Tips for DPS Writers

Thanks for your interest in writing for Digital Photography School.

To help you with your writing and me with getting your post ready for publishing on DPS I’ve put together a few guidelines and suggestions for you below.

Please Note: what follows are not hard and fast rules. Ultimately I want people to write in their own voice. However the following might help your post to ‘fit’ better with DPS and get the attention it deserves.

Topics

The overall aim of DPS is to help our readers to improve their photography. This topic is focused yet has a lot of scope. Our readers are usually at a beginner to intermediate level however they respond well to more advanced posts also.

DPS readers love practical tips. Anything you can include that is a ‘how to’ or something that they can actually use next time they pick up their camera will be greatly appreciated. Even more theoretical posts that have something in them that readers can ‘do’ rather than just ‘know’ is good. I often find that posts with specific ‘tasks’ or even ‘homework’ can get good responses – particularly if you link the post to our forum and invite readers to head over there to share their results.

Voice

Some guest posters worry about what voice or style to write in. Ultimately this is up to you and I want to encourage you to bring your own voice to your post. My readers are used to my voice (I try to be personal and relatable) however it’s up to you how you approach it. The reason I have started using more bloggers on DPS is that I want more variety – so be yourself.

Sub Headings

I love to use subheadings in my posts. This breaks up the content and helps draw the eye down the post. If you have a sub heading in your post please rap <h3> heading tags around it. If you don’t know how to do this just ask and I’ll give you a quick lesson.

Also List type posts go over very well with DPS readers. 10 ways to…. 5 techniques for…. 79 great…. posts go down really well. If you don’t know how to format a list post again – let me know.

Images

I love to include images in posts on DPS – in fact I rarely (if ever) post an article without at least one.

Images add personality, break up content and grab attention – they also will illustrate your points (afterall DPS is a photography site – so readers expect to see images). I find that posts with at least one good image in it get more attention than others. A few suggestions for images:

• images can be of any size – but the maximum width is 600 pixels (the width of my content area).
• please ensure images are able to be used in terms of copyright
• images can be illustrative (screenshots), descriptive (something that is more attention grabbing on the theme of the post), title images (an image with words/title that appear at the top of the post) or anything else that you’d like to include.

A few examples of how I’ve used images on posts previously are:

If you can’t find the right image for your post don’t get too stressed. I’m reasonably quick at finding them. When you find an image that you want to use you can send it to me via email or leave a link in your post to it on a site like Flickr and I can edit it in.

Post Length

I am always asked how long posts need to be and my answer is always the same – as long as you need to convey your message.

I post a large variety of posts in terms of length and anything goes. Stick with your own style, voice and choose a length that sits well with you. Really long posts can sometimes be broken down into a series if you’d like – if in doubt about this email me.

Editing

Please note that I do edit posts that appear on DPS. I rarely heavily edit them but it’s not unusual for me to change a title, rework an opening or conclusion or correct grammar/spelling or add an image.

Don’t be offended by this – I’m just trying to make it as successful a post as possible and know what generally works well with my audience.

Occasionally I’ll send a post back to you the author with suggested additions, omissions or changes. This is generally if I feel the post could be further enhanced in ways that go beyond some basic editing.

My hope in this is that we get a post up that hits the mark with my readership – good for you as the author, good for DPS readership and as a result also good for the blog as a whole.

Exclusivity

Unless previously negotiated I’m assuming that the post you’re writing is exclusively for the use of DPS. While you’re more than welcome to write on the same topic elsewhere – my hope is that posts that appear on DPS don’t appear in the same form elsewhere.

Byline

As the author of the post I want to highlight you, your blog or any product or service that you have to offer. This should largely be done in a byline.

Bylines should be a sentence or two of who you are and what you do. Feel free to include up to 3 links in it. This byline will appear at the bottom of your post – but I’ll also write a short introductory sentence that will include your main link that will appear at the top of the post.

In post links – if relevant to the topic you’re writing you’re welcome to link back to your blog within the post. Keep in mind that this ‘relevancy’ is very important. Some guest posters have included too many links or irrelevant links back to their own blogs and have come in for criticism as a result. I don’t mind promoting you – but sometimes subtlety works best.

If you have any questions or concerns – please do contact me via the form below and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Thanks for your involvement with DPS.