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 70 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.
Pearls and Irritations has grown exponentially since its inception in 2012. We now have more than 23,000 subscribers. There are more than 14,000 daily readers, many accessing our content via search engines and social media 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
Online submission
Please submit your article via our online submission form, following the guidelines below.
Once submitted your article will be assessed for publication.
Due to the volume of articles submitted, we are unfortunately unable to reply to every submission we receive from authors. Our editorial team will be in contact with you if your article is selected for publication.
If you have not heard from us within five business days, please feel free to submit your manuscript for publication elsewhere, or to contact us by email if you have submitted your manuscript elsewhere in the meantime.
1. Article creation
Please keep your article to about 800-1000 words.
Limit your article to a 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: 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: Indicate the original source of the graphs and tables.
Our production team adds a lead image to all articles.
If you wish to include images, please add them with your copy. Our images are published at 800 x 500 px. Please share licensing details – all images must be licensed appropriately for use in your article.
3. Hyperlinks
Please consider the number of hyperlinks in your article. In an article of 1000 words, 5 internal or external links are the ideal number – approximately one link per paragraph.
A mix of internal links to articles on Pearls and Irritations and external links to other articles or resources are accepted. External links to other websites should provide additional resources to support your discussion but should not be overused, with consideration of the readers’ experience.
The editorial team may remove links considered to be superfluous to the readers’ experience.
Embed hyperlinked URLS to relevant text and check that your hyperlinks are live. Avoid hyperlinks for pay-walled publications.
Example: linking your url to ‘the decision to update the education policy’ is better than ‘the decision to update the education policy’.
Hyperlinks to your own or other previously published Pearls and Irritations articles can be added by the Editor. Please make it clear which specific article you need linked if you have not added it yourself.
4. Editing your article
Pearls and Irritations is published in UK English. Please ensure your keyboard is set to English (UK) not English (US).
Please proofread your copy before you submit the form to ensure it is grammatically correct and does not contain spelling errors.
We may modify the title and the stand-first to clarify and highlight the key points of the content.
5. Author bio and headshot
We publish a bio and headshot of all our contributors. If you have not already provided bio and head-shot – or wish to update your bio and image, please do this in the author bio field in the submission form.
Headshot: 500 x 500 pixels, preferably in colour
Bio: 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 indicate this in the Comment or Message to the Editor field.
Thank you for following these guidelines. We believe this will simplify the writing and publication 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 Submission Guide 28 May 2024
