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Welcome to our Submission Information Page. We just knew you wanted to write for The Power of Moms! We invite mothers to write because the process is empowering, rewarding, and inspiring for all involved. When devoted, busy, wonderful mothers (who might not have ever considered themselves as “writers”) begin to record their thoughts and feelings, deliberate mothers, as a group, have a voice.
Your voice is powerful. Your voice means something to mothers out there who need exactly what you have to offer. We’re confident that all mothers have something great to teach. Please read through our site to gain a sense of what we offer, and then consider helping us learn the lessons embedded in your personal experiences. (We’ve even compiled some tips to help you find time for writing.)
Men are also most certainly welcome to write (as are children). Our site is generally geared toward moms, but if you, as a son, father or husband, have an article about your own mother, your wife, encouragement for mothers in general, or parenting principles that apply equally to moms and dads, we would love to read what you have to say.
The Power of Moms does not pay its authors, but we are happy to link to your blog or website in your byline, and we do provide each published contributor with one of our programs, free of charge: Mind Organization for Moms, Bloom, Learning Circles, or a Deliberate Mothering Podcast Series.
Some introductory information:
The submissions we publish will be different than what you will find on most motherhood-related websites. Our focus is not on how to decorate, cook, potty-train, clean, etc., but to strengthen the woman inside the mother and inspire her to excellence. Each month we focus on one of the Twelve Powers of Motherhood, and we publish submissions in the following categories:
Picture Stories
These are simply photographs from family experiences with a short paragraph describing each picture. Your picture story should illustrate one of the twelve powers and offer a quick, beautiful glimpse into your life as a mother through photos and words. (Word count: 300)
Essays/Full Posts
We want to feature your experiences here–and help other mothers apply what you learned through those experiences. Take us into your life. Include photographs, where possible, and help us to feel what you feel. Show us how to be deliberate mothers–please don’t tell us.
Our posts typically go along with the Twelve Powers of Motherhood, but we also need Timely Topics–great ideas regarding holidays, seasonal ideas, and themes in the news. Please be sure you’ve read through the types of things we’ve already posted so you understand The Power of Moms “feel”.
We’re looking for a tone that is thoughtful, optimistic, down-to-earth, and inspiring. We are also looking for posts that are principle-based and apply to a wide variety of mothers. We’re here to unite mothers. At the end of your post, please include a challenge and a question for the readers. (Word count: 700-1,000)
Book Summaries
Please click here to see the format we’d like you to use. (Word count: 700)
Deliberate Mothering Videos
We’re still working on the formatting for these videos, but if you have an idea that goes along with what we’ve already posted, please post it to YouTube and send it in. We’ll get in touch with you regarding other formatting needs.
Submission Process and Guidelines
Submissions for each Power are due on the first day of the prior month (so if you’d like to submit something for The Power of Fun, which is in October, your submission would be due September 1st).
1. Pick your power–or timely topic–and then share your picture story, essay, book summary, or deliberate mothering video.
If you don’t have a particular power in mind, but you have a great submission you’d like to share, go ahead and send it in. Occasionally we publish pieces unrelated to the Power of the Month, or we can schedule it to post at a later time.
2. Paste your submission directly into the body of your email. We also accept links to blog posts, but please link to that specific post—not just to your blog in general (and please, no Word attachments).
The subject of the email should be the title of the submission and your name. Please include the title/author/power/type of submission in the body of the submission.
3. Add a photo (or photos). Each published picture story or essay needs at least one accompanying photo (more, if possible). We really would love for you to include your own personal photos–it doesn’t matter if it’s “professional.” Please attach photos to your email or post it on your blog and send us the link.
4. Email your finished product to submissions@powerofmoms.com. You’ll receive a brief auto-responder, letting you know your submission arrived safely. Please be assured that if you received the auto-response, we DID receive your submission and it will be read by at least two editors. Because of the large number of submissions we receive, we are not able to reply personally to each one.
The Power of Moms reserves the right to edit submissions for length, structure, grammar, tone, etc., but we’ll send you a link to the edited version before it goes live.
5. Alternately, you can use Google Drive. The document title should be the title of your submission and your name. Please share your finished document with submissions@powerofmoms.com.
6. Register on The Power of Moms website, and add a headshot to Gravatar.
You’ll receive a confirmation email asking you to click on a link. Please follow the instructions to finish setting up your account. Should your submission be chosen for publication, we will not be able to list you as an author until you have added yourself to our system. (We can help out here if necessary.)
We use Gravatar for our authors’ headshots. Many sites (including ours) can automatically insert a photo of you that has been uploaded through www.gravatar.com. It’s free and simple, and as long as your email address with them is the same as it is with us, we’ll be all set.
7. We’d also love to connect with you through our Power of Moms Authors Newsletter (this is separate from our general newsletter).
Each month, we’ll send out a “call” to our authors (and future authors), providing specific ideas and prompts we’d like to feature on our website for the upcoming power. We’ve found that many moms like a little reminder and a deadline, so if you aren’t quite ready to submit something now, but you’d like to be invited to do so, click here to sign up (you can unsubscribe any time).
If you have any questions, please contact our Content Director, Alisha Gale, at alisha.gale (at) powerofmoms.com.
Thank you! We’re VERY happy to have you here!
