THE WRITERS’ BLOKKE PUBLICATION

Writers’ Blokke Submission Guidelines For 2022

Things will be slightly different for the year moving forward

Dear fellow writers of Writers’ Blokke, as many of you may already know by now, I’ve stopped adding new writers to the publication since the start of the month. This move was to ensure that I and the editors of the pub can put more focus and attention on editing your submissions.

Although this pub isn’t as big as other publications like Illumination which is home to over 14,000 plus writers, it is still home to over 3,000 plus writers.

If you ask me, that’s still a pretty big number and we want to ensure that your work is seen and read by as many pairs of eyes as possible on the platform and beyond.

That being said, there will be some changes to the submission guidelines for the publication moving forward. And these changes will be more in-line with the vision that I initially had for the publication.

When I started WB, the main purpose for it is that writers could have a home for their articles that may otherwise not be accepted by other publications. Of course, this didn’t mean that just any article will be accepted. You still had to play within the rules set by Medium and the publication.

But it was more or less open to a wide range of topics, and back then, already published articles were also accepted.

The other thing I wanted for the publication was to be a stepping stone for writers to go on to bigger and better publications after a while. That’s why WB was aimed at new writers who could use the publication to learn more about the platform, find their own style and voice, and go on to become a top writer.

Now that we have closed the publication to new writers for the time being (you can read about that from the link below), the focus will be more on the current crop of writers continuing to hone their craft, getting better, and going on to becoming top writers on the platform.

And with that, these new guidelines will now come into effect immediately, starting today, 4th March 2022.

Titles

All submitted articles must have proper titles. What do I mean by proper titles? Please see the image below.

The image shows a title, a subtitle, and a kicker. If you’re unsure which is which, ‘MEDIUM’ is the kicker, ‘Nothing Is Guaranteed On Medium Except Its Unpredictability’ is the title, and ‘It’s probably why this platform is as unique as it is’ is the subtitle.

It’s not compulsory to have the kicker and subtitles as well but it would be good to have at least a subtitle so that you give somewhat of a slight intro or clue to what the article will be about.

But a title? That’s definitely needed. You may think it’s silly for me to ask writers to have a title but you’d be surprised as to how many submissions I’ve received that do not have a title.

Credited images and videos

This one seems to be something that just needs to be repeated over and over again. So I’m hoping that after this, I would not have to mention it ever again.

For any image that you use in your article, please credit it accordingly — even if it’s royalty free, no copyright issue, or images of your own.

The thing is, if it’s your own picture, no one knows. If it’s a royalty free picture, no one knows. Plus, it doesn’t take much effort to just put a disclaimer at the bottom of the image where it’s from. If you look at the image I used above, it says that it’s a ‘screenshot by author,’ meaning I took a screenshot of it.

The picture of a camera above that I’ve used? It’s by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash. All credited so that people know I’m not claiming credit for something that isn’t mine.

If it’s a picture you sourced from Google, mention it. If it’s from other sites like Pexel, etc., mention it. If you can have a link to the site that you got it from, even better. But please, ensure ALL your images and videos are credited accordingly before you submit to the publication.

Unpublished drafts

Now, this will be a new rule to the publication — that we will only be accepting unpublished drafts from now on. We will no longer be accepting articles that have already been published.

This is to ensure that once your articles are published on the publication, it will be one of the latest ones published. And honestly, it will also reduce submissions because currently, over 40% of submissions that we get are published articles, some from a year or two ago even.

Another reason why we prefer unpublished drafts is so that the editors can help to clean up the draft (if needed) before it is seen by other readers. Like I said, we want to help writers to improve and this process will allow us to do so more efficiently. It also allows the editors to not have to make too many changes to an already published article.

If you need guidance on how to submit drafts to the publication, you can refer to the link above.

Topics allowed

This is another issue that I’ve been facing ever since I started the publication, topics of submissions that we get on a daily basis.

If you look at WB’s homepage, you can clearly see at the top, the topics that are most welcomed or requested here, which are about Life, Writing, Poetry, and Short Stories.

While we do also accept other topics, I have clearly mentioned in the now un-listed ‘Write For Us’ article that topics on sex, politics, religion, and violence are a no-no, especially if the content has elements of attacking or degrading another party.

I’ve also received submissions where other writers and publications on the platform are ridiculed or made fun of.

Where is the sense of community in articles like that? And, why are you submitting those articles when there are strict guidelines on what you can and cannot submit? Sometimes I really wonder if these guidelines are being read properly at all.

Which is why, this time, it will be stricter.

Moving forward, topics that are allowed to be submitted to WB are:

• Writing
• Life
• Poetry
• Short Stories
• Health
• Love
• Business
• Medium
• Money
• Fiction

As you can see, the main topics are kept but I’ve also added in topics on Health, Love, Business, Medium, Money, and Fiction, as I noticed a lot of you tend to like writing about these topics as well.

For short stories and fiction, please ensure there are no strong elements on sex, drugs, politics, hatred, or violence in your drafts.

Like I said, we’re building a strong community that encourages and supports one another here, not the other way around.

Submissions that are not within these topics or found to have elements that are not allowed will be rejected immediately. It’s not that you can’t write about them but we don’t want to publish stuff like that on here. Even my articles that are political or sensitive in nature are self-published.

I’d really appreciate if everyone can do the same as well.

Love, not hatred

There are so much negativity around us all over the world already. From the pandemic, to the current conflict in Ukraine, to other conflicts that have been going on for years now like those in Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Africa, etc., we really don’t need anymore, especially not on a platform where it is supposed to be a safe haven for writers.

I get it, sometimes you will have issues with another writer or another publication. You may even have issues with editors on this publication or others. That’s normal I guess, we’re only human.

But that doesn’t mean you need to write a whole freaking article talking shit about others and putting them down.

Although, if you do find yourself needing to do that, by all means, go ahead. But do not submit that article to be published because we do not need that kind of negative energy around here.

What we need is more love — be it on this platform or anywhere else.

And we can really start by at least showing it through our writing.

And there you have it, the new guidelines for Writers’ Blokke moving forward. I really hope that all of you can follow these guidelines and also pay attention to detail to other things like spellings and grammar. I’m not saying we don’t make mistakes, because we do. I have made so many spelling and grammatical mistakes as well, as have all the other editors here.

But that’s also why I use tools like Grammarly or I just re-read my drafts a few times before I submit because we tend to miss things the first time around.

The less errors there are, the less amount of editing that needs to be done, the quicker your submissions can be reviewed and published.

I really do hope that all of you will keep improving and either go on to be top writers or to stay as a top writer for as long as you’re writing on this platform. That is truly the biggest goal I have for you as a writer for WB.

With that, I thank you for having WB as one of the homes for your work and for contributing to the growth of the publication. I also thank you for creating content that have delighted, inspired, entertained, and helped the near 14,000 readers on here.

I hope to keep this place going for quite a while longer and I hope that all of you will continue to be a part of this journey.

Peace.