Guest Posts

Awesome! We’re glad to see that you’re interested in contributing. Down To Earth Linux welcomes guest posts!

If you would like to get your material on Down To Earth Linux, you’re must submit your guest post to us for approval. Below we have outlined the types of content we are looking for, as well as some basic rules and guidelines to increase the likelihood that your post will be accepted.

Tailoring to Our Audience

This website caters to readers with limited Linux experience and knowledge. When starting a post, you should ask yourself two important questions:

What knowledge do the readers need to understand my subject?
What will readers learn or what benefits will they receive upon reading this post.

The required knowledge should be light. And the benefits or learned topic should be specific.

Subjects to Pick

We are a Linux blog. Most anything Linux related is acceptable. Just be careful that the subject is not too complex. Remember, our readers are new or just plain unfamiliar with Linux.

If you are unsure whether your topic will fit in with us, you may want to send us a short description of your subject for approval before diving headfirst into the writing (more on this below).

The Style

Down To Earth Linux strives to provide an unassuming and uncritical instructional style with our posts. Some portions of the Linux community are unfriendly, if not downright rude, to new users. We look to encourage readers to learn, try, and participate.

Rules

The following are several rules that you should follow. It is highly unlikely that posts that do not conform to these rules will be accepted!

Make your post useful to the audience. Solve a problem. Teach a skill. Explain a concept. Don’t just write to write.
Use simple anecdotes and examples to illustrate your point. In the words of Albert Einstein, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Be substantive. Don’t skimp on the content. Scaling back a post that is too long or detailed is relatively simple. Beefing up a post that is too short is difficult.
Future proof it! Technology is a quickly changing field, and writing content that lasts is challenging, and not always possible. But think about how your post will look 5 or 10 years from now, and try to write in a manner that will still be relevant then.
PROOFREAD! If you’re missing a comma or have a misspelling or two, it’s not a big deal. We do that all the time. But poorly formatted sentences and lots of missing or improper capitalization and punctuation won’t fly. We will try and work with you, but we will not completely rewrite your post.
Do not plagiarize or violate copyright laws. We want content generators, not content thieves. If you quote someone, use a photograph, or are inspired by someone, make sure it is okay with them first, then attribute it to them.
Do not include any affiliate links without explicit permission.
Do not include any fancy formatting such as colors or weird fonts. All posts on our website will be reformatted to fit with our style.

How to Make Us Happy

Calls to action. Encourage readers to engage with your post or Down To Earth Linux in general. This includes leaving comments, subscribing to our mailing list, sharing the post through social media, or in any other way interacting with us. We love attention. Help us bask in the warm glow of that attention.
Link to other posts of ours in yours.
Create openings for us to advertise or insert affiliate links. The cost of running this website and related outlets is offset by advertisements and affiliate links. Helping us do that will endear us to you. One of our most effective options is Amazon affiliate links. Create an opening to reference an Amazon product and we will love you for it. But keep it tasteful. We are, first and foremost, an educational blog.
Fill a niche. Find a subject or topic we haven’t or don’t often cover and write about that.

What We Need From You

Either your whole post, or a short, paragraph long pitch of your post.
- If you choose the short pitch, tell us your topic, mention some of the main points or subtopics, and convince us why it is good for our audience.
- If you’re sending a whole post, please make it an easily readable format, or send multiple formats. Attached Microsoft Word documents or text files are always a safe choice.
Who you are. At a minimum, this means a name. Preferably, give us more detail than that. Do you have any samples of your writing? What do you do? Are you experienced in the topic you have chosen? What is your favorite color? Is this a one time post, or are you looking to contribute more in the future? Market yourself to us a little bit.
A brief bio that you would like displayed to readers. Typically we look for about 75 to 100 words, but there aren’t any explicit requirements. This bio can include links to your website or blog, or to a product of yours, as long as they aren’t inappropriate.
Any comments, questions, or expectations you may have or would like to discuss.

Collect this material, and submit it to us via email at [email protected]. Please include the phrase “Guest Post Submission” in the subject line. We use heavy-handed spam reducing techniques, and that will ensure your message gets past our gauntlet.

The Process

Once you have submitted a proposal to us, and we have added it to our queue for approval, we will send a confirmation stating that we have received it and are processing it.
Once the initial review process is complete, we will send you our preliminary opinions, as well as specifics on where we will go from there.
- If we approve your post or preliminary proposal, this response will often include some suggestions, proposed changes, and/or tweaks. These are not criticisms! Almost every writer is subjected to some form of editing before publishing, including us. Do not take this personally. It’s part of the writing process. If you aren’t happy with the final product when all is said and done, we don’t have to post it.
- If we do not approve your post or proposal, we will usually give you some explanation as to why. If you are able to address our concerns, you are free to resubmit your proposal. If not, don’t be disheartened. Writing is a process, and sometimes comes with rejection. Ask us any questions you have so you can learn from the experience, then try again.
If you only submitted a proposal, we will then ask you to write the full post, and send it.
Once the post is submitted and we have agreed upon the contents, it will be posted privately on our site for one last approval by both of us.
And finally we will publish your post.

This process may take some time to complete. While responses are usually sent from us within a few days, please allow us plenty of time to process.

We request that you regularly check your email during this process.

Fineprint

Publishing with Down To Earth Linux signifies that you have read and accept the following terms and conditions.

Once officially published, you have transferred and assigned to Down To Earth Linux and its staff all right, title, and interest in and to all such posts, including, without limitation, any and all “moral rights” that you may have in any posts.
You will receive a promotional “byline” in connection with any such posts. This byline is subject to approval by Down To Earth Linux and its staff.
Any use, by you, of this, or any other, post published by Down To Earth Linux must be approved by Down To Earth Linux and its staff. If approved, any such usage must contain a notice stating that the post is used with such permission, and that it was originally published on Down To Earth Linux, with a URL stated.
You will receive no compensation for any post, or the rights granted to Down To Earth Linux and its staff herein.
The term “post” includes any submittal and associated content sent by you and published by Down To Earth Linux.

You agree to indemnify Down To Earth Linux and its staff and hold it harmless from and against all claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including court costs and reasonable fees and expenses of attorneys, expert witnesses, and other professionals, arising out of or resulting from any action by a third party against Down To Earth Linux or its staff that is based on any claim that any post or associated content infringes a copyright or other proprietary right or violates a trade secret.

The laws of the State of California, in the United States of America, (other than the provisions thereof relating to conflict of laws) will govern this agreement.