Cool Cleveland Writer Guidelines

Cool Cleveland staff encourages contributors to engage in the following creative process for work to be included in the e-blast:

PITCH your ideas. While we do strive for a stringent editorial production system, we here at Cool Cleveland really pride ourselves on being present, in-the-moment and "free-flowing." That's not to say that every single idea you pitch will get a greenlight. But when you get those ideas, let us know about them. Share with us. We encourage writers to pursue story ideas and reviews that they will be passionate about. Reveal any potential conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest. If you personally benefit in any way from the publicity your writing would bring, we need to hear about it in advance.

PURSUE writing that's "educational, thought provoking, controversial and informational." Social and cultural criticisms are great. Humor is good, too. We are very much interested in focusing on Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, and if you can make an argument for why something is important to Cool Clevelanders when you pitch a story idea, we're all ears. Some kind of a Cleveland tie-in is almost always necessary for inclusion in Cool Cleveland.

WRITE and be passionate about it. Write about what you want to learn about, or what you feel your fellow Cool Cleveland-ers need to know about our region, as it relates to art, culture, business, technology, news, politics, family, society. Short blurbs of 140 characters are welcome, as are 500-1000 word essays.

INCLUDE good quality original photos whenever possible, preferably photos you have shot yourself. If supplied photos are utilized, we would prefer images that will not be reproduced in other media outlets in the region. If you are able to provide quality video, please coordinate with Cool Cleveland managing editor.

LINK Each Cool Cleveland article, interview, video, profile or blurb should include one appropriate working URL or web link so our readers can follow up to receive more information, buy tickets, or contact the organization or person being featured. Two or more links are acceptable, but not necessarily preferable. We prefer to link directly to subject web sites and blogs. It is our policy not to link to other media sources except on rare occasions.

Deadlines

Friday 5PM the week before publishing date is when all confirmed assignment copy for features along with accompanying photo(s) and working URL links are due.

For contributors: This means if your idea has been approved for a specific publishing date, or you have been confirmed to produce a feature for Cool Cleveland by a member of editorial staff, your work has been accounted for on the CC production schedule.

Monday NOON All "Instant Karma" reviews from the previous week are due by Monday at NOON, unless you have been given explicit instructions from a member of CC staff to the contrary. This allows our production schedule to move smoothly and effectively.

It is very important that you contact the Managing Editor as soon as possible if you cannot make your deadline, so we can pivot and adjust our issue for the week both quickly and accordingly.

Have an idea to share with writers on these guidelines? Let us know.

A huge thanks to all who partner and collaborate with us!

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