Do you like to write articles on topics affecting federal agencies and employees? Have you written an article on an issue that would be of interest to the federal community?
FedSmith.com welcomes the submission of articles written by guest authors who have expertise or skill sets in an area applicable to the federal community. You can gain recognition from our large community of readers connected to the federal government by sharing your expertise through your articles. Our site gets hundreds of thousands of visitors every month and authors who write for us regularly have told us they have gotten business leads, recognition within the federal community, and other opportunities they would not have been able to get otherwise. Additionally, you can write on your schedule and you own and retain the copyrights to your article.
Frequently Asked Questions
What topics do you look for?
We seek to post topics that are of interest and applicable to our audience of current and former federal employees. Topics we are most interested in publishing include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Federal pay
- Articles on retirement (saving, planning, taxes, etc.)
- Analysis of the federal retirement systems (CSRS/FERS)
- Federal benefits (FEHB, FEGLI, etc)
- Thrift Savings Plan
- Leadership skills/career advancement as it relates to a career with the federal government
- General human resources/labor relations topics
How long should articles be?
Articles ideally should be at least 1,000 words to fully cover a topic.
What makes a strong article?
Articles that we opt to publish and generate the most interest among our readers have some things in common:
- They are properly proofread and free from typographical and grammatical errors.
- They are not advertisements.
- They must be applicable to our audience of current and former federal employees in some way.
- They go in depth. Articles should provide sufficient details about the topic(s) they cover.
- They reflect the author’s knowledge and expertise about the topic. This is particularly important when covering complex topics such as labor relations or federal retirement/benefits systems.
May I include links within the article?
Yes, but you should only include links that will be helpful to readers. They can be links to appropriate posts on your own blog (no more than two) or on any other website (the more reputable the source, the better). We do not allow affiliate or paid links in articles, and we also do not publish articles that are primarily advertisements for a product or service.
May I include a YouTube video with my article?
Yes, one video can be included with an article. It must be related to the topic of your article. The video also cannot take the place of a fully written, detailed article. A good video will provide complimentary/supplemental information to the content of the article and should not be purely promotional in nature. It must be properly edited for format, sound, video quality, etc.
May I include images inside the article?
The only images that we can accept in articles due to copyright/licensing restrictions are ones that you create yourself, such as charts/graphs that help to better visualize the content. Images must not violate any third-party copyrights, should supplement the content of the article, and should not include information that can be included in the body of the article; an image should not include only text or a table for example.
Are there any style guidelines?
Section headings should be included to help break the article down into manageable sections/subtopics for readers. Where possible, it is helpful to incorporate lists (bullets/numbers). If you reference other sources, be sure to cite them with links to the respective websites.
Will you edit my article?
We ask that all articles be properly proofread before submission as we are unable to accept articles for publication that contain numerous typographical, punctuation, and/or grammatical errors. We reserve the right