• Who can submit content?
• What can I submit?
• Can I submit fiction or poetry?
• How do I rate items and make comments?
• What are the acceptance criteria?
• Can I submit a bio and picture of myself?
• What type of information should I include with my submissions?
• Do I get paid for my submission?
• What if my article is too long?

Q. Who can submit content?

A. Any Alumbo! Member can submit content to the website. Membership is free and offers many other advantages. If you're not already a Member why not become a Member now.

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A. You may submit various types of content, including:

• Feature Article (maximum 10,000 characters focused on a specific topic)
• Regular Column (series of articles related to a common theme)
• News & Events (company news releases, upcoming events and other time sensitive information)
• Website (description and link to a website that is relavant to our communities)
• Book Review (your commentary on a book that might appeal to other Members)
• Other product reviews (similiar to book reviews, but focused on magazines, audiobooks, music/CDs, videos/DVDs, software, multimedia CD-ROMs, etc.)
• Resources and Services (description and contact information for personal/professional services, seminars/workshops, or associations and organizations that may be of interest to our Members)

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A. Sorry, but at this time we don't accept fiction or poetry submissions. We recognize the importance of these forms of expression and we plan to introduce this capability in future. Be sure to subscribe to our email updates (see your Member Profile page) to be notified when this capability is made available.

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A. In addition to submitting items of their own, members are invited to submit ratings and comments for any other content on the website. This is an excellent opportunity for site visitors to learn what others think of the product, service or article, and for members to share their own opinions or experiences.

Whenever an item is shown on the website, it includes an Item Rating graphic (example: ) that indicates the average rating for that item. When this graphic is clicked, a page is displayed showing the individual member ratings and comments for that item. The page also allows you to add your own rating and comment.

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A. Your submission must be your original work, and not copied from elsewhere. By submitting content you declare that you own the intellectual property rights to the material (including text, graphics, and any other components of the piece) and that Alumbo! will be held blameless in the event of a copyright dispute.

Alumbo! does not condone, and will not publish or link to, any material that is pornographic, deals in hatred or intolerance for any group, exploits or demeans anyone, or is in any way unlawful, abusive, libelous, infringes intellectual property rights, or is similarly objectionable. Refer to our Terms of Service for full details.

Beyond these common-sense policies, Alumbo! has very broad acceptance criteria. As long as it is relevant to the selected communities and is of reasonable quality, the item will likely be approved.

This is an egalitarian site: members as a group determine what they value by providing feedback and ratings on submitted items. They judge the relative merits and quality of all products, services and information displayed on this website. If they feel your item is important and useful, they will say so. If not, use the feedback to help you improve your craft.

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A. When you update your membership profile, you have the option to submit a short paragraph describing your background, expertise or credentials. You may also upload a photo to attach to your membership record. Then, when you submit an item, you indicate how much of your personal information you want displayed when the item is shown. You have the option to display the item completely anonymously, or use just your nickname. Or you may choose to display your full name, bio and photo with that item. You may select a different anonymity level for every item you submit.

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A. It varies depending on the item type, but in general you may submit the following information for each item:

• Name (article title, name of website, book or other product title, name of resource or service)
• Subtitle (article subtitle, key phrase or "tagline" for website, book or other product/service)
• Summary (one-paragraph overview of the article, book review, website, etc.)
• Body (the full content of the article, book review, etc.)
• Anonymity (how much — if any — of your personal information you want shown with the item)

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A. Alumbo! plans to introduce a revenue sharing plan that will allow contributors to share in the advertising revenue that their submissions generate. Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter (see your Member Profile page) to be notified when this program is launched.

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A. To minimize page load time, an article may be no longer than 10,000 characters. If your piece is longer than this, there are a couple of options: First, consider paring down the submission by making it more succinct or removing less important paragraphs. This often makes the article more "punchy" and readable.

If the subject matter truly requires a longer treatment to do it justice, you may want to break the article into two or more pieces, then submit them as separate items (to be run as a series). We recommend you create the pieces and submit them one after another in one session. This way your entire article can be reviewed and approved at once, and the parts can be scheduled to run on successive days or weeks. Ideally your submission should be no more than 2-4 parts. If you use this approach, modify your article title to include the part number (eg: "How to Follow your Bliss - Part 1 of 3").

Alternatively, you may prefer to contribute a Regular Column, a weekly or bi-weekly piece that appears on one or more community pages. To learn more about regular columns, click here.

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Previous: Regular Columns