Writing for Interesting Thing of the Day

Would you like to be featured as a guest author on Interesting Thing of the Day? We welcome your submissions! Here’s the process for writing an article for this site:

  1. If you have an idea for an article, drop us a line using this form. Tell us what you want to write about, and if possible provide a writing sample (which can be a link to a Web page, if you wish).
  2. We will review your proposed topic. If we feel it’s interesting and appropriate for inclusion on this site, we’ll give you the go-ahead to start writing.
  3. Authors are asked to sign and return a very simple Author Agreement (covering matters such as copyright). A single agreement covers any number of articles you may write.
  4. Please follow the submission guidelines below when preparing your article.
  5. When we receive your article, we will review and edit it carefully. (Please note that we reserve the right to reject a submission for any reason.) You will be able to see and approve the final article before it is published.
  6. The article will appear on Interesting Thing of the Day, with your byline, when it best fits into our publication schedule—which, in some cases, may be several weeks after you submit it.
  7. Although we can’t pay for articles directly, we do offer authors free subscriptions to the audio and HTML/text email versions of Interesting Thing of the Day upon acceptance of an article for publication. Authors can also collect money through the “Virtual Tip Jar” at the bottom of each article by providing an email address associated with a PayPal account.

Submission Guidelines

Our guidelines for articles are simple and flexible. This is basically what we look for:

  • Article Length: Minimum: 600 words; maximum: 1500 words; ideal: 800–1200 words
  • Title and Subtitle: Each article must have a descriptive title. In general, we’re looking for a noun or noun phrase (see existing articles for examples) that clearly and concisely identifies what the “thing” is. Please include a short subtitle as well.
  • Subheads: Please include two or more subheads within the text of your article. Ideally, a subhead gives a clue as to the content of the next 1–3 paragraphs or so. It also makes the article easier to read by breaking up long passages of prose. It is not necessary (or desirable) to label every single paragraph with a subhead. The first paragraph of an article never has a subhead.
  • Grammar, Punctuation, Style, and Spelling: Please read and follow the ITotD Style Guide. Also, be sure to check your spelling and proofread your article thoroughly before submitting it.
  • Text Format: You may deliver your article to us as plain text in the body of an email message. If you prefer, send us a document in one of the following formats: Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), Text (.txt), or HTML (.htm or .html). You may use italics, boldface, bulleted or numbered lists, block quotes, diacritical (accent) marks, typographical marks (such as en and em dashes), and embellishments such as super- and subscripts.
  • Graphics: Your article may optionally include one photograph or other graphic in JPEG or GIF format, with maximum dimensions of 300x300 pixels. You must own the copyright to the graphic (which normally means you took the photograph or created the artwork yourself) unless it is verifiably in the public domain. Graphics copied from other Web pages or scanned from books or magazines cannot be used without written permission from the copyright owner.
  • More Information: At the end of each article, we include resources readers can use to learn more about that day’s topic. Please provide as much information as possible for this section. Examples include Web pages, books, CDs, DVDs, posters, and locations to purchase items mentioned in the article.
  • Audio Recordings: Each article is made available as an audio recording. If you wish to provide a recording of you reading the article in your own voice, please observe the following minimum specifications: 16-bit resolution, 44.1KHz sample rate, AIFF or Wave (.wav) file format. Please use a high-quality microphone and select a quiet, echoless location for your recording. (Feel free to contact us for more specific instructions.) If you do not wish to provide an audio recording, we are happy to record your article for you.
  • Biographical Information: At your option, you may include a paragraph or so describing yourself. If you wish, this information can include a URL, photo (up to 64x64 pixels), or contact information. You are not required to include any such information, but we do ask that authors use their real first and last names.