Here at Ways to Die we are always on the lookout for quality writers who can join our team and help us improve the site. So, if you want to write for us, and help out with this growing horror, crime and entertainment website, then read on.
And we’re not just saying that. We really have to stress these guidelines because so many writers ignore them. We know that it is annoying to have to read so many. As writers ourselves we can attest to that and we always hated being on your side of the fence and having to wade through all of those guidelines. But we also know that they really are essential.
Why We Have These Write For Us Guidelines
Prior to Ways to Die being founded we owned several other sites that became quite big. We opened ourselves up to writers sending content. “Write for Us and get paid” we exclaimed, and many sent us submissions. This was what we wanted and expected, but the submissions themselves were not.
We once counted all of the submissions we received over the course of a single month. There were hundreds in total and of those, only 20% were relevant to the actual content that we published. Some of the others were in a similar category, but more than 50% were completely irrelevant.
Over 40% of all content was riddled with links to low quality sites and looked like it had been written by Google Translate. And of the rest, a lot was too short, too generic, too vague. In the end, we were able to use less than 1%. So, to make sure that doesn’t happen again, to save our editor’s time and yours, we have put these guidelines in place.
Write For Us Guidelines: What to Include
We want writers who can produce interesting, well written content that is not riddled with mistakes, is relevant to our site and is at least 1,000 words. If you think that you can produce this on a regular basis, then send your submission in below. But before you do, make sure you include the following:
- Bio: Tell us who you are, why are you getting in touch and what your purpose of applying to work with WTD is. Be honest. We have been doing this long enough to understand the real reasons why people apply to write for sites like this and we always appreciate honesty.
- Examples: As mentioned below in our “What We Don’t Want” section, you don’t need to send us a full article just yet. Instead, begin by sending us some examples of your work. Ideally they should be no more than 500 words and should be taken from several articles.
- Credentials: Where have you been published before? Writing credits are not essential, but if you have been published on some major websites then let us know and send us a link or two.
- Production: Finally, let us know whether you want to write and post a single article on WTD or if you’re looking to become a regular writer. We’re open to all queries, but we will only offer payment to writers who produce quality content on a regular basis and can be trusted to write the content that our readers actually want to read.
- Ideas: Give us a couple ideas for article titles that you would like to write for us. Don’t write them just yet, but entice us by telling us what you would write in the future.
Write For Us Guidelines: What we Don’t Want
Even with the above requests, we’ve still been receiving a disproportionate number of submissions that ignore a lot of what we said. So, just to be clear, here are some of the things you should avoid sending and doing, things that will likely see your submission rejected or ignored:
- Attachments: Our spam filter will block anything that has an attachment. So, please do not send any attachments if you want your message to get through.
- Full, Original Articles: While we do want original articles on the site, you do not need to send us these to begin with. You may only be wasting your time in doing so as we only accept a small number of submissions that are sent to us. These need only be sent when we agree to publish you.
- Low Quality Links: We like articles that quote sources, but we don’t want to link to low quality sites that are not relevant to Ways to Die. You may be given the chance to write and post the article yourself, but everything will be checked by an editor before it goes live.
- Generic Fluff: A lot of the ideas we get are for articles that are very standard and have already been done. Please take a look around the site and find an article title that has not yet been submitted. You can use the Search function to get a better idea.
- Repeated Enquires: Please do not send repeat emails to enquire about your submission. If our editors think it is a good fit, they will ask you to join the team. If not, then they may not send you a reply.
- Demands: It’s great if you work for $x amount per word usually. But our editors don’t want to read this before anything else. We get a lot of demands regarding price, many of which are mentioned before or even in lieu of credentials and samples. These are often ignored. We are not a freelancing platform and we’re not offering paid jobs to everyone who applies. Payment may or may not come later, but if it’s paid work you’re looking for, you may be better off not submitting through our Write For Us form.
Submit to Ways to Die
If you have read the above guidelines and you think you have what it takes, then please get in touch using the form below. We don’t mind you skimming the above and we certainly won’t ignore you if we think you have done that. But bear in mind that if you do submit content that is clearly not what we are looking for, then you will not get a reply.
Again, this is just to save time. So, if we like what we see and think you will be a good fit, then our editors will be in touch and we’ll guide you from there. If not, we won’t get in touch.
We intentionally ask that you don’t send us full and original content so that we don’t waste your time and leave you sitting there not knowing whether you can send your article elsewhere. But if you do happen to send us anything or you simply want an idea of when we may respond, give us 2 weeks. If you don’t hear anything from us within that time then you can assume that it just wasn’t for us.