ApprehendingGrace.com

Thanks so much for your interest in writing a guest blog at www.ApprehendingGrace.com. I welcome submissions that are consistent with the purpose God has given me for the blog. Before writing, please read the About Apprehending Grace page of the website and be sure to click through to the blog titled Blogging in a New Spot with a New Name. This is a rather folksy blog about how the name came about, but you’ll learn my purpose and passion for the blog.

Then read over a few of the blogs to get a sense of my style. Obviously, I want your blogs to be submitted in your style, but I do want you to catch the flavor of ApprehendingGrace.com. The writing style is generally informal, friendly and vulnerable.

Writing Guidelines
In addition to guest blogs supporting the our purpose and being in a complementary style, the following guidelines apply:

Publication: Publication of blogs submitted by guest bloggers is at my sole discretion. Additionally, blogs that are submitted may be edited. Substantive edits will be returned to the author for approval before publication. Minor edits may be published under the author’s name without returned for approval

Length: Submissions can vary in length, but recognize that most people prefer blogs that are less than 750 words. Yes, I violate that rule regularly – I just haven’t mastered the art of writing short blogs. I am not limiting your blog to 750 words, just providing a hint that may increase your readership. Having said that, I will accept anything up to 1500 words. If you can’t cover your topic in 1500 words, I will consider publishing a blog series by a guest blogger, but I recommend that you start with something shorter. I’m less likely to commit to a blog series from a new guest blogger than I am to include a single blog from you.

Blog/Submission Schedule: I like to post 2-3 times per week. Sometimes there are scheduled posts for a several weeks in advance. If you have a time-sensitive post (e.g., a holiday-related post), submit it about a month in advance so that we have plenty of time to review it and plan around it if we choose to use it.

Dual Submissions: ApprehendingGrace.com accepts dual submission posts. Some sites/publications do not. If you are submitting a blog for us to post on ApprehendingGrace.com, it is your responsibility to ensure that anything you have submitted to us can legally be published by us at any time without further checking its availability. In other words, do not submit a blog to us for publication that you have submitted to a site/publication that requires exclusivity. If you submit a blog to us and we don’t publish it in a timely manner, you can request that we remove the blog from consideration for future publication so that you can submit it to some other site that requires exclusivity. It is the author’s full responsibility to ensure that everything submitted to us for publication has not been simultaneously submitted to a site/publication that requires exclusivity.

Copyright Notice – Ours: The www.ApprehendingGrace.com website copyright notation reads as follows:

© copyright 2009-[current year], Data Designs Publishing and Sandra J. Hovatter. Posts by guest bloggers may also be copyrighted by the author, as annotated at the end of their post.

If your material is copyrighted, please provide the copyright notation you would like to appear at the end of your article.

Copyright Adherence: It is a serious violation of our policies to violate any copyright laws, whether in text or graphics. You must own the right to anything you submit to us for publication. When in doubt, check. If still in doubt, please do not submit the material to us. If you have approval to use copyrighted material, be sure to include the copyright notation that should be included in the blog. We do not use any specific style, but be sure to include all the elements in a standard footnote entry.

Compensation: ApprehendingGrace.com does not pay for guest blog.

Scripture References: If you quote Scripture, please provide references, including the translation. If you quote concepts from the Bible, citing the Scripture reference is a good practice but not required.

Graphics: Graphics increase the readership of blog posts. If you have a graphic that you would like to include with your blog. We can work with most graphics formats, but the graphic must be at least 200dpi at 2″ wide. (If in doubt, send your graphic and we’ll use it if we can.) The graphic must be your original work, in the public domain, or you must own the rights to the graphic.

Blog Categories: Please identify categories you think we should identify your blog against. The categories are identified on the website. If you don’t find an appropriate category, feel free to suggest a new one. We may or may not add the category.

Submission Procedures

Email submissions to: Sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com

Submissions must be in a file format that can be read by Microsoft Word 2010. DO NOT paste images into the text file. Send them separately. If you want the graphic placed in specific locations, simply include a notation at the appropriate location (e.g., “[place graphic filename Graphic1.jpg here]”).

Please provide the following information at the top of your text document:

• Your name as you’d like it to appear in the blog
• Your title, if appropriate/desired and if you want it to appear with your name in the blog
• Identify the categories you think it belongs to
• Contact info – ideally, your email address
• Two or three sentence bio if you want it to be included at the end of your post
• Copyright notation if you would like it to be included at the end of your post

Final Comments
Seems like lots of rules for a simple guest blog post. I’m pretty easy to get along with, so don’t be intimidated by these rules. Dual submission policies of other media and copyright adherence are the most important guidelines to follow accurately. Otherwise, we are friendly and flexible. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at Sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for considering writing a post for the Apprehending Grace blog. I pray that God anoints your writing and our readers are blessed. I look forward to reading what you write!