Submission Guidelines for Upstate SC Sisters in Crime Blog, Writing is in Our Blood

General Focus: We keep the Sisters in Crime Mission Statement in mind by publishing content that will “…promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.” Guys, you’re included here, too! We promote a spirit of inclusivity across the board.

Our Style: Conversational but let your personality and professionalism shine! Please site fact resources when used to support your theme. Any links you provide should be named within the article, as opposed to a, “…go here for more…” Instead try, “…Betsy’s Writing Statistics explains…”

And please submit a list of any links you use, separately. You can just add them to the bottom of your submission. This helps us embed them on the website.

Our Readers: At Sisters in Crime of Upstate South Carolina our primary audience is our members, not Goggle algorithms. In other words, SEO is great, but write to your fellow members. Give them information they can use to boost creativity, understand the publishing process, inform them of industry trends, and enjoy the world of writing and books at every level.

Word Count: According to SEM Rush, (See what we did with the link ) an industry leader in online content, in 2023, posts of about 3,000 words generate the most organic traffic. If you want to write it, go for it! But that’s not our primary goal. Some subjects need more depth than others. Your target is between 400 and 1,000 words, but if you need more, we want to see it.

Here are some quick tips for submission.

• Read the existing articles to make sure your subject wasn’t recently covered.
• Send us your best work.
• No blatant promotional pieces, please. While you may refer to an experience writing and marketing your books, help keep our articles a resource for fellow readers and writers.
• Please submit posts as you would any manuscript. We suggest 12 pt., Times New Roman, double spaced. Word or Google docs are best, but you can also submit in the body of an email.
• Email with Blog Submission in the subject line to [email protected]
• Submissions from members only, please.
• No political or religious opinion, but if you’re writing about the history of Christian Cozies, for example, go for it!
• Include a short, two-or-three-line author bio if you would like something different than your member bio. Your member bio picture will be used unless you submit a different or updated image request.

We are excited to work with you!

Happy Writing!