Posting on Pearls and Irritations

We welcome your contributions.

We are greatly indebted to you and other writers in helping to promote discussion on important public issues.

Pearls and Irritations, publishes more than forty posts a week.

We do not pay writers or our editor-in-chief/founder. Copyright for articles published by Pearls and Irritations is held by the publisher “© John Menadue”.  Authors are free to distribute their original, unedited manuscripts, and may seek republication elsewhere, providing that the republished articles include a link to the Pearls and Irritations website and are recognised with the following “This article was first published in Pearls and Irritations.”

We do not seek advertising revenue. Production and technical services are funded by our generous donors.

We are delighted with the progress that Pearls and Irritations has made since its inception in 2012. We now have more than 23,000 subscribers. There are more than 14,000 daily readers, many accessing the blog through the website rather than subscription emails.

Pearls and Irritations is not an academic publication. It is a vehicle for analysis, clarification, fresh interpretations, policy proposals, reviews and other contributions to promote discussion on important public issues.  Our readers come from all walks of life and all ages.

We ask writers to follow these simple guidelines for all articles.

Guidelines for writers

From Friday 12 August 2022, we will no longer be able to accept articles via post-by-email or at support@johnmenadue.com.

All articles should be sent as a Word document attachment via email to editor@johnmenadue.com. To avoid duplication, do not send additional copies to any other email address.

If at all possible, avoid changes to your article after it has been submitted.  Changes can be technically complicated and add an extra burden for our small production team. However, if you do need assistance, email production@johnmenadue.com.

1. Article creation
Please create your article in a word document (.doc or.docx) keeping your article to about 800 words.

Limit your article to single piece, rather than a series of articles unless there are exceptional circumstances agreed with the Editor.

2. Formatting
Given your article is being published online and the majority of readers will view this on a mobile device (ipad or phone) please format your articles as follows:

Heading:  Keep your article heading succinct, ideally 6-10 words maximum.

Subheadings: ideally no more than 6 words.

Spacing: Use single line spacing and avoid double spacing within sentences and paragraphs. (This often occurs at the end of sentences and you can check this using the search function and tapping your spacebar twice to reveal double spaces). Add a single line between paragraphs.

Footnotes and anchor text: These are not used in our articles.

Graphs and tables: Use .jpeg format (resolution 1200 pixels) and indicate the original source of the graphs and tables.

Images: If you wish to include images, send them as an attachment in their original size, so they can be properly sized for the site. Our images are published at 800 x 500 px.  Ensure all images are licensed appropriately for use in your article.

3. Hyperlinks

If you wish to use hyperlinks, embed them in the relevant text and check that your hyperlinks are live. Avoid hyperlinks for pay-walled publications.

Hypertext URLs to keyword-based phrases that are relevant to the article readers will access via the link. For example, ‘the decision to update the education policy’ is better than ‘the decision to update the education policy’.

Hyperlinks to your own or other previous P & I articles can be added by the Editor. However please make it clear which specific article you need linked.

4. Editing your article

As we have limited editing resources, all articles should be grammatically correct and not contain spelling errors.

Please ensure your computer is set to English (UK) not English (US).

We may modify the title and the stand-first to clarify and highlight the key points of the content.

5. Author bio and head-shot

To further enhance our visibility on Google and other search engines we will publish a bio and headshot of all our contributors. If you have not already provided bio and head-shot, please attach the following to your email:

  • A headshot, 500 x 500 pixels, preferably in colour
  • A short bio of no more than 100 words, with particular focus on any of your background or experiences relevant to what you generally write about.

If you wish to update your existing bio please make this clear in your advice.

Thank you for following the guidelines. We believe this will simplify the writing and production of articles for Pearls and Irritations.

John Menadue

Contact us:
Editor: editor@johnmenadue.com
Production: production@johnmenadue.com

To download this style guide please click on this link: Pearls and Irritations Style Guide -July 2022

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