Write for Summer Tomato

You are encouraged to submit your best writing to Summer Tomato as a guest post. Guest posting is a great way to get exposure for your blog or fan pages and pick up some Google link love.

Due to the volume (and quality) of pitches I get, I now require a $10 donation to my Charity Water in order to consider a guest post (the fee does not apply to farmers market posts). This is not meant to discourage you, but to emphasize the importance of taking your pitch seriously. The donation is no guarantee that your post will be accepted, but it does ensure that I will read it and work with you to the best of my ability to make it publishable at Summer Tomato.

You are welcome to send me a 1-2 sentence summary of your proposal before donating and I’ll be happy to tell you if your idea is likely to be accepted.

Please note that I do not publish articles about specific medical conditions.

Please read the following guidelines carefully so your post has the best chance of being accepted:

1. Excellent posts should be well-written, concise and valuable to Summer Tomato readers. Emphasis should be on healthy eating/living tips and actionable ideas. Generic posts on healthy living are not likely to be accepted.
2. Length. Summer Tomato posts are typically 500-1000 words. Please check with me if you plan to go outside this range.
3. Recipes posts should be simple, healthy and seasonal. They should also be accompanied by high-quality, original photographs (640px width) on par with those found at Tastespotting and Foodgawker. Feel free to send me samples if you aren’t sure if yours are a good match.
4. I reserve the right to edit your work for clarity and persuasive copy. My intent is not to change the meaning of your words, but to make them more clear for Summer Tomato readers. I’m happy to send proofs back to you for approval before publication if you prefer.
5. Consider submitting your idea (headline and outline) to me before writing your article. Send me a short email including your name, website, best writing/photography samples and your idea. This can save both of us a lot of time in the long run. The contact form forwards directly to my inbox.
6. Understand that if your article is published on Summer Tomato it cannot be published anywhere else on the web, including your own blog. You are welcome to post a teaser on your site with a link to the completed article. However the bulk of the article must be content exclusive for Summer Tomato.
7. Include a short bio. Tell us in a sentence or two who you are, where you live and what makes you interesting. Be sure to include URLs (not hyperlinks) to your site, Twitter feed, or whatever else you’d like me to include.
8. Format. Please email your post to me with the text in the body of an email or Word doc, and attach (don’t paste) the pics (preferably as .png, but .jpg is ok if necessary). DO NOT include HTML markups, I’ll handle the formatting myself. Again, pics should be 640px width.
9. Grammar. To be consistent with current standards and Summer Tomato norms, please put only one space between sentences and omit apostrophes from “farmers market” (i.e. please no “farmers’ market” or “farmer’s market”). Please exercise restraint when using exclamation points. If your post contains more than one or two I will remove them.
10. Practice best guest posting behavior. It is best if you are a regular Summer Tomato reader before submitting a post. Please do your research and be sure that a similar post has not been published recently. Once your post is published, it is polite to promote it to your own readers and social network including Twitter, Facebook and your own blog. Come back to your post throughout the day and interact with your new readers. Also, don’t make these common guest blogging mistakes.