Guest Posts

Submissions are currently open. 

Would you like to be part of Writers & Other Animals? Please read this page first. Then, if you believe you and your work fit in, send me something. Please don't send a long email telling me what you plan to write. Let your submission speak for itself. 

I will try to acknowledge receipt within 72 hours, and to let you know within two weeks whether I can use your post. 

Sheila
sheilaboneham at gmail dot com

First Things First

Please remember - your post reflects on your other work. It reflects on you. It reflects on me and my blog, and on the other contributors. So please, send me stuff you really want people to see. Really.  

Cross Promotion

I set this blog up because I believe it is to all our advantages to promote the sales of all books. Not just mine. Not just yours. If you send posts to run on this blog, I will spend a fair amount of time setting them up and promoting them. In return, I expect you to promote the other blog posts that appear here on a regular basis. It's only fair. If you're all about you, and don't want to promote your colleagues, please don't submit here. I don't systematically check up on people, but I do notice, and I have a good sense of who does and does not promote our colleagues. And please subscribe to the blog!

What I'm looking for

First, quality writing. Second, animals. This does not mean that animals have to be the primary focus of your work, but in most cases, at least one animal must figure in your submission. Perhaps you write about Martians with a cat on your keyboard. Great! Tell us about that. 

I will consider posts about most kinds of writing -- literary fiction, genre, creative nonfiction, commercial, fiction, nonfiction, poetry.... The key, again, is quality.

As with any publication, I reserve the right to make minor edits without consulting you. If I think a major change is needed, I will ask you to make it (or decline the submission if I don't think it's right for this blog). I do some fact checking, and expect information to be accurate.

I will consider many topics and many types of posts, including the following (and more) -- 

• your work or an aspect of your work 

• topics related to your book(s) or other work

• the creative process

• the craft of writing 

• interviews (see suggested questions and directions below)

• "Seven (or ten or twelve) Things You Might Not Know About (your book, your protagonist, you the author, your setting, a character's career or hobby....)"

• "Seven (or ten or twelve) Things You Might Not Know About (your favorite species/breed or animal sport/activity"

• excerpts from your books

• discussion of several works linked by theme, subject, setting, or some other elements

• discussion of several authors, or one author's body of work 

• other - if you have something else in mind, try me; you might scroll through older posts for inspiration

I will accept previously published pieces, but you must own the copyright, and you must let me know when and where the work has appeared.  

Also note: Submitting does NOT  guarantee publication.

Please send more than one! 

It's to your advantage to keep you name and work out in front of readers, and I also want to be sure this blog is a going concern and interesting to readers. Therefore, I encourage you to send two to four posts per year. I will schedule them at intervals so that they don't run too frequently, but I do prefer to receive more than one at or around the same time. You might consider, for instance, a post about a topic related to your book(s), an interview, an excerpt, a photo essay, perhaps a seasonal post. If you submit at least three, your book cover will remain in the sidebar for at least six months after your latest post.

Frequent Author Page 

I am in the process of creating a "frequent author" listing. If you submit/have submitted three or more posts to WOA in the past year, I will include you on the list with links to your posts.  

What to Include and How to Format It

• Length -  approxiately 300-800 words unless we agree in advance to something else
• Type of doc - Word (doc or docx) to sheilaboneham at gmail dot com. 
• Standard formatting throughout: 
• 12-pt Arial, 
• single spaced, 
• paragraphs flush left - no indent!
• double-spaced between paragraphs. 
• all paragraphs flush left
• book titles in italics, not quotation marks. 
• no fancy headers or indents or anything PLEASE. 
• Proofread!
• Who are you? Please include a short bio at the end.
• Links - Do include at least one link so that readers can find you and your work. Be judicious in the number of links you include. 
• Images - send at least one image! Ideally, include an author photo, book cover (if you have a book), and one more image related to your post. Use the following guidelines: 
• Send each image as a jpg file attached to the same email. Do not zip.
• Do not embed images in the text, but please do indicate in brackets (and ideally in another color) approximately where each should go, if you have a preference.
• Label all images, using your last name as the first word in the label and something to help me ID the image. For example, Boneham_BlackDog.jpg. An author photo is helpful, labeled the same way, e.g., Boneham_head_shot.jpg. I am going to reject posts that do not do that - I can't tell you how many pics I receive called "me.jpg" or "285062981.jpg."
• Size matters! Images should be no larger than 400 pixels on the longest side. I will not open ginormous files! For use on a computer screen, they do not need to be high resolution --  72-90 dpi is fine).
• Breed names - I follow the standard practice of most registries re. capitalization of breed names. Please follow suit. If you aren't sure, go to an appropriate registry website and check. If the animal is a cross, please do not label it as a breed. (I define a breed as a population of animals that breed reasonably true across generations, preferably recognized by a major registry or long-standing individual breed registry.)
• Spell my name correctly when you email or mention me. Jeesh.

Scheduling

In the interest of reduced bookkeeping (and more time to write and play with animals), I do not schedule posts until I receive and accept them.  (Occasionally I hold a slot for a book release or other event if, for instance, the author is waiting for cover art, but I rarely do this for anyone I haven't hosted before.) 

If you want a post to run at a particular time, please send it well in advance. I'll do the best I can, but earlier is always better than later. 

I am a writer first, blog host way down the list somewhere. In the interest of keeping some sanity in the arrival of guest posts for the blog, please note that I will be accepting new posts only during the following blocks of time:

• January-March

• July-September

Write well and play with animals!

Sheila Webster Boneham, PhD, MFA

Interview Questions

If you would like to be "interviewed," please answer any 5-7 of the following questions (or substitute other questions if you like, as long as they are relevant). Please follow the general submission directions at Guest Posts.

• Tell us a little about your journey as a writer (one reasonably short paragraph)
• Tell us a bit about your latest book (or the book you are presenting here - or other project if you are an artist/photographer)
• (If you write both fiction and nonfiction) Which is harder and which is more fun, fiction or nonfiction? 
• How do you develop your characters? Are any of them based on real animals or people?
• (For nonfiction) What was it about the subject that inspired you to write?
• (For poets) How does poetic form affect the content and presentation of animals in your work?
• How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?
• Which do you consider more important, plot or character?
• What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and how did you overcome it?
• What inspires you and keeps you motivated?
• What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?
• What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?
• If you could take only three books with your for a year-long writing retreat in a gorgeous setting with no library, which three would you take?
• Tell us about your pets, or other animals that inspire you.
• Who are your literary heros? (Writers whose work you love)
• What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?
• What question do you wish interviewers would ask? (And what’s the answer?) 
• Where can we learn more about you and your books?