Here’s to the (really, truly, genuinely) crazy ones

So… you wanna write for us. Really? Sure you don’t wanna spend that time watching Netflix or Hulu?

If you’re still interested, we’re flattered – contributions from all corners of the product, UX, tech, design and digital communities are welcome.

Diversity of thinking leads to a completeness of knowledge.

We believe that product management is not an exact science — that each company and product-person refines their own bespoke tools and methods. Therefore, the goal of PM Network is to share this broad range of information with the community. And while we write our own articles, we also actively seek guest contributions to productmanagers.network because more knowledge exists in the community than in the minds of the editors.

This document aims to provide some guidance for guest authors on writing content for Product Managers Network. We hope it helps to communicate our ethos and editorial criteria. Narrative style is the domain of the individual author, but we want to ensure our readership and the community can expect a consistent learning experience from articles produced for Product Managers Network.

Topic Scope

At Product Managers Network, we define product management as the intersection between Business, Tech and Design (IxD/UX). That means our topic spectrum is pretty broad. It’s important to note that PM Network doesn’t specialize in anyone of these areas – and we tend to seek content that intersects with at least two of these areas.

But we don’t accept every pitch people make to write on our blog or for us to write on theirs. To give your pitch the highest chance of success, please read the guidelines below.

If you’d like to contribute to our blog

  • It’s best to not be boring. In the words of the late, great David Ogilvy, “You cannot bore people into buying”. And we’re always selling something – even if only an idea.
  • We won’t tell you how to write your headlines or structure your articles – as long as these are grammatically and syntactically sound… and super-easy to read.
  • It helps if your article has an argument (point of view), a resolution for the conflict in that argument and practical advice for people to act on.
  • We will accept a unique take on an existing article but we won’t republish an existing article – that’s just weak-sauce.
  • If you’re presenting a subjective argument, please back it up with objective, rational evidence. We’re not keen on aimless rants and meandering thoughts.
  • We hate clichés. We’re unlikely to accept articles about topics that have been beaten to death. The Internet doesn’t need more crap “content”.
  • Your article doesn’t have to be explicitly about Product – but it must be valuable to our audience (which includes mostly people interested in product, UX, tech, design and digital).
  • Please don’t try to sell your “free” swag on our blog. If we believe what you do is valuable to our audience, we’ll happily give you the spotlight (see the “product or UX innovator” section below). We just won’t do it in a sleazy or underhanded way.

We’ll always try not to mess with your carefully chosen words but if your article is accepted, we’ll proofread it and may have to edit for clarity. But to be honest, we’d rather not – you can help us by making sure everything is spot on before sending your words over.

How to submit your request

This is the business end of a long-winded attempt to filter out spammy link builders.

If you’d like to pursue any of the opportunities listed above as a guest blogger, email guest [at] productmanagers [dot] network with the following:

  • “Guest posting opportunity” written in the subject line, with the type of opportunity in parentheses e.g. (outgoing article), (incoming article) or (innovator interview)

In the body of the email, include:

  • The title of your proposed article
  • A summary of the main points in your article, as bullet points
  • Your article attached as a Microsoft Word doc (if you’ve written it… but it’s OK if you haven’t)
  • A brief bio about yourself (no more than 100 words)

 

If you’d like to pursue a structural or continuous contribution and use PM Network as your main blogging platform, email author [at] productmanagers [dot] network with the following:

  • “PMN author opportunity” written in the subject line

In the body of the email, include:

  • The username and email address that you have registered yourself with on https://productmanagers.network/join/
  • A summary of the main topics you would like to write about, as bullet points
  • Links to some blog posts you’ve written recently, or your articles attached as a Microsoft Word doc (if you’ve written it… but it’s OK if you haven’t)
  • A brief bio about yourself (no more than 100 words)

And don’t worry, once you have your login, you can configure your account in such a way that every article you post also gets shared on your Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Medium, and more…

 

That’s all folks – see you in our inbox!