Thanks for your interest in writing a guest post for Litemind.
To help you with your writing and me with getting your post ready for publishing on Litemind, I’ve put together a few guidelines and suggestions for you below.
Please note: what follows are not hard and fast rules. Ultimately I want people to write in their own voice. However the following might help your post to ‘fit’ better with Litemind and get the attention it deserves.
Content
Litemind covers a wide variety of topics — which can be loosely categorized as ‘personal development’. If you’re uncertain if a topic fits, please check the about page or browse the archives to get a better feel of the site. Note, however, that you’re not limited to topics already covered in the site, so please contact me and let’s discuss your idea together.
Readers truly appreciate practical advice. Anything you can include that is a ‘how to’ or something that they can try out immediately will be greatly appreciated. That provides more value to the readers and will probably result in more fans of your writing and blog compared to a fluffier piece. People love really useful information.
Post Length
The post length in this site usually lies somewhere between 800-1500 words. Try to stick with this post length, but bear in mind the most important thing is to convey your message. Don’t add fluff to a post just to meet the word quota. By the same token, don’t cut important parts of your content just because of the word count.
Images
I’ll add images when appropriate. But if you have already found a great image online that is ok to use copyright-wise then feel free to send me. The max width to fit the current blog layout is 480px.
Editing
Please note that I do edit posts that appear on Litemind. I may correct grammar and spelling and even do some heavy edits occasionally (such as change a title or rework an opening or conclusion). Don’t be offended by this. My goals are the same as yours: make it as successful a post as possible.
Occasionally I’ll send a post back to you with suggested additions, omissions or changes. This is generally if I feel the post could be further enhanced in ways that go beyond some basic editing.
Exclusivity
The post must be something original and unique. Unless previously negotiated, I’m assuming the post was written exclusively for Litemind. While you’re more than welcome to write on the same topic elsewhere, the particular piece you submitted must not be published on any other sites — that includes your blog. You will still hold all the authoring rights for your post that are published in this site.
Promotion
I want to highlight you, your blog or any product or service that you have to offer. This should largely be done in a byline that will be featured at the bottom of your post. Bylines should be a sentence or two of who you are and what you do. Feel free to include up to 3 links in it.
In post links — if relevant to the topic you’re writing — you’re welcome to link back to your blog within the post. Keep in mind that this ‘relevancy’ is very important. Some guest posters include too many links or irrelevant links back to their own blogs and end up hurting their images. I don’t mind promoting you — but sometimes subtlety works best.
Acceptance of Articles
I reserve the right to reject submissions that I feel aren’t appropriate for this website. This means articles that I actively disagree, that don’t meet Litemind quality standards — or simply ones that somehow don’t ‘fit’ with the themes of Litemind.
Please don’t get mad at me, but the fact is that I’m very picky. No matter how objective I want to be in my acceptance criteria, choosing what to publish in this site is, in the end, still a very subjective decision on my part. If you have a website that you’re proud of, I’m sure you’ll understand.
Thanks for your involvement with Litemind. If you’re interested in guest posting, please contact me. If you have any questions or concerns, I’ll do my best to answer them.
(guest posting rules largely inspired from Problogger’s — you rock, Darren!)
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