by Marige O'Brien, 1/13/2006

2. THE RIGHT "PROCESS"

Everyone has their own favorite word processing program. And most are fine to use with submission sites. Word is so completely ubiquitious, most sites assume writers will use this. However, while the distributors do accept these platforms, that doesn't mean they can accept all the formatting included with them.

Generally speaking, formatting should be kept to a bare minimum. I use silly old Notepad (yeah, that little WP accessory that's available in every copy of Windows). It forces me to forget about formatting. Since an article must be adaptable to many different types of formatting, keeping ITS formatting plain allows a larger amount of distributors to accept it. The last thing one should expect is for the distributor to have to take the time to re-format an article. That is not part of their job. It's part of the writer's.

Also, if using Notepad while writing an article, turn the Word Wrap feature "ON". But while submitting it, turn it "OFF". This simple step can save hours of re-formatting for each submission site and is another good reason to use Notepad. Always remember: coding-BAD.

3. DITTO WITH HTML

Though most email now accepts HTML coding and many even include it automatically, this does not mean that the programs used in article distribution are included in that equation. This is another excellent reason to use something like Notepad, since there is a minimum of unseen or invisible coding. Any type of coding may transfer poorly and cause an article to look more like a cyptogram than legible writing. Remember: Coding-BAD. No Coding-GOOD. A few distributors will not even allow such common characters as quotation marks or asterisks. One good substitute for this is CAPITALIZED words, which also work well to replace a bold or italisized word.

Up to this point, the tips have been about the preparation process. The following refer to the actual submission process.

4. THE GOOD GUYS VS. THE BAD GUYS

Especially for the ambitious writer who is always doing Google searches for new article sites, it should be noted that not ALL submission sites are reputable. For some reason, some people begrudge even a simple byline as payment for providing valuable content and will "overlook" several key essentials. Any reputable site (and most of them ARE) will offer three services to the author: a byline segment, the ability to preview the finished article as well as edit the article AFTER it has been submitted. For those who don't, for whatever reasons, a writer may include a top byline within the Title, as well as the bottom byline within the body of the article. But ONLY for those that do not provide a place for them. Otherwise, you articles will come out looking silly -- and may be passed over -- for having doubled this content.