Mothering.com Submission Guidelines

Writer's Guidelines

We greatly appreciate your interest in writing for Mothering. Our website is based on a foundation of reader-submitted work. We welcome unsolicited articles.

Our main objective is to be truly helpful, to provide information that empowers our readers to make changes, and supports them in being their own experts. We like articles that have a strong point of view and come from the heart. We also take pride in publishing well-researched, extensively documented articles. When submitting this type of article, please use only the most updated research, from primary sources. Our choice of articles depends on the other material we have published on the subject, how new the topic is to us, and how unique the presentation is. It helps if you include photos.

Familiarize yourself with Mothering.com. We are more likely to publish your article if you are a Mothering reader and are familiar with the issues we discuss. Think about the subjects you know well, and those that are not over-exposed.

Length: We accept submissions of standard articles for Mothering.com and blog posts for the All Things Mothering blog. Generally, article submissions should run between 1,000 to 2,000 words. Blog posts are generally shorter and less formal. 

Submissions: All work should be submitted via email attachment in a Word document to the Web Editor, Melanie Mayo-Laakso.

We regularly cover the following subject areas:

Inspirational articles about mothering, health, activities for children, pregnancy, birth, midwifery, breastfeeding, food and recipes, education, family living, green living and poetry. 

Organizations: We are always happy to aid organizations who work for families by publishing news items and calls to action.

Queries: We encourage you to send a query if you are unsure of our interest in the topic of your article. A query is a one-page specific description and outline of your article. You can query us on more than one topic at a time.

Standards: While we prefer to publish only original material, we will occasionally publish articles that have been published elsewhere if you maintain the right to do so. 

Please include a brief bionote (1-2 sentences) at the end of your submission, so that we can print it if your article is used.

Please include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page of your manuscript, as well as your name and the page number on each subsequent page. Include your phone number and e-mail with all correspondence.

Our procedure is to read and respond to articles within two to four weeks of receiving them, as we receive a lot of submissions. This can be a long time to wait, especially if you are eager for a reply. Thank you for your patience.

Our hardest task is returning articles that we cannot use. We try to be honest in our replies, but it is not always possible to provide in-depth feedback. We evaluate all articles in light of the other articles we have on hand, when last we covered the subject, and our community's' interest in the subject matter. We retain only a small percentage of the articles we receive. Returning a manuscript is not a personal rejection; it is a practical consideration. We encourage you to submit your manuscript elsewhere if we cannot accept it.

Photography, Video and Audio Guidelines

If you would like to submit media please do so by email to Melanie Mayo-Laakso. 

Please send all photos in low resolution (72dpi), JPG or PNG format. For video or audio please do not try to attach large media files to the email. Host them elsewhere and include a link to the file in the email.

Payment

Mothering.com does not offer payment for articles, media or blog posts at this time. We can, however, offer you a large and passionate readership for your work.