Write for the Edinburgh University Press blog

All of our authors and editors are invited to write a post for the Edinburgh University Press blog. Before you submit a blog post, we suggest that you have a browse through our posts. Remember to subscribe if you'd like an update when a new post publishes!

• Visit the Edinburgh University Press blog

What to write

We publish a variety of posts – if you'd like some guidance on what kind of post to write, take a look at our blog for ideas, or ask your marketing contact. Types of post that we publish include:

• Excerpts from books and articles.
  • Example extract post:
    ‘An extract from Lucretius II by Thomas Nail’
• An article that discusses the themes or topics you explore in your Edinburgh University Press publication, perhaps tying it to current events if that’s appropriate.
  • Example themes and topics articles:
    ‘Ghosts in a time of COVID-19’
    ‘Common good: the curious case of Princes Street Gardens’
• Interviews: for example, a journal editor could interview an article author, or a series editor could interview a series author.
• Q&A: we have a list of questions that you can respond to.
  • Find our suggested list of Q&A questions
  • Example Q&A posts:
    ‘An interview with Wyatt Moss-Wellington, author of Narrative Humanism and co-editor of ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze’
    ‘Q&A with Stephen Bowman, author of The Pilgrims Society and Public Diplomacy, 1895–1945’
• Lists – people love lists!
  • Example lists posts:
    ‘5 Great Scottish Women You Might Not Have Heard Of…’
    ‘5 Things You Never Knew About Spinoza’
• Multimedia galleries (photos, images, graphics, videos, podcasts) – please note that these should be public domain, shared under a Creative Commons licence, copyright cleared or created by yourself.
  • Example multimedia post:
    ‘A history of American horror film in 10 images’
• Author or Editor profiles – great for journal editors and series editors to attract more submissions, or if you have a lot of different publications with us.

How to write your blog piece

• Our word count is flexible: typical posts range from 70 to 800 words. If your post is very long, it might work better split into a few shorter posts.
• Blog posts are more casual than journal articles so write in an engaging and conversational tone. You should avoid difficult language, long sentences and the passive voice.
• Split long paragraphs into two or more shorter paragraphs.
• Break up the text: always include subheadings, and consider including other elements like bulleted lists or block quotes. 
• If you are an editor for a journal or book series, you might want to include a call for proposals at the end of your post.

Writing for SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It means optimising online content so that search engines, such as Google and Bing, include it in their search results. Writing your blog post with SEO in mind helps interested readers to find it, which in turn means more people find out about your research.

Step 1: choose your keyword

Choose a specific keyword or key phrase that people who are interested in your work might search for. Try to find the sweet spot – avoid words and phrases that are too broad (e.g. ‘politics’) or too specific (e.g. a neologism that isn’t in common use yet).

Step 2: use your keyword

Your keyword should appear in your article and its metadata between six and eight times. Remember that you must always write your keyword in full.

For example, say your chosen keyword is ‘neo-noir film’.

• Include your keyword in your title: ‘20th-century neo-noir film’.
• Include your keyword in the opening paragraph.
• Include the keyword once or twice in the main body of the article.
• In the conclusion, include an inviting question that uses the keyword again, e.g. ‘What are your thoughts on neo-noir film?’ or ‘What’s next for neo-noir film?’
• We’ll add your keyword to your post’s metadata – leave that part to us!

Step 3: include external links

Another good practice for SEO is to include links to other websites. You could link to related blog posts, your academic publications, news articles, your own blog or webpage and anything that you reference in the post. When linking, fully describe the source in the link text; avoid link text like ‘click here’.

For example:

• Good practice: Find out more about Crime Fiction Studies
• Bad practice: Find out more here

Your author biography

We’ll include a short biography at the end of your post. Please send us up to 40 words about yourself and your research. We’ll also add a section about your Edinburgh University Press publication, including the cover image of the book our journal.

Images to accompany your post

If you are happy for us to use your image on our blog, send us a photograph of yourself to go with your biography.

We'll always include the cover image of your book or journal. In addition, please send us at least two relevant, thematic images or accompanying media: photographs, images, sound files or videos.

For every image (or other accompanying media), send us the credit line – including the URL if you found it online – and note on where in the text you would like it to appear.

Legally, we can only use images if they meet one of these criteria:

• They are in the public domain.
• The creator shared them on a Creative Commons licence.
• You created the image (e.g. took the photograph or drew the diagram).
• You have cleared permission with the copyright holder to use them in your blog post.

Some good places to find images:

• The Creative Commons search – a helpful tool to find free-to-use images on sites like Flickr, Google Images and Wikimedia Commons.
• Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay for images shared on a CC0 licence.

Submit your post

Once you're happy with your post, email it to your marketing contact as a Word document.

Include your images and media files as attachments or send us the link to where we can find them – please do not embed them in the text.

We might suggest some changes to your post to make it more blog-friendly. We’ll be in touch to confirm the final version with you before it goes live.

Sharing and republishing

Share your post as widely as possible! Facebook, Twitter, Academia.edu, Reddit, websites, blogs, email: share the link wherever people might be interested.

We’re very happy for you to re-publish or repurpose your post on other websites and blogs. Please wait for two weeks before doing so and include a link to the original post.