Guest Blogger FAQ & General Guidelines for CPTSD Foundation

Thank you so much for your interest in submitting a guest blog post on cptsdfoundation.org. It is truly our honor to help you share your story, and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with you. Our collaborative efforts will help inspire, empower, and encourage all who read what you have share. Here are some basic guidelines and general information for submitting your article for publication on the blog.

Topics:

• Sharing your personal story. This is the format many guest bloggers prefer; talking about your own life and story as a complex trauma survivor. You can include things like: the struggles you faced while the traumatic events were actively taking place, how you coped, your support system (or lack thereof), what it was like on a daily basis both then and now, etc.
• You might also consider writing about a particular mental health challenge you are passionate about, or perhaps one you advocate for. Examples: Suicide Awareness & Prevention, Anxiety Disorders, Dissociative Disorders, etc.
• If you are a spouse, partner, friend, or sibling to a complex trauma survivor, and you have an active role in their lives; your insight and experiences could help others who are in a similar role and looking for support.

General Guidelines before you submit your article:

• While we do not have a set word count, typically anywhere from 700-1500 words is average. Although, if you would like to write more, this is certainly fine, as many guest bloggers do indeed write much more. The key is to share your story in your own words, from your own point of view.
• Please write your article using a document format; Microsoft Word and Apple Pages are the two most common. Free versions of these are available using Google Docs or on Apple iCloud.
• Please always be sure to style your submission with paragraphs, as this makes it easier to read and also much easier to format on the blog.
• Also, it is important to spell and grammar check your story before submitting it. Our team will also check it before publishing, however correcting the majority of the errors ahead of time makes the process much easier.
• You are not required to share your real name, although you are more than welcome to. If you prefer to remain anonymous this is absolutely fine.
• We encourage you to include links to your social media accounts and website if you have one, but this is not required.
• If you would like to include a photograph of yourself as part of your submission, you can include this in your email. See below for additional information on including pictures with your post.
• Submit your article via email to: [email protected]– with the Subject of “Guest Blog Post for CPTSD Foundation”.

What happens after you submit your article:

• Our team will review your submission and typically get back to you within one week.
• Our review process includes any additional editing and formatting which may be needed so your story is presented in the best possible way on the blog. Our team will not alter your story other than for formatting purposes.
• Our team will let you know if there are any changes which need to be made, outside of basic spelling and grammar corrections.
• Each post will include one feature image, and social media images which our team will create. These images will be royalty free so there is no risk of copyright infringement. If you have images you would like included, you can send them with your article. Again, please be sure you own 100% of the rights to the images sent or be sure they are royalty free. Some great sites for royalty free blog images arePixabay.com, Unsplash.com, and Pexels.com.
• You may also include a photo of yourself, such as a professional head shot or another high-resolution photo of your choice. This is optional; however, many guest bloggers include one as a photo of you will help the reader connect with you.

When your article is published:

• We will keep in contact with you throughout the process and let you know when your article will be published on the blog.
• On the initial publish day our team will post up your article and submit it to all of our social media outlets. (Example: Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. On Twitter, we will likely tweet it out 4 times throughout the day. The 9am hour, 12pm hour, 4pm hour, and 8pm hour. For the remainder of the week, we will likely tweet it out once each day, and then it will go into our social media rotation where it will be shared on a regular basis going forward. Each time we share your piece we will tag your social media accounts if you provide them to us.
• You may feel free to link back to your post anytime and tag @cptsdfoundation and your link in social media if you like.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us anytime using our Contact Us page, and indicate that you are interested in being a Guest Blogger. Thank you again and we look forward to collaborating with you!