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SubmissionsThis is where you can learn how to submit photos or words to Offbeat Mama. If you just want to say hello, click here. If you're a business owner looking for placement, click here.
If you're a photographer who would like to submit photos, the easiest thing to do is just put them in our gallery
Offbeat Mama is about sharing the voice of nontraditional families, and so we're always looking for words & photos from folks from a wide range of backgrounds, lifestyles, and experiences. We believe family takes many forms — this means biological, adoptive, and step parents. This means straight, gay, and bi parents AND kids. This means nuclear and extended families. This means babies, kids, teens, and grown-up issues.
Things to keep in mind
- It's fine to submit something that you wrote for your own personal blog — we'll be sure to link to your original post!
- Get familiar with our values before submitting — we're looking for positive stories and just are not into being ranty, dogmatic, reactionary, or judgmental.
- Blog posts should be 500-1000 words
- You don't need to be a professional writer, but your post should have a specific focus other than introducing yourself, and be conscientious about capitalization, proofreading, spell check, etc.
- Posts may be edited for length and tone
Topics we're especially interested in:
- Perspectives from offbeat families of color
- Lesbian mamas and queer families
- How-tos for kid craft and DIY projects
- Perspectives from offbeat aunties, grandmas, and other non-bio caregivers for our "It Takes a Village" category
- Non-biological parent stories — step-parents and adoptive parents especially!
- Lessons you've learned from your parenting mistakes
- Tips about your favorite offbeat products and services
What we're NOT looking for:
- Defensiveness We're not especially interested in stories about how you feel judged, someone looked at you funny, etc. We all deal with this challenge, but we think there's more to be gained from celebrating than commiserating.
- Dogma It's awesome that you feel strongly about your parenting philosophy, but we're not into absolutes when it comes to parenting.
- Ranting Parenting can be frustrating, but we think the internet is full of enough rage. We like to contribute positive awesomeness to the web.
- "Hi, My Name Is" Posts We get a lot of submissions that are essentially just an introduction — "Hi, my name is Jane, and here's how I'm an offbeat mama." While we loooove getting to know our readers, the posts we choose to publish are typically articles with a very specific focus — we lean towards pieces with a focused thesis and perspective.
Please note: while we can't publish all submissions we receive, we love reading every single one. You'll hear from us if we're going to publish your guest post!
Ok, WHEW. Got all that?
Now it's time to submit your post…
