Submission Guidelines

Missosology Contributor Network provides an audience for your voice and perspectives on some of the pageant world’s most popular topics and news. We value, above all, your unique insights and expertise.

Before you start submitting articles, videos, and slideshows, please read our Submission Guidelines. They describe the kinds of content our editors will accept (and perhaps even feature!) on Missosology or a partner website.
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These guidelines apply to all content submitted to Missosology Contributor Network (except when an assignment or submission template specifies otherwise). Missosology editors may decline your submission if it does not follow all guidelines. You can always contact us if you’re unclear about any guidelines or communication you receive from us, but guidelines are interpreted at editors' discretion.

Missosology User bloggers: The following guidelines only apply to Missosology User content that you create through Missosology Contributor Network’s Assignment Desk. They are not editorial requirements for your personal Missosology User blog posts although they are great tips to keep in mind. Missosology User blog posts are subject to the Missosology User Community Guidelines.


Do...

Submit original content. We love content that you create especially for us. We also allow you to submit content you have already published elsewhere, as long as the byline matches your name and you own the copyright. However, republished content is ineligible to appear on most Missosology websites. In every case, all submissions must be content you created.

Be yourself: authentic and unique. It should always be clear that your content comes from YOU, and that no one else in the world could have created it. Find your voice. Submit content on topics that you’re passionate, knowledgeable, and insightful about. Use the first-person voice when appropriate, and make clear in your content how your personal experiences inform your statements and topic choices. Always offer unique insight that differentiates your content from other pieces on the Web.

Be relevant, informative, useful, and engaging. Imagine that you are a reader browsing for information on your intended topic. What information do you need to be not only satisfied, but thrilled with the resource you chose? Make sure that each piece of content is written to thoroughly inform and/or delight its intended audience.

Be succinct. Online attention spans are short. For most topics, the ideal article length is 350 to 500 words. Construct your articles by beginning with a few key points and expanding upon them, using only as many words as are necessary to convey essential information. Use page formatting (e.g., bolded sub-headings) to guide your readers to your most important points. (Too much to say? Break your topic into more-specific chunks that can each stand alone as useful articles.)

Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. We require correct grammar, structure, spelling, and punctuation. Follow our formatting guidelines.

Write strong, descriptive headlines. A strong headline summarizes your content succinctly, and leads with the critically important information that a reader will use either to find your content through search engines or to choose to click your piece from among a list of stories on a landing page. Tell readers why they should view your story, and do so in your first 65 characters (only 65 characters of your headline will appear on most search engine results pages). Avoid clever headlines that hint at a topic without explaining it—humor can be a great asset, but it belongs in the body of the article.

Be accurate, and cite your sources. Any information you provide that is neither common knowledge nor clearly established as something you've personally experienced must be drawn from a credible, cited source. In the text, immediately attribute any specific facts and quotes to their source, and link to the specific page that verifies your assertion. At the end of your content, list any authoritative sources that informed your content as a whole, using a format that allows any reader to easily access each source. Acceptable authorities include government agencies, scientific studies, established online or print publications, and articles by credentialed professionals. Do not use Wikipedia articles or other forms of user-generated content as authoritative sources.

Provide full disclosure. When you submit a review or commentary, you must disclose any special relationship or material connection to your subject. (If the business you’re discussing is owned by your brother-in-law, disclose it. If you received free tickets to a movie you’re reviewing, disclose it. When in doubt, disclose.) You can use our built-in disclosure tool, available in our review template, or make the disclosure in the body of your content. In many cases, disclosure is not only a Missosology guideline, it’s the law. Read more about the FTC’s guidelines around disclosure of material connection.

Don't...

Don’t rehash. You must provide a fresh and unique angle on every story. Do not reword or rehash information from other sources and call it your own. This rule applies even when you cite your sources; if you’re not creating a unique and original piece of content, don’t submit to us. Sources should inform your content, and not be cobbled together to form the majority of your content.

Don't stuff your content with keywords. We encourage you to optimize your content for search-engine discovery, but not at the expense of readability. Keyword phrases must be used naturally.

Don’t generalize excessively. People search the Web for specific information. Content that covers an overly broad topic tends to be pedestrian and unsatisfying. Your topics should usually be highly specific (“Miss Russia World 2012 Crowned” over “Miss Russia Crowned”).

Don’t yodel about Missosology or other contributors. We love hearing what you think of Missosology, including Missosology Contributor Network, but please refrain from using this publishing platform to review or comment on Missosology or any Missosology site or service. (If you wish to publish a helpful and unique tutorial to help other contributors use our platform successfully, please contact us for approval before you write.) Visit the Contributor Forum to discuss our platform with other contributors. Contact us with feedback, including complaints, suggestions, and compliments. Use our flagging tools to report inappropriate behavior.

