We are one of the 4500 approved media sites regularly spidered by Google news, so your articles will usually show up in
Google News.
We now have an article submission user interface. It's the way we want to see your article submissions. Our website has a lot of capabilities you don't see on any other site. The article submission "page" enables you and us to include those capabilities. If you can't use it, please explain why.
To learn about how to become a writer for OpEdNews and to use the article submission page, please click here
Send your article to us first and give us a 72 hour exclusive and if we think it's good enough, we�ll forward it to our large list of other web and print
news sites. Some usually pick up the original articles we send out.
New, In addition to sending out links to our articles to media sites, we also
send them to people with mailing lists that they send progressive articles to.
For all contributors:
You MUST be 16 years of age, or over. No exceptions.
When you register, please include a brief bio, under 100 words, written in the
third person. (Joe Smith is a writer and community activist living in Mongolia.)
Readers (and we) want to know who you are, where you are from.
We don�t pay for articles at this time, but we do like to forward our
authors� work to other media, to get the greatest exposure for your ideas. If
we get a submission from you, we will assume that you�ve read these writer�s
guidelines and give us permission to send the articles out.
We happily accept simultaneous submissions and re-print proposals.
But if you submit an article for first publication, we often send it to 300 plus
other media outlets. These articles are also often syndicated in our news boxes,
which the programming code has been downloaded by over 600 websites.
In the publishing world, it is customarily the editor's prerogative to select the title for articles, and even books. OpEdNews.com Editor Rob Kall is great at coming up with strong, reader-grabbing titles. Some of his articles have drawn responses of 50,000+ snail mail letters. He has written for numerous national magazines, including a cover article for Writer's Digest, on how to come up with article ideas. One of the main gists of that article was on coming up with titles that grab the reader and sell the editor. He will often help strengthen articles with stronger titles. Submitting an article to OpEdNews.com signifies your agreement to allow title changes. Of course, the formatting, font style and size, colors, etc. are set by OpEdNews.com.
You agree, by submitting your article, diary, or other content, to OpEdNews.com or any other related sites, not to sue or litigate against OpEdNews or other related sites for any reason having to do with the content you submit.
You agree that once you submit your content to OpEdNews, OpEdNews may edit it and publish it. Editors spend their time to help make content more readable and clear. It is not acceptable to retract content that is submitted.
It is appropriate to politely email an editor who has rejected an article to ask questions. It is inappropriate to complain or attack an editor for rejecting your content.
It is not acceptable to attack the publisher or fellow writers on the site in content you submit to the site. This will seriously considered to be cause for banning from the site. Continued attacks after banning will be considered reason to remove, at the publisher's prerogative, all content written by the banned writer, from the site. The appropriate way to deal with criticism is back channel email. Disagreement is totally acceptable, regarding ideas, issues, behaviors, statements. Ad hominem personal attacks are not acceptable. The management of the website is the final arbiter of these issues.
We do not always notify contributors of publication, although we do this as much
as possible. Usually we publish within 24-48 hours.
For Less Experienced Writers who Hope To be Published.
-We love to work with new writers. Understand that this takes time and we won't
guarantee your work will be published. Assume it will be edited, with some
changes made to improve clarity and readability.
We expect you to use a spell checker and to read your article out loud, so you
detect grammatical errors and spelling errors that are not picked up by spell
check software.
Articles that are just opinion are fine, but they are even stronger when facts
and background are included. An OpEd piece pegged to some hard news or a real
�quote� is more likely to be a winner. That said, don�t hesitate if
you�ve written a great piece with just opinion.
A good article includes stories that illustrate points, that grab the reader,
touch her heart, rouse emotions... you get the idea. The best articles rouse you
so much they are hard to finish because you want to rush out and DO SOMETHING!
-Ideal article length is 500-800 words. We�ll take longer, but we really want
you to edit your material. A good guideline is you should cut at least 20% off a
first draft. Please do not send us first drafts. Writing is part pulling up the
ideas from inside of you, and then�. editing. You need to do both. Your
writing will read better and you will have more readers FINISH your articles.
You need to edit, edit, edit. Believe me. I do. I re-read my articles and cut them. Very often, I cut out the first few paragraphs, because it takes a few to build up steam. Then, I have to re-write a beginning. Think of it like this. When you start writing, you are doing a data dump from your head and heart. Then, when you are finished, you are about halfway finished the article, maybe less. The rest of the work is editing. The hardest part is cutting the words you love that don't make the article better.
Unlike other progressive websites, as long as you submit your articles through our article submission user interface, we will respond to your submissions.
Some tips for new writers:
- Use some facts�info from the news, for
example.
- Use a relevant quotation.
- Let your feelings show.
- Use an anecdote or two from your life
Edit before you send it in. That means, after
you've finished writing the first draft, read it out loud. Then chop out 10-25
percent and tighten up the writing. Make sure it reads well out loud and don't
trust your spell checker. It won't pick up wrong words.
Here are some tips I sent to one writer that are worth including on this page.
Understand that there are several stages in writing. The first is to get the
stuff out. You do that well� you�re a river of thoughts typed out.
But that�s just part one. Next, you have to dig through the stuff that has
poured out of your subconscious and pick the best stuff, the most important
messages, ideas, etc.
Then, you edit. Take the cream you�ve skimmed off and start over with it. This
time, think through what the message is that your OpEd is trying to get across.
Try outlining or at least listing what you want to include in your article. Use
mindmapping
Here�s a URL where you can download some free software:
www.inspiration.com/freetrial/index.cfm
And here are a few links for how to do a mind map. I can�t tell you how useful
these have been to me since I learned how to use them in the late seventies. My
kids have all been taught about them in school too.
www.mind-map.com/mindmaps_howto.htm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Creative/Mindmap/mindmapfaq.html |
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