FREELANCE COLUMNISTS FOR EN WORLD NEWS - WRITER'S GUIDELINES

If you are interested in writing 600-word articles for EN World, please contact Submissions Editor Michael Tresca at submissions@enworldnews.com to pitch your ideas for articles.

Thank you for showing an interest in community-generated content here at EN World. The people who write about tabletop role-playing games tend to come from within the community of people who play role-playing games, which means that they are knowledgeable about and focused on the topics about which they wish to write. We admire this passion and knowledge at EN World, and look forward to giving you a venue with which to explore it.

Our community-generated content will be short, focused pieces about RPGs for the site. They are six-hundred (600) word pieces that can be on:

*Industry coverage. We would love to cover a wider cross section of the RPG industry than we currently do. This requires columnists familiar with publishers and games not normally covered in-depth here, or additional aspects of games we do already cover. If you feel you coud cover a particular "news beat" in-depth, please contact us.

* Focused reviews of games, new and old. Reviews should discuss the good and the bad about games. Readers do not like overly glowing reviews that fail to address any negatives about a product, because they come off too much as marketing text, while overly negative reviews can come off as hit pieces. It is fine to dislike something, or to like it, but your review should be a service to the reader and discuss the entire picture of the game. We also look for launch-day in-depth reviews of major RPG releases.

* Gamer-Interest profiles. This can be on a number of topics, from a news piece about a designer launching a new company, to talking about your local gaming store or convention. These sorts of articles should be pitched to the editor in charge of the community-generated content, and the details and approach can be worked out in advance.

* News. This can cover a lot of ground as well, being anything from new releases to new companies, to new stores and conventions in the local area. Like with the profiles above, pitch your ideas to the editor and we can work out the approach.

* Commentary on gaming and the gaming community. We have, in the past, published articles talking about harassment and pay in tabletop RPGs, and their communities, and we do not shy away from controversial topics at the site. That said, any opinion pieces are decided on an individual basis, after they are pitched to the editor. Sometimes approval of the site owner may be asked for before the article is approved. If you have an idea, please pitch it to the editor.


We pay $0.04c per word. We will not accept articles that are less than 500 words for the community-generated content, and we do not pay extra for pieces that go over 600, so try to keep your word count as close as possible to this limit. Payment is made by PayPal on or about the 15th of the following month. We pay based on acceptance, not on publication, so you won't have to wait.

Preference will be given to writers who are capable of ongoing work. While that single article can help, we will give priority to those who can write at least a couple of articles each month.

We do not publish hit or attack pieces at EN World. While some may think that their piece is news, the editor in charge of the community-generated content may turn down a pitch, or ask for a piece to be rewritten at any time. These are some of the guidelines that we use to determine whether we can publish a piece or not (although there may be others as well):

* No anonymous sources. Using unnamed sources is fine, because there are situations where naming an information source could be problematic. However, we require that writers have verifiable names and contact information on sources, and if needed that it be shared with the editor and/or site owner so that the veracity can be verified independently. Everything will be kept confidential, but we cannot publish without being able to internally confirm the sources.
 
* Independent sourcing. We may ask that some news have at least two independent sources that confirm what is being said. A direct, named source can be good enough, if they are primary to the news, but having a second party confirm information is helpful. If you don't have a second source for a story, the EN World staff has wide contacts within the role-playing industry and we can usually help you with getting verification.

* As much as possible, please try to use the Associated Press guidelines outlined here. The linked article covers a number of the grammatical preferences to journalistic writing, and pay particular attention to the guidelines for preferred spelling and capitalization rules. We also use the GLAAD media reference guide when discussing the LGBTQ+ in gaming. Here are also some excerpts from major media outlets' (like the Associated Press and Reuters) guidelines for writing about the LGBTQ+. EN World does not condone hate speech towards any group, and will not publish any articles that contain it. The tabletop role-playing community around the world is diverse and inclusive, and EN World seeks to reflect that in its writing about gaming, and the people who make it up.


Back to Submissions.