WRITING

Write for Us

Guides and stuff…

PLEASE NOTE: Our guidelines and ‘How to Write for Us’ have changed. Please head over to our latest guidelines post here:

OLD GUIDELINES — Pre April 2022

QUICK GUIDELINES OVERVIEW Our Guidelines (UPDATED) Writing Prompts (NEW) How to Add a Draft Shortform Tags (UPDATED) What We Accept (UPDATED) Writing Tips for a Better Post How to Write for Us DISCLAIMER

Read about WHY I Created this Publication here:

QUICK GUIDELINES OVERVIEW

Before you submit, check you have done these things:

• Included a title, sub-title, attributed image
• Proofread and submitted a clean DRAFT
• Followed Medium’s standard guidelines
• Included transgender as your FIRST tag
• Included citations for ALL images, videos, and in-text resources

(If the above have not been done, I will send you a private note to ask you to come back to this post and follow the guidelines — If your article hasn’t been published within 48 hours, PLEASE CHECK IT FOR PRIVATE NOTES!).

Watch this video for a quick tutorial on formatting your article.

Our Guidelines

Publication owners and editors DO NOT RECEIVE compensation for doing so. We do it to help you get exposure and hopefully get your post distributed. Please follow these guidelines to minimize the time we need to spend trying to help you. It’s the old, help us help you! :D

Writers, please check these guidelines regularly.

We follow the standard format:

• Title in Title Case
• Subtitle in sentence case (If no subtitle is included, I’ll convert the first line of your article to the subtitle)
• Add a photo AFTER THE TITLE AND SUBTITLE — credit MUST be included
• Follow standard Medium guidelines in general (this is essential)
• You can add a KICKER (if you know how — see the how-to video) but it is not necessary
• ONLY DRAFTS can be accepted (already published work will not be accepted — it messes with the algorithm)
• ALL images, videos, in-text academic links MUST BE CITED FOR COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT. * How to cite images: — Click below the image where it says “Type Here for Image Caption”. Include the owner of the image, the image title, and the location of the image (if applicable). — eg/ “Image by author”, “Image purchased by author from Deposit Photos”, “Fire and Rope by Harry Jones from Pexels”. * How to cite videos: — Click below the image where it says “Type Here for Image Caption”. Include the creator, year, video title, and date posted. — eg/ “Userxxx 2022, A Video Title, feb 21. * How to cite in-text academic links: — if you are including academic links (reports, papers, journals etc) I assume you are familiar with referencing. I don’t care which referencing format you use as long as you use one :) * How to cite in-text resources: — If including a link to an external resource such as a book, include (as a minimum) the author’s name. — eg/ “NUSA Earth by PJ Silva”, “NUSA Earth (PJ Silva)”, “NUSA Earth (PJ Silva, 2021).

Please proofread before submitting. I will do a light proofread and edit [my credentials — MA(writing)Swinburne, BComm(Swin)]; however, if there are too many errors or the above format is not followed, I will ask you to make further edits before I can publish your work. I won’t change your voice so it is UP TO YOU to ensure your article connects and is readable. Have a look at the format for the other articles on here if you are unsure.

Writing Prompts

Writing prompts are a fun way to motivate your brain (and your fingers — on the keyboard I mean *wink*). We have streams of Writing Prompts — those by me (KP) under the Qunitessentials banner, and those created by Logan Silkwood for Logan’s Corner. You can respond to any prompt on any publications, however, if you publish outside of QueelyTran, please offer the writing prompt creator respect by including a link back to the prompt. It also means we can find you, clap, and comment.

To publish ON Queerly Trans, please apply to WRITE FOR US. Then, do the following to ensure your response ends up in the right place.

1. Mention the prompt in your sub-title - Response to Queerly Trans Writing Prompt - Response to Logan’s Corner Writing Prompt WHY? This allows Logan and I to instantly see which of us needs to edit and publish the post. You may wish to add the name of the writing prompt in the sub-title too. If you do not include this, your post will be treated as if it is NOT a writing prompt response. If you are not comfortable with this requirement, remember, you can publish anywhere — it’s a writing prompt to get you thinking.
2. After Transgender, add the tag: - ‘Writing Prompt’ for the Quintessentials prompts. - ‘Gender’ for Logan’s Corner. DO NOT use writing prompt as a tag for Logan’s Corner or gender as a tag for Quintessentials. WHY? Because this is how the system allocates your post to the right tab. We didn’t create it, but we sure as hell use it.

You can find our list of prompts here:

How to Add a Draft

1. Write your article as normal (NOT within the publication)
2. When you are ready to submit, CLICK THE THREE DOTS NEXT TO PUBLISH
3. Select ‘add to publication’
4. Choose Queerly Trans. Click ‘select and continue’
5. THEN click submit
6. Add all five tags according to the TAGGING GUIDELINES below
7. Click submit

Short Form

Yes, we accept short form. In fact, we now have a whole section dedicated to the 1 minute read!

