Guest Post Guidelines


I receive more offers for guest posts than I have time to review. Guest posts are now by invitation only. Thank you for your interest, but I will not be publishing any more guest posts this year.

Small Notebook articles are positive, helpful, and written from a friendly, personal perspective. My goal is that someone would spend a few minutes reading here, feel encouraged or inspired, and come away with practical tips. Articles related to simplifying, organizing, and home are the most popular. Topics covered less often include personal finance, natural living, family life, and gardening, but the general theme should be living simply at home.

Mentioning your site or product is fine, but the purpose of your article should be to help and encourage the reader, not self-promotion.

I publish only a few guest posts every year, so I want them all to not only be well-written, but also a good fit for this blog. If you are not a regular reader here, spend some time reading the archives so that you are familiar with the style of this blog. I am more interested in posts that include your personal experience and not generic information.

Style Guide

  • Posts should usually be 400-700 words.
  • Include at least one photo for the beginning of the post. Photos must be original or legal to use. The maximum width for photos is 500 pixels.
  • Shorter paragraphs are easier to read.
  • Lists and bullet points are visually appealing and help focus your writing.
  • Use subheadings where appropriate. (Wrap subheadings with <h4> html tags.)
  • End your article with a brief author’s bio that links to one or two websites of your choice. Also include a small (about 100 x 100 pixels) photo or image that represents you.
  • Email your article to me in a text file. If you are not familiar with html, don’t worry. It is easy for me to add html formats for you, and I am more interested in your quality writing than coding ability.
  • I may edit your article for grammar,
 readability, and sometimes for tone. I might change the title or shorten a paragraph. I want to make your guest post as successful as I can.

Take a look at these guest posts for examples:

Reasons I might choose not to publish your article:

  • If the topic does not fit the theme of simple living at home.
  • If the topic has been fully covered recently.
  • If I already have a full posting schedule.
  • If the article requires more editing than I have time to do.
  • If the article is overly promotional.
  • If it has been published elsewhere. I want the content on Small Notebook to be unique.

Thank you for understanding that I cannot promise to publish an article I have not seen. You are welcome to send me an idea for a guest post before you write it, but I am not able to think of a topic for you. If I decide not to use your guest post, I will be sure to let you know so that you can publish it on your own blog or submit it to someone else.

Questions?

Email me anytime. I know the time and care that it takes to write a guest post, and I appreciate your sharing your writing with Small Notebook readers!

Thank you,

Rachel Meeks