Over the years I have received an agonsingly large number of submissions, CVs and emails asking to contribute to teentoday.co.uk. I don’t blame them, the site’s epic. Here’s what I look for, reformatted as a handy guide for people looking to submit their work to blog or website editors:
Write your email or submission letter in a way that’s tonally consistent with the site
You know, because it’s how we talk. My blog is chatty and informal. Please don’t send me an email the begins with Dear Sir, please don’t sign off Best Wishes, and when talking about your interests, make sure you talk about the stuff my blog taks about. Not your ant farm.
Know the blog
I have an ego, I want it stroked. I think working for my blog is an honour and you should too. Tell me why it’s amazing. Have opinions, articulate them clearly and honestly. Ideally, DON’T refer to the most recently published article on the site when doing this.
Know the ecosystem
Writing used to be about words. Not any more. For your words to work for their money, they need to be read. I have a social strategy in place. I rule the youth ecosystem on my amazing Facebook and twitter. If you’re passionate about the things you want to write about, you’ll be in the ecosystem too. Familiarise yourself with my competitor’s sites and social profiles; the other destinations that punctuate the ecosystem. You should be in that world too.
Send writing examples not CVs
My blog publishes articles not CVs. I don’t care about your GCSE B in Home Economics, your keen interest in bird watching, or your six months at the Topshop checkout. I want to know what you can do TODAY. Show me. If they’re good enough, they’ll be on the site before my reply. Don’t send historic work, create something based on what my site does, and if it’s good. I’m sold.
Blog publishers, please add your thoughts, or trash my own… what do you look for from your writer applications?
You says to talk about what your blogs talk about…it’ll be repetative, or turn into a war between blogs, with people expressing their own opinions and trashing other peoples’ opinions. People want variety, you want popularity. You have to give them what they want to get what you want.