Guidelines for short form:

• Must comply with Medium’s Shortform guidelines (summarised below)
• 150 characters or less (including image credit)
• NO TITLE, SUBTITLE, or KICKER
• First-line must be in bold
• It is recommended that your first line includes a link
• If an image is to be included, add it at the END of your post
• MUST TAG “Short Form”
• See this short form article as an example:

Tags

Please use ‘TRANSGENDER’ AS YOUR FIRST TAG. Other recommended tags:

• LGBTQ or lgbtqia
• Mental Health
• Relationships

These TAGS have been assigned to sections on the page. You MUST use the appropriate tag to appear in these sections. DO NOT use these tags on any post except as per below.

• Gender (for Logan’s Corner writing prompts)
• Short Form (for 1 min reads — MUST meat short form criteria)
• Writing Prompts (for responding to Quintessential writing prompts)

To MAXIMISE YOUR EXPOSURE USE ALL FIVE TAGS. The tags above have been selected based on research. Please note: if you do not use Transgender in your tags, I will remove your tags and use Transgender only. Follow this guideline to ensure you get the most potential for exposure.

What we accept

Pretty much anything Queerly Trans or fiction by Queerly Trans authors. We reserve the right to refuse any piece that violates Medium’s guidelines (because we have to), but apart from that, go nuts. We encourage stories that are thought-provoking, fiction that is subtle to outrageous, and personal essays that will help Queerly Trans peeps be they out and proud, newly questioning, or anything in between. Remember to tell YOUR story, not someone else’s.

What we DON’T accept

This is the stuff I have to say for OUR safety and protection now that our writer list is growing. We reserve the right to refuse any piece that is not aligned with our focus and mission or that is negative in its representation of our queerly trans community. We reserve the right to remove any writer who ongoing chooses not to follow the guidelines — I don’t have time for that, man! Lol. Disrespect — well, that’s a blockin’.

** Gatekeeping — That’s a HARD NO!** Gatekeeping can take many forms and if your heart is in the right place, I’ll simply edit and let you know in a private note. Obvious and abundant gatekeeping will not be tolerated.

* Copyright infringement — That’s a HARD NO!** As per Medium’s guidelines, you cannot repost or share anything privately written or created by someone else WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. That includes (but is not limited to) photos, images, art, emails, letters, social media post, correspondence. Please note that QT will not accept such inclusions even with written permission.

Anything shared PUBLICLY may be linked or referred to as long as you acknowledge copyright.

REMINDER: ALL images, videos, in-text academic links MUST BE CITED FOR COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT (click for more)

This is NOT NEGOTIABLE!!!!

Writing Tips for a Better Post

You do NOT need to be a professional writer to write for us — we are more interested in representation and sharing your experience to help others; however, here are a few things to help you ensure your message reaches its audience and isn’t lost in translation:

• PROOFREAD your article before you send it. Better still, run a voice read back — you’ll pick up things by ear that you miss visually
• Run a checker such as Grammarly — it’s free
• Do not overuse punctuation. Exclamation marks and ellipses should be used sparingly
• Write in a consistent tense — past, present, or future. If you do change the tense, make sure it is really clear WHY and that your reader can follow you.
• Write from a consistent POV (point-of-view) — First person uses Me/I, Second Person uses You, Third person uses They/He/She etc. If you change POV within your post, ensure it is really clear WHY and that your reader can follow you.
• Write what you FEEL
• Follow the guidelines here — they are written to HELP YOU!
• Use THIS article as your guide. It has a kicker (not required), title, subtitle, and image. THIS is the format to use.
• Add links in your article to your other articles and an embed below to your About Me page
• Add links in your articles to other Medium articles by other writers — it boosts your post in Google’s algorithm AND you get to support another writer
• Use ALL FIVE TAGS — but ensure you use TRANSGENDER first for Queerly Trans articles
• Don’t have an About Me page? Write one and host it here. Use the tag WRITER.

How to Write for Us

Please head to our CURRENT guidelines to apply to write for us:

YOU ARE TRANS ENOUGH to write for us! ❤

I won’t be gatekeeping your trans-ness! You are trans enough. In other words, you decide if you qualify as a Queerly Trans writer. I look forward to reading your work!

Let’s get loud!

Disclaimer

Articles published on Queerly Trans will also be distributed through Twitter (https://twitter.com/KPthewriter1) and Facebook. Join our Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/queermedium.

Writers — Please keep up-to-date with current guidelines. By submitting an article to Queerly Trans, you agree to abide by these guidelines. It is your responsibility to respond to any messages asking for changes. Failure to do so will leave your article in ‘draft limbo’ and nobody wants that! Any important updates will be in this post. Thanks:) Kristy Westaway, Jymi Cliche, Justice Faye, Ayven Alexander, Jenny Starr✨, Nova Grace, Logan Silkwood, 💜 Victoria Quinn 💜, Kitty Whitemore, Amber Poe, locke besse, Emma Holiday, Mx. Marie Chase Lewis (They/She), Michelle Paquette.

Join Medium now for only $5/month and have access to EVERYTHING — not just here, but everything on Medium! I get a little happy-happy cash splash when you use my referral link, so thank you for feeding the author so they can spend even more time making QueerlyTrans content.