SUBMITTING TO A BLOG: USE THE CORRECT NAME
Are you having a big "DUH" moment right now? As in: Heather, I think we can figure that part out ourselves ... yeah, duh ... But I can't tell you how many times I received a submission ... a BEAUTIFUL submission ... for my blog and went to open the file and it was titled for a different blog. What a yucky feeling that is!! I get it: you are going to submit until you get a YES ... and you totally should be doing that! However, if you are submitting a file for a second, third, or fourth time ... do the work to make sure the blog you are submitting it to NEVER knows. This might mean:
renaming the folder that keeps the files
renaming the photos
reworking the email if you are copying and pasting from the past submissions
As editors, we get that this is going to happen from time to time ... but editors chat with each other ... and when we get a submission that has a different blog name listed it doesn't make us want to feature it. We love to believe that we were your #1 choice! So make the editor you are submitting to feel like they are :)
In addition to using the correct name, there are a few more things to consider when you are submitting:
go to the blog's website to read through their submission guidelines
browse the blog's latest posts to see if your submission is a good fit for their message
select images you feel tell the FULL story of the submission
make sure the photographer and the rest of the team who helped make the submission happen are aware and are supportive of you submitting it.
once you submit, don't submit it anywhere else until you hear back
The checklist above is just a glimpse into submission etiquette and I will be talking more about each of those and more on this blog ... if you have work you want to submit and would like more insight on how to get it published, feel free to contact me and I can help!
XO~ Heather
