Submission Guidelines

We’re gonna keep this simple.

In order to publish your piece on Souhl, kindly refer to the humble list of guidelines below:

1. Spellcheck before, after, during, every few seconds and lines, always — we can disagree on political viewpoints and what bread to buy, but we can’t disagree on the correct use of “their” and “they’re.” Check it.
2. Have someone read it out loud — does it still make sense? does it flow well? Good! No? Go back and try it again. We’ll wait.
3. Give it the good ol’ grammar try — ensure the tense is correct and appropriate, it is written in the same person perspective the entire way through, and you’re using appropriate punctuation where needed.
4. For the love of God, commas! — please don’t skimp on breaks. Commas are a dying breed; please use them as much as possible, where appropriate. If we’re getting motion sickness from reading long-winded, comma-forgotten sentences, we’ll be really bummed to reject what is probably an excellent story.
5. Include high-resolution images, where appropriate — blurry photos accompanying a story only hurt the story (and our eyes). Google is the next best thing since sliced bread; use it profusely.
6. Tags, tags, tags — these little buggers help your story get seen, found, shared, stumbled upon, etc. Use tags that sufficiently categorize your story, choosing keywords that strongly sum up what you’re writing about.
7. Your headline is everything! — think of your title as the incredibly small Tweet to summarize your story. It will become the window into what follows, and the clearer you can make it, the more attention it will attract. Trust us. It’s science.
8. Stick to a topic in which you’re comfortable and knowledgeable — don’t let your story fall on its lack of facts or relevance. The best stories — unless they are of personal experience — are the ones in which you know your shit. Front and back. And sideways.
9. Once you have your story, find the message and deliver — we write because we want to share and send a message. Ensure that you keep that message as your bread and butter, so that the reader walks away with something valuable.
10. Keep it simple and be yourself— if you’re Stan from Detroit with a story to share, create like Stan from Detroit with a story to share. There is nothing sadder than creating like someone else; that’s called imitation. Not flattering.
11. Yes, you may curse — we believe there is no such thing as bad words (with OBVIOUS EXCEPTIONS*). Feel free to adorn your creation with whatever language lingo feels like the bees fucking knees.

• Any racist, derogatory words, slang, catchphrases, or lingo will not be tolerated. Example — something you don’t like is not “gay,” because my friend Nate is gay and he’s pretty awesome. Get it? Got it.

How to Submit to Souhl When Your Story is Ready

1. If you don’t have a Medium account, you’ll need to create one. It’s super easy and simple, and you’ll love everything that Medium has to offer!
2. Once you have your account set up (or have logged in), find Souhl and follow us! We’re grateful to have you!
3. Email Aleks (aslijepcevic.88@gmail.com) that you’d like to become a Contributing Writer and she will set you up in our Writers list. You’re now part of the team, yay!
4. Once you’re set up, you may begin posting/editing your content and submitting it for publication. The steps are super simple:

• Follow these instructions on how to add a draft for publication: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/213904978-Add-draft-or-post-to-publication
• Write your story — please include Title and a relevant picture (see picture requirements above)
• Click on Publish and follow the instructions — you’ll need up to 5 tags (see tag requirements above)
• Choose your Scheduling — whether you want it to post today or at another time
• Leave Audience as Public and License as All Rights Reserved (to protect your work).
• Hit Publish and you’re done!

We will do our part to ensure the piece is up to snuff.

Please keep your contributions to a max of 3 stories per month. This will ensure we’re giving everyone the space and time to share their work, and it will keep our publication diverse and plentiful!

If you have any questions or get lost while exploring these features, please email Aleks directly!

Now for the important disclaimer: As the writer, you have the privilege and freedom to choose how your post is shared. If you’d like Souhl to share your story on its social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), please let us know ahead of time, any time! If you would simply rather keep your story as the beautiful trophy on Souhl’s cyber walls and that’s it, you have that option, as well. Of course, sharing it yourself is always encouraged, and you can do that by hitting the Share button right next to Publish. We want to honor your wishes, and that doesn’t mean guessing at what you’d like. So, we’re proud to exercise open and honest communication!

Lastly, even while we’re a pretty awesome publication and community, we cannot control readership, popularity, ranking, or how many comments or views you get on your story. We’ll do everything in our power to promote Souhl, so as to grow optimization; but how your story is received by the world is in the hands of whichever deity you prefer, along with probably everyone on the Internet. At Souhl, we know that behind any great venture are countless people putting in the work to make success happen. We’re so grateful for you as you join us in this endeavor.

Image: Sarcasm, animated. Please don’t be butthurt.