Submission Guidelines For Writers & Artists

We request written pieces and works of art to publish on red Ravine, in accordance with our mission, vision, and submission guidelines. Please read the entire page before submitting your work for consideration.


red Ravine Mission & Vision

red Ravine’s mission it is to provide community, structure, and tools that inspire writers to find their own voices. Practice feeds practice; it is a gift to write in community with other writers.

Our vision is that all writers break through to the writer within and create room in their lives to write: a place to sit in silence, a practice that feeds them, and a community that holds them.



Your Contribution to red Ravine

   Details

• Writers: Submit finished pieces of prose or poetry, not to exceed 1000 words (pieces longer than 1000 words are allowed if arranged with red Ravine publishers).
  • Finished pieces should be polished and edited.
  • We encourage writers to use our weekly writing topics to inspire submitted works. For example, if the writing topic for the week is “Tattoos,” take that topic and use writing practice to complete a first draft. Then work the draft into a finished piece by editing as necessary. We enjoy seeing how different writers respond to our writing topics and how a single topic can take writers in completely different directions.
• Artists: Submit 4-7 quality jpegs of your work. Any writing piece accompanying the art should be 1000 words or less (pieces longer than 1000 words are allowed if arranged with red Ravine publishers).

• Provide links relevant to the content of the piece submitted. (Linking to outside resources is a key part of blogging.) Also provide photographs, drawings, and other supporting materials for each piece if needed. red Ravine publishers will provide as much information as possible on the “how to” of adding supporting materials for blog pieces.
• Include credits and captions for any images, photographs, or drawings submitted. If the images are not your own, copyright permissions need to be obtained and submitted to red Ravine before posting.
• You may write under your own name or a pseudonym, per your preference.
• Include a short bio for the first Guest piece published. The bio should focus on your writing or art process and/or life as a writer or artist, along with any credentials you’d like to highlight.
• Subsequent pieces do not require a bio, although do include any background context for the piece if appropriate. 

   Content

• Guests have the choice of submitting a post on:
  • the weekly red Ravine topic (posted by “sloWalker” and found by clicking on sloWalker under the Contributor widget);
  • a proposed topic (within red Ravine mission and vision);
  • an event/experience from the field (e.g., book readings, film festivals, poetry readings, art galleries);
  • something previously written that is pertinent to the mission and vision of red Ravine.
• In the latter three cases, we ask for a brief email consultation prior to starting the piece.

   If the Piece Is Published

• Guest pieces are published on a weekday, as readership is generally higher during the week than on weekends.
• Publicize and promote your red Ravine post among your personal network of friends, colleagues, family. This helps to drum up readership, comments, and dialogue, and to create community.
• Be present on the blog during the publishing of your post; “converse” with those who comment and check back frequently to keep commenting active. (This is how community is fostered on a blog.)

red Ravine Contribution (What’s in it for You?)      

• Guest’s name (or pseudonym) will be included in a “Guest Writers & Featured Artists” widget on the website sidebar during the month the post is published and a minimum of 2 additional months following. After that time, Guest’s name will be rotated off but still available under the Contributor widget.
• red Ravine publishers will inform Guest when the piece goes live.
• Guests might be mentioned in red Ravine email promotional materials.
• Guests gain the opportunity to have work published on red Ravine, accessible to anyone who has Internet access.
• Guests gain the opportunity to publish pieces in a non-exclusive way; pieces published on red Ravine may be published in other publications and websites up to twelve months after being published on red Ravine (see fifth and sixth bullets under “Nuts and Bolts”).
• Guests gain the support of red Ravine and its community for their writing, images, and art.

Nuts and Bolts

• red Ravine will edit posts for length or otherwise as needed, and may ask for or suggest revisions.
• red Ravine maintains the right to choose from images submitted and publish those that best augment the artist’s or writer’s piece.
• red Ravine maintains the right to not publish a piece or image if we deem it does not fit our vision and mission.
• red Ravine may include red Ravine images, photographs, or art, if mutually agreeable.
• Guests must credit red Ravine when piece or parts thereof are published elsewhere, including print or electronic media. (Note: we will include a sample credit.)
• red Ravine has First Rights. Pieces published on red Ravine should not be published elsewhere, including other blogs, for up to twelve months after being published on red Ravine. (Note: if you have your own blog and you would like to publish the piece on your blog, we ask that you honor this twelve-month period before publishing the piece on your blog. In the interim, you may include a link to the red Ravine post.)
• Guest pieces published will remain on red Ravine unless red Ravine publishers and Guest mutually agree to delete the piece/s in question.
• red Ravine publishers will screen comments and will reject and/or delete any comments that are deemed offensive by the publishers.
• red Ravine publishers will provide guidance on topics, word count, and any other content/formatting aspects on a case-by-case basis with each Guest as required.
• Guests agree to submit posts to red Ravine with the understanding there is no financial remuneration for published pieces.

Next Steps

Submit your piece (or questions about the Submission Guidelines) to red Ravine publishers at info@redravine.com. We will try to acknowledge your email in a timely manner, although given the amount of blog-related email we receive, we sometimes experience backlogs that cause delays in responding as quickly as we would like.

Thank you for your interest in publishing your work on red Ravine. Guest Writers & Artists add richness to our own voices and perspectives, diversify our community, and help grow our understanding of art and writing.

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