires more than a cursory edit, we reserve the right to send it back to the author for revision.

Formatting

If you’re familiar with HTML, we’d appreciate your sending a plain text (.txt) file with the appropriate coding in place. If you’re not an HTML pro, just send a regular Word document with bold, italics, bullets, etc., how you want them and we’ll apply the appropriate coding. If you’re including any links in your post and are NOT sending us HTML, make sure you indicate the text to be linked by putting brackets around it and listing the URL after the linked text in parentheses. For example:

[Visit AIW online] (http://aiwriters.org) and sign up for the job bank.

Copyright

By submitting your post to The AIW Blog for consideration, you assign to American Independent Writers both one-time online publishing rights and the irrevocable, perpetual right to archive your published piece on this or other websites we own as appropriate. We do not require first rights. The same applies to any images you own that you submit for inclusion with your work. We will notify you as soon as possible after receiving your submission as to our decision to publish or pass. AIW claims no right to pieces we reject.

Compensation

In addition to a brief author bio and headshot, we offer the following compensation to writers whose work is selected for publication on the blog:

• AIW Members — Free admission to one (1) pubspeak, teleseminar, or workshop.
• Nonmembers — Admission at the member rate ($10) to one (1) pubspeak, teleseminar, or workshop.

Compensation for multi-part series will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Compensation is nontransferrable and must be redeemed within twelve (12) months of receipt.

Submitting Your Work

After you have ensured that your post meets the above-described guidelines, please submit it as a .doc or .txt attachment (no .docx files, please) to the blogmaster. Hard-copy submissions will not be accepted.