How We Edit at Writers Guild
This document is for internal use.
When we receive a new submission at Writers Guild, we have a couple things to think about before hitting publish or reject. Here’s how we want to proceed in both cases.
Bookmarks you should add
Editing can be time consuming if you don’t have a process. We’ve found that a part of the process that really helps cut down the time it takes to edit a submission and publish it is to bookmark two of pages under a folder called “Writers Guild” in your browser:
The first bookmark is to the submissions and the second is to the document that has our blurb that you’ll need to add at the bottom of all submissions. That blurb may change over time, so always refer back to that page for the most up to date content.
Accepting a Submission
If you want to accept a story, great! This means that it meets our submission policies which you can find here:
In most cases, we should accept all submissions that meet our guidelines. If an editor is unsure how to proceed, the editor should always refer to the submissions policies linked above.
Publish the Submission
We need to ensure we have three things checked before publishing a submission.
- It should have a featured image. If it does not, the editor should create/find one by using a tool like Canva. Images that we do not own the rights to must be royalty free; the editor can obtain free stock photos by using a service like Unsplash.com
- In the case where an article is submitted without a featured image, we reserve the right to add a featured image with graphic design as we see fit.
- Add everything at the bottom of the “What We Add to Submissions” document.
That’s it. Because we are more focussed on the content of the submission than achieving a high level of correct grammar, once you’ve taken a quick look through the submission and met the above marks, hit publish if the writer has not already scheduled the article to be published at a certain time.
Rejecting a Submission
If you are going to reject a submission, that’s unfortunate. We try to keep our acceptance rate up by maintaining writers who thrive to meet our policies.
If it is the writer’s first time submitting an article that does not meet our policies, the editor, if time permits, should reject the article and let the writer know why this action has been taken through a private note.
If this is the the writer’s first time missing the mark of our submission policies, the editor should reject the submission and move on to the next.
If the writer is a repeat offender, it might be time to remove them from our writing team with an optional note explaining why this action had to be taken. We hope to keep this rare as it has not been a big issue in the past.
