By Diane Gilleland
In our recent CRAFT Reader Survey, you told us you’d like to see a wider variety of crafters featured here. And we always love finding new ideas!
As some of you know, we have a submission form, and you can submit post ideas to us anytime. We love hearing from you! But I thought you might like some tips on what helps your submission grab our editors’ attention. Read on for all our secrets!
Have we featured it before?
When you use our submission form, you’ll be able to enter all kinds of details about the project you want to submit for feature on CRAFT. But actually, before you fill out that form, it’s wise to do a little research.
You can head to your favorite search engine and search for “Craftzine [name of your project].” The results will give you a good idea of how many times we’ve visited this subject, and how recently. Generally, if we’ve covered a particular idea recently, we’ll be less likely to cover it again for a while – unless you have an approach that’s very original.
Also, if you read us regularly, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what kinds of crafts we’ve featured more than once, and that’s a good indicator that we may be ready to look at something new. All of this data should give you a good idea of which of your projects to submit at any given time.
How is your photography?
We have to turn down more good projects for poor photography than for any other reason. So before you submit, ask yourself: are your images in focus? Are they well-lit (meaning, not lit by a flash)? Do they show the project in a nice-looking setting?
If you need some help tuning up your images, you might like Cheap and Simple Tools for Better Blog Photography, from our archives, or this great how-to from Photojojo.
Image by tanakawho, via Flickr
Does your idea fit our current editorial focus?
It might be helpful to know that our editors follow monthly themes for posting, and that we’re always paying attention to the seasons and upcoming holidays. If you can time your submission well, it has a better chance of fitting into our editorial plans.
On the first day of each new month, for example, I announce what the theme will be for that month. (July will focus on Photography & Design.) That doesn’t mean every post we feature for the month will be about this subject, but it does mean that if you have a related idea, July is a great time to submit it. Keep an eye open for each month’s theme.
Similarly, when you submit, think about what’s happening on your calendar right now. Summer is a good time to submit projects for kids, for example, since they’re out of school. Fall will be a good time to submit fiber arts ideas, as people return to knitting and crochet in earnest. If you have a project in your blog archives that relates to a current theme, feel free to submit it!
Check out what we see
It might also help to see how your submission is presented to our editors. We receive it in the form of an email with no visuals. So the text you send with your submission is actually very important – the more detail and interest there is in your text, the more we’ll be compelled to explore your idea further.
Image by Tom Gill, via Flickr
Don’t take it personally, and keep trying!
We get far more submissions than we could ever hope to publish (or respond to individually, sadly). But just because we pass on your first idea doesn’t mean there aren’t future opportunities. Keep sending us ideas, and sooner or later, there may be a fit.
I hope these tips are helpful, and I hope you’ll send in your submissions! Have any questions on the process? Leave a comment below!
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