Write For Us

So, you want to write for Game Linchpin? We love to have guest writ­ers as it gives oth­ers the abil­ity to share their ideas and beliefs about Video Game Development with the Game Linchpin com­mu­nity. We love get­ting dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives on dif­fer­ent top­ics, so we are excited that you are inter­ested in writ­ing for us!

Not only is writ­ing for us a great way to share your ideas with other peo­ple in a new com­mu­nity, but it’s a great way to get rec­og­nized and build new rela­tion­ships. And on the side, boost your reputation!

Canidates
We only accept writers from the computer games industry who can really help to the other developers by sharing their vast knowledge and experience.

In addition to one-off contributions we are looking for repeated guest writers to build our knowledge base. Full attribution is always given to the author and their business.

Writing for the blog is an outlet to share your many years of game development experience and insight into interesting things such as Game Development, Career, Business, Production, Contracts, Finance, People, Management and pretty much anything else goes as long as it’s related to games / business.

What should I write?

We’re looking for articles of all shapes and sizes so anything you’d love to share would be awesome! Of course it must be related to game development. We’re open to all ideas and will consider pretty much anything. Almost anything goes, as long as it’s well written, clean and sounds like it comes from the heart.

We typically run pieces on the edge of game development, not the common pieces you’ll find on other web-sites. We’d love your opinion and the more unique, inspiring, controversial and the more you talk from experience, the better. We will not publish anything litigious, vicious, offensive or similarly trouble worthy.

Here are some ideas:

• Opinion Pieces – rant, evangelize, rave and moan to your hearts content.
• Experience – share your darkest and brightest moments making games
• Insight – what will the future hold for game development and developers alike?
• Starting Out - share your tips with those following in your wake. Help people make the difficult 1st step.
• Diaries – why not share the blood, sweat and tears you’re putting into making your game?
• Lists – Top 5 ‘x’ – developers, games of the year, tips for new starts, tools to get the job done, etc.
• Warnings – want to help people avoid pitfalls? Let them know here
• Promote – found a cool way of doing something or new tool?
• Career – how to make sure you have a long successful career
• Interview – answering a few common questions can be a great way to start
• Best Practise – ways and means of making games, production, design and more
• Spotlight – want to share your latest & greatest work? Promos,. text, images and videos are all welcome

What about media?

We love rich articles with imagery the really capture the flavour of the piece. These are particularly interesting as we work in a highly visual and creative world and it’d be awesome to get some of that in here.

Posts always have a 610×180 pixel header associated with them, and it’d be fantastic if you can help us source that.

What about the author?

Every other is promoted with each piece, with a clear notice where ever the piece appears plus the post itself has a big section at the bottom where we feature a photo of you, a link to your web-site, email and a small bio. All of which you’ll need to provide.

What format should the submission be in?

Whilst pre-formatted HTML as below really helps, the format can be anything from an email, word doc, or guest editing on the blog itself.

Twitter Feed contributions are welcome too in the format of related links. Again, attribution, retweeted from your account or login to the group account via online HootSuite.

I’m hooked! What next?

One-Off Contribution – Process

Con­tact us through our con­tact form express­ing your inter­est in guest post­ing for us. Please include a brief description of what your post will be about and links to your past writ­ing experience.
1. Once you have writ­ten the arti­cle and sub­mit it for review, it will be reviewed by a team mem­ber and you will be emailed if it is approved.
2. Once approved, it will be edited for for­mat­ting and you will be noti­fied the day before it is set to pub­lish to view the final results.

Guest Writer – Process

1. Con­tact us through our con­tact form express­ing your inter­est in guest post­ing for us. Please include a brief descrip­tion of what your post will be about and links to your past writ­ing experience.
2. Once the topic has been agreed on, we will send you the link to where you can reg­is­ter to Game Linchpin.
3. Your account will be upgraded so you can write to Game Linchpin at any time you want.
4. Once you have writ­ten the arti­cle and sub­mit it for review, it will be reviewed by a team mem­ber and you will be emailed if it is approved.
5. Once approved, it will be edited for for­mat­ting and you will be noti­fied the day before it is set to pub­lish to view the final results.

Post Require­ments

• All posts are in English
• Posts have a basic struc­ture and are at least bro­ken down into paragraphs
• Posts must be original pieces written for Game-Linchpin.com
• Guest posts cannot be republished
• Posts must be non-promotional. However, in return we will provide you a 20 word promotional by-line and author page with an extended bio.
• Guest posts are unpaid.

What Guest Blogging Is NOT: Getting It Right

Here’s a little piece I found over on myblogguest.com that captures things we want to avoid.

1. Guest blogging is NOT link building in the first place

I know I have emphasized link building benefits of guest posting quite a few times: but if link building aspect is the first in your list of reasons why you start guest blogging, you are getting it WRONG from the very start.

This way you have good chances to sacrifice on the quality of your content (and the strategy overall) by attempting to get as much link love as you can. Don’t think about building links at all (they will come naturally). Think about other (much more important!) aims you are going to achieve: brand awareness, fans and supporters, reputation, etc!

If you only need link, don’t even start guest blogging. Period

Before submitting this useless stuff, try to imagine why would a blogger want to publish it. Remember a blogger doesn’t require anything in return for linking to your site. All he needs is some good content his readers would appreciate.

2. Guest blogging is NOT article distribution!

Fellow marketers, I know you feel tempted to find a leak here: “Why would I spend 2 or more hours creating a great article and then post it to only one blog? Why not publish it on several blogs?”

Now, here’s my advice: DON’T do it. You’ll just screw the relationships with powerful bloggers and influencers in your niche and achieve nothing.

Try playing by the rules and you will be amazed how much more effective it is!

3. A guest post is NOT the same as product/tool review

I’ve seen enough of that. Plenty of guest posts I’ve seen focus on the by-line: just a couple of paragraphs of mediocre content and then dozen of sentences describing who the author is, what he does and how awesome his product is.

Here’s a great list of writing & formatting tips