Don't go "there." Examples of content we won't publish or link to: Anything pornographic, threatening, obscene, defamatory, or abusive; hate speech; anything that encourages illegal or discriminatory conduct; anything containing potentially offensive generalizations about a group of people; anything that promotes online gambling sites; anything that infringes on the rights of a third party; anything that constitutes or encourages cyber-bullying. This list is not exhaustive. (We recognize that many of these descriptors are necessarily subjective, but in order to maintain a library of great content that’s safe for all Web readers, we will apply these standards at our sole discretion, as necessary.)

Don’t rant. We welcome your authentic personal perspective, but we ask you to avoid using an extremely negative tone. Criticism should be thoughtful and measured, should make clear distinctions between opinion and fact, and should cite sources when appropriate. If you just need to vent, your personal blog is a more suitable venue. Never let frustration lead you to factually misrepresent any individual, product, business, service, or other entity.

Don't over-link. We encourage relevant links that make your content more valuable and informative. Avoid excessive hyperlinking that compromises readability. Links to external sites must be relevant to the content and must not lead readers to any content forbidden by these guidelines. Please use the hyperlink tool in our text editor to link a word or phrase from your text to the website address (URL).

Don’t over-promote. We welcome your genuine enthusiasm for the things you love, but if your content reads more like an advertisement or press release than thoughtful firsthand insight, it’s not for us. And although our platform is a great way to find an audience for your expertise and build your personal brand, we don't publish content that is primarily intended to sell something, build backlinks, or drive traffic to other websites (including your own). Highly relevant links to personal websites are appropriate if, and only if, they add to the usefulness and authority of your content and do not come across as jarring self-promotion. Affiliate links (links that result in compensation to you or an affiliated party in the form of sales, clicks, memberships, visits, etc.) are prohibited. Never accept payment from a third party to publish on Missosology Contributor Network.

Don’t fake it. Don’t choose a topic merely because it’s trending and you think it's likely to bring in lots of search traffic. Don’t claim assignments unless you are uniquely qualified to fulfill them. Your unique knowledge, experience, and passion should be evident in every piece of content you create. If you don’t have something valuable, compelling, and personal to add, avoid the subject.

Please read on for more information about formatting your articles, submitting for Upfront Payment and creating particular types of content.



Please use these guidelines to format the content you submit to Missosology Contributor Network.

•     Use single spaces between paragraphs.
•     Use line breaks only at the end of paragraphs. The text that you copy and paste into our system should fill the width of the screen unless you're writing poetry.
•     All text should be left-justified.
•     Limit use of bold and italicized words to section headers or highlighting of key points. Underlining should only be used for links.
•     Avoid excessive capitalization. In general, only proper nouns, the first letter of each sentence, and acronyms should be capitalized. TEXT WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS (like that) is considered shouting on the Internet – use your inside voice.
•     Do not use line breaks in the "interesting/fun fact" or "takeaway" field.
•     Do not type your pen name into your submissions; all published content will link to your profile page. Don't include a bio or "about me" in articles, either; your profile should contain that information.
•     Place the headline of your article in the title field only.
•     All images attached to an article must be relevant to the content, and abide by all of the image guidelines noted below.
•     Do not embed images or videos within the body of articles.

In order to be accepted by an editor, all content must comply with the general guidelines outlined above. If you’re submitting articles for Upfront Payment consideration, keep the following guidelines in mind as well.

In general, we offer Upfront Payment for content that is high quality, unique, useful, highly specific, and likely to be relevant for a long time to come.

There are certain types of content that are not eligible for Upfront Payment, unless you receive a specific assignment:

This is not an exhaustive list, but these are some common reasons a piece of content will not be offered an Upfront Payment:

•     Content that is too common, too broad, or too similar to existing content online. Even if you follow the general guideline about giving your content a unique spin, it may not be differentiated enough from other online content to qualify for Upfront Payment.
•     Content that has a short shelf-life. Some subjects, such as breaking news or sports coverage, may be hot for a day or two but then don't attract search traffic again. We can typically offer Upfront Payment only for content that will stay relevant for weeks, months, and even years.
•     Content that was published elsewhere before it was submitted to Missosology Contributor Network.

Missosology Contributor Network is a multimedia publishing platform. Please review the following guidelines before uploading images, or creating slideshow or video content.
Images

Images uploaded to Missosology Contributor Network must fall into one of the following categories:

•     You created the image yourself and own all the rights related to the subject matter in the image
•     The image is a publicity photo taken from a free online press kit
•     The image is from a public domain
•     You licensed the image from one of the following websites:
•         sxc.hu
•         morguefile.com
•         commons.wikimedia.org
•         istockphoto.com
•         flickr.com (Photos MUST be Creative Commons licensed, including a license for commercial use. Click here to see a screenshot showing how to search for approved Flickr photos.)    The image is from our Public Gallery (see “Public Gallery” information below) and the original uploader acquired it from one of the above approved sources

You must follow these guidelines when uploading an image. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing guidelines, publishing infringing images may lead to a lifetime ban from Missosology Contributor Network. Note: Regardless of the foregoing guidelines, the use of images from the foregoing sites must comply with the terms and conditions of that site as it relates to that image, as well as to any relevant copyright laws.

Submitted images are not necessarily reviewed by staff before publication. It is solely your responsibility to ensure you have all necessary rights to publish any image with Missosology Contributor Network pursuant to our guidelines. Blurry or irrelevant images (including author portraits) or images from unapproved sources may be deleted without notification.

Please do not embed images (or videos) in the text field of a submission. Image files must be in JPEG or GIF format and under 1 MB.

Public Gallery

In addition to uploading your own images, you can also attach images from the public gallery to your articles. Images are not reviewed by Missosology Contributor Network before they are added to the public gallery; therefore, we recommend verifying that the selected image has appropriate credit and copyright details entered before you use it. Although you are not liable for any copyright violations based on your use of another contributor’s shared image, the image will be removed from your content if it did not come from one of the approved sources mentioned above.

These Image Submission Guidelines apply to the original uploader; you are accountable and may face consequences such as account suspension only for the images you upload, not for those uploaded by others. However, if you choose an image from the public gallery that was not originally from an approved source, it may be removed from your content without notification.
To add your own images to the public gallery so that they can be used by other contributors, click the “Public” option during the upload process. Keep in mind that you and you alone are responsible for making sure that any image you upload and share adheres to the guidelines above.

Slideshows


Slideshows may be composed of your own images, and/or images from other approved sources (see "Images" section above). Each individual image must be properly credited, otherwise it will be deleted from the system. Slideshows composed of images that you did not create yourself must be of sound quality and must stand alone as unique and valuable pieces of content. (For example, you should add useful or valuable information within the descriptive overview, within the captions, and/or through the arrangement of the images themselves.) Single-image "slideshows" will be permitted only if they are your own work and are of extraordinary quality.
Video

Video submissions must be in WMV, MPEG, MOV, ASF, or AVI formats. Limit video file size to 100MB. (Our video player's aspect ratio is 4:3. The optimal video size for it is 550x413 or higher. Smaller videos will not fill the player.)


News Guidelines

Missosology Contributor Network often assigns breaking-news stories and perspectives based on your interests, expertise, backgrounds, and locations. While we do not accept unsolicited news coverage, you can often find a variety of writing opportunities in your Assignment Desk.

Depending on timeliness and subject matter, stories submitted through news assignments are generally reviewed in a 24-hour timeframe and usually much sooner. Your content may be published on a variety of Missosology sites to expand your audience.

While the guidelines below don’t encompass the depth and breadth of news-writing requirements, they’re a good place to start. Follow the specific requirements in an assignment, but always keep these general guidelines in mind.

Be original

Don't just rewrite news that others have written -- even if you link to them. As with most stories published via Missosology Contributor Network, we don't allow contributors to rewrite or regurgitate what others have written. You should rely on a bevy of reliable sources, but you should create an original angle, structure and voice. We’re especially fond of primary sources (i.e., non-media sources) when they’re readily available.

Be timely

What you write should be timely now. Importantly, this means you should focus on the timeliest developments in a story -- not just the subject matter of the story. Sometimes even 24 hours is too old. Writers who best tackle timeliness are the ones who understand the tension of story vs. development. Beware the “timely” story: Even if it’s still in the news, a story as a whole may not be timely. Look inside the story at the newest developments.

Be detailed

Writing detailed content for news stories, details mostly accomplish two things: (1) They give readers the necessary and important who/what/when/where/why information, and (2) they paint a vivid and colorful picture for readers. Great contributors seamlessly incorporate necessary -- and specific -- facts, figures and quotes that support their assertions. Don't overload your submission with gratuitous facts, but don't skimp on necessary details either. In short, if you make a claim, back it up!

Be transparent

Tell readers where you’re getting your information. Sometimes just linking is OK. But much of the time, you need to explicitly indicate the source of your information by name. Familiarize yourself with our sourcing and attribution guidelines here.

Be fair

We do not allow contributors to rant, cheerlead, mislead, name-call, gratuitously attack or otherwise write unfair content. Some assignments will ask for your take on a timely news development, but your perspective should be grounded in facts, clearly attributed and, above all, thoughtful.

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