Guest Guidelines

Please follow the guidelines below to submit a post.  Most of these are common sense but you will benefit from reading through them.

Who Can Write a Guest Post?

  • a professional working in the Mental Health industry and would like to share your experiences in the field, or any useful information or new discoveries that you feel are important to share
  • a professional working in the field of Domestic Violence against Women and/or Children and would like to share your experiences in the field, or any useful information or new discoveries that you feel are important to share
  • a person who suffers from a Mental Illness, and has a story you would like to tell
  • a person who has experienced/is experiencing Domestic Violence of ANY KIND (Physical, Mental, Verbal, Financial, Sexual, Seniors, etc.) and has a story to tell
  • a person who has lived with someone with a mental illness.  Tell us the story from your point of view.  What did you observe?  What did you do to help?  How did it affect you and others around you?
  • a person who has lived with an abuser (whether or not you were abused yourself).  Tell us the story from your point of view.  What did you observe?  What did you do to help?  How did it affect you and others around you?
  • a writer who has a blog and/or a book published with a mission of helping those with Mental Illness
  • a writer who has a blog and/or a book published with a mission of helping those in Domestic Violence
  • a Christian who is suffering from Mental Illness and has a testimony to tell
  • a Christian who has experienced/is experiencing Domestic Violence of ANY KIND (Physical, Mental, Verbal, Financial, Sexual, Seniors, etc.) and has a testimony to tell


Submission and Editorial Guidelines

  • Posts should be roughly 1500-2000 words in length.  Don't worry, I won't count the words!  The idea is to keep it to a length that people will be willing to read.  Writing 20 pages isn't a good idea.  
  • You may write one article or a series
  • Submissions should be relevant and in relation to Mental Illness and/or Domestic Violence of ANY KIND (Physical, Mental, Verbal, Financial, Sexual, Seniors, etc.)
  • You may also share a personal story or testimony
  • Your story should have some sort of inspiration to others.  (Eg. How did your experience help you or others?  How did you grow because of your experience?  What was the positive aspect of your experience?)
  • Do not submit your post written entirely in CAPS.  It will be rejected.  All caps typing is difficult for many people to read.  Plus it is common netiquette that all caps means shouting.  You don't need to yell
  • Ensure that your post does not violate any copyright laws
  • If your post does not follow the guidelines, you may not receive a response from us
  • Your guest post should be well written.  Though we don’t expect perfection, posts should demonstrate a good command of language, grammar, punctuation, organization, clarity, style, and tone
  • Edit your post well, and rewrite it a few times. It’s a good idea to set your post aside for a day and come back to it with fresh eyes
  • Try not to ramble off the top of your head, and stay on track with your topic.  It will show through in your writing
  • Your guest post should be useful to others in the fields of Domestic Violence and/or Mental Illness
  • Try to submit one or two photos with your post.  Make sure they do not infringe on any copyright laws.  If you do not have a photo to submit, we will find an appropriate one for you.  A good site to get copyright-free photos is Free Digital Photos
  • You may also include a link or two in your post if they point to material that is of value to the BTW audience
  • Affiliate links not permitted
  • No profane or vulgar language
  • Preferably submit your posts in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx). However, I will also except a text file (.txt) or simply written out in your email.
  • Credit all sources at the end, or via links in your post, if applicable
  • Be prepared to respond to each comment in the next few days
  • Finally, include a short author bio with your guest post (roughly 200 - 250 words) for our Guest Authors page.  You may include links to  your own website if you have one
Please note, in order to ensure your blog post matches the overall layout and style of our blog, some minor editing may occur.   We may add things like a photo, tags for Search Engine Optimization, or change the category of your blog.



Important Things to Note

  • We retain the copyright of all material published on Breaking the Window.  A guest poster cannot republish their guest post elsewhere; it must remain unique to BTW.
  • If you are looking for any personal gain or compensation do not respond. This is a volunteer opportunity ONLY.  However, if you feel led to give a donation to the site to help us cover the costs of staying online, please click the donation button above on the right.  
  • If for any reason you are not comfortable sharing your story using your real name; or in the case of abuse victims, it may not be safe to use your real name, we can use a pseudonym.  Just let me know when you contact me. Your real name and all information will be kept strictly confidential.
  • Do not, under any circumstances, use real names of people you talk about in your blog post.  Even if you say only very nice things about someone else, they can still sue you for breach of privacy.  
  • In some cases, you may even feel led to change the relationship providing it doesn't affect your story too much.  This is especially important if you are writing under your own real name.  People who know you would likely know who you are talking about in some situations even if you don't use the other person's name.  This, in turn, could put some abuse victims or their loved ones in danger. 
Click here to send us your guest post via email.  We will review your submission, and confirm with you the date it will be posted.  
 

Thank you for your interest and participation in writing for the Breaking the Window!  We look forward to reading your posts.