Thanks for your interest in writing for DeeperBlue.com.
We are always looking for new writers of news and articles around Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To increase your chances of your piece being selected we’ve put together this page of guidelines and suggestions to give some more information.
Submission checklist
Before you send us your submission, please make sure it:
- conveys quality, practical advice or timely news presented with DeeperBlue.com readers in mind
- is able to be used exclusively at DeeperBlue.com
- includes all the information—links, link text, etc.—you want the published version of your post to include
- infringes no copyright laws
- includes a headline, body text, and your byline.
Exclusivity
Unless previously negotiated, we ask that the posts you submit to us are written exclusively for use by DeeperBlue.com. While you’re more than welcome to write on the same topic elsewhere, our hope is that posts that appear on DeeperBlue.com don’t appear in the same form elsewhere.
Topics
Posts work best on DeeperBlue.com that are relevant to three main topics — Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. Of course there’s a lot of room to in those topics that could include other supplementary areas.
DeeperBlue.com readers love practical tips and how-tos as well as timely news. Give readers information that they can apply immediately, and you’ll be popular here.
Topics in which we’re particularly interested right now include (but aren’t limited to):
- learning to dive (which ever flavour of diving)
- choosing the right equipment
- equipment reviews
- tips and tricks to increase breath-hold
- how to start out in Spearfishing
- marine and shark conservation
Voice
Some writers worry about what voice or style to write in. Ultimately this is up to you. We encourage you to bring your own voice to your post.
Formatting and markup
Feel free to submit your content in Word or plain text format. It’d be great if you could also follow these points in preparing your post for us.
- Please don’t use bold font in your post’s prose.
- Subheadings: wrap any subheadings in your post in <h2> tags, or simply bold them so they stand out.
- Links: if you want to mark up a link and link text using HTML, by all means do so. Otherwise, include the URL in brackets within the prose, immediately after the text you’d like to use as the link text. Note that we don’t publish affiliate links in guest posts.
Please do include everything you want to have included with your post in your submission. If you want to include links, paste them in the spot where you want them to go. If you want to use particular link text, tell us. Don’t assume we’ll know what information you want, and where: tell us clearly.
A note on links to your own blog or website…
If it’s relevant to the topic you’re writing about, you’re welcome to link back to your blog or website within the post. Keep in mind that this relevancy is very important. If we feel your post includes too many links back to your own blog, we may remove them, or reject the post. A high-quality, helpful post will get people checking out who you are more effectively than will lots of links back to your blog.
Post length
Your post should be as long as you need it to be in order to convey your message.
We publish posts that vary greatly in length. Anything goes—length isn’t a factor, but quality is. Stick with your own style and voice, and choose a length that sits well with you.
Editing
All posts that appear on DeeperBlue.com are edited. We rarely edit them heavily, but we will change titles, rework openings or conclusions, or correct grammar and spelling.
Don’t be offended by this—we’re just trying to make every post we publish as successful as possible. We also know what generally works well with the DeeperBlue.com audience.
Occasionally, we’ll send a post back to you with suggested additions, omissions, or changes. This generally suggests we feel the post could be further enhanced in ways that go beyond some basic editing.
Our hope is that we get a post that hits the mark with the readership—that’s good for you as the author, good for DeeperBlue.com readership, and good for the site as a whole.
Byline
You’ve worked to give us great content, so let us help you promote you. We want to highlight you, your blog, or any product or service that you have to offer. This is largely done in your byline.
Bylines should be a sentence or two explaining who you are and what you do. Feel free to include up to two links in it. Some guests include a link to an RSS feed here, which can convert well. Your byline will appear at the bottom of your post.
Do you accept all entries?
We get pitched a lot of ideas, and we’re not able to use everything that’s submitted. We may decline to use your post because of its quality, the relevance of your topic, because we have more posts than we can use, or because we’ve published a number of posts on the topic recently.
We may also decline to use your post if it covers information we’ve already covered on the site. We’re really looking for posts that present new ideas, fresh perspectives, and innovative approaches. We like to present readers with ideas that we haven’t seen elsewhere online.
What’s Next
If you have any questions or concerns or would like to contact us with your post, please contact us via our contact form.
