Submission Guidelines for Guest Posts
Interested in writing an article to share at "The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life)"? I'd love to chat with you about it!
Hey there, friends, poets, and writers!
Do you have an idea for an insightful, informative, or entertaining article about the intersection of the writing life and creative inspiration? Maybe one that sheds light on part of your writing process? Or shares how a particular writer’s work has influenced yours? Or shows an important lesson you’ve learned while overcoming a challenge as a writer or embracing life as a writer?
If your answer is yes, then I’d love to hear from you! The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life) is now accepting pitches for guest posts from you and other writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction who want to peel back the curtain on their writing career and share personal stories or wisdom based on their experiences with writing, revising, publishing, and similar topics.
If you’re a paying subscriber of this Substack, you may have already received your emailed invitation to write a guest post. But if you’re a free subscriber, or if you’re just discovering The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life) now, let me share a little more about the kinds of guest posts I’m seeking, as well as what to do if you’re interested in pitching an idea for an article.
What I’m Looking For
Here are some of the topics you’ll regularly find on The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life). If your guest post idea is along these lines, chances are it’ll be a good fit:
The places, people, things, ideas, and events that inspire or move you to write
How certain challenges or lessons learned have helped your writing process evolve over time
Poetic forms (if you write poetry), other techniques, and revision or editing strategies
The poets, writers, music artists, and other people who influence the work you create
The surprising “tools” you’ve incorporated into your writing process
A personal story about your latest or upcoming book, such as why this book focuses on a particular theme(s), the lessons you learned while working on it, etc.
A personal story about your experience with publishing, including any insights or advice you want to share with readers
And what if you’ve got an idea for a guest post that doesn’t fall into the above categories but would still fit the spirit of this Substack? Go ahead and pitch it anyway!
Most importantly, guest posts for The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life) must be geared toward writers. In other words, your article must speak to the unique experiences and challenges that writers face.
What I’m Not Looking For
Articles or pitches from the following individuals or groups will not be accepted:
Staff writers or freelancers representing a business that wants to promote its services or products, or from businesses focusing on essays, academic papers, online colleges, or writing research papers
Content farms and online marketing firms
Commercial websites that don’t provide services for writers
Writers who plan to include affiliate links in their articles (for building incoming link SEO for other companies)
Writers who submit an article without submitting a pitch or before waiting for me to respond to their pitch
Also, please note the following:
If you send a query or email that clearly shows you have not read the guidelines shared in this article, you will not receive a response.
Articles that are poorly written or poorly researched will be sent back to the author for revision. Should you choose not to revise the article to address these issues, your guest post will be removed from the publishing schedule.
This has already been implied earlier in this article, but articles or pitches that are intended to advertise a business, service, or product will not be accepted.
No AI-generated writings or images will be accepted or published. My readers and I would rather have the real you, with your unique background, experiences, emotions, and perspective as a writer.
The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life) reserves the right to decline submissions that do not align with the content focus or standards described earlier, or to remove posts at any time.
Guidelines for Pitching Your Guest Post
Submit your pitch for a guest post by emailing me at sara [at] heartofthestoryeditorial [dot] com. Please do not send your pitch as a DM here on Substack. You’ll hear from me sooner if you email me; I tend to lose track of DMs.
Please submit your pitch before writing your article. Completed drafts will not be accepted in place of a pitch.
In your pitch, write a brief paragraph describing your article idea. A three- or four-sentence description is ideal.
In your pitch, briefly mention why you think this article may be a good fit for The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life). A sentence or two is fine.
Share a brief bio to tell me about yourself, your experience as a writer, and how you discovered The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life). If we already know each other or have met in person, you may skip this step unless you feel that the additional context is helpful.
State whether you have a timetable in mind for writing this article and having it published at The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life). This will be especially useful for me to know. I try to stay ahead of my Substack publishing schedule, so keep in mind that I may be planning articles one to two months in advance.
If your pitch is aligned with the mission and themes of this Substack, I’ll do my best to respond within a week to say so and move forward with planning and scheduling your article.
Guidelines for Writing and Submitting Your Guest Post
Submit your article as an MS Word document or a Google Doc link. Other file formats will not be accepted.
Ensure your article is 1,000 to 2,500 words long. Also, please include a strong title for your article and at least three sections with heading titles within the article.
You’re welcome to use the following formatting in your article: headings for section titles, numbered or bulleted lists, bolded hyperlinks to other webpages or sources, italics or bold-italics for emphasis, and in-text links for YouTube videos.
Avoid other, special formatting in your article. Substack doesn’t have all of the capabilities you’ll find in MS Word or Google Docs, so some things might not “transfer well” or be possible.
Attach to your email a short bio (100 words or less) as an MS Word document, and a photo of your headshot. In your bio, you may include any relevant website or social media links, including your Substack link.
Attach at least one (1) photo or image to use at the top of your article (and additional photos or images as needed), and include in your bio document (or a separate attachment) the captions you want for each image. Make sure your caption includes the name of the person who took the photo, or the URL for the source of the image. Please note that, due to time constraints, I will not choose your article’s images for you, nor will I write captions from scratch to go with your images.
Please make sure you have permission to use the photos or images you plan to include in your article. See the above bullet for information about what to include in your photo or image captions. Should I have concerns about these permissions or the content in your images, I may ask you to replace them with new images.
Submit your article at least two (2) weeks before it’s scheduled to be published. This will give me enough time to check it over, format it on Substack, and schedule it.
All guest posts must be well-written. Due to time constraints, I cannot edit your article extensively. Please take the time to proofread it and ensure it’s as clean and correct as possible before submitting it. If I have questions about one or two areas, I’ll reach out so we can discuss edits. But if I receive an article that contains a substantial number of errors, I may ask you to revise the article, or I may reject it outright.
All guest posts must be free from plagiarism. Also, feel free to quote up to five sources. Insert hyperlinks or URLs for all online sources, and include citations for any offline sources.
All guest posts must be free from promotional content. I apologize if this sounds repetitive, but articles that promote products or services will not be accepted or published here. You’re welcome to include your website and social links in your bio, but the post itself should not promote products or services.
The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life) asks for 30 days of exclusive publication. Afterward, you may republish your article elsewhere with a link back to the original post on Substack and a statement such as, “Reprinted from The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life).”
Financial compensation for your guest post isn’t possible at this time. However, your guest post will be promoted on social media for added exposure. I may also share shout-outs to you here on Substack to celebrate the amazing things you do.
Ready to Pitch Your Guest Post Idea?
Awesome! Then email me as directed above, and follow the instructions in this article.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you and seeing what you’ll bring to this “garden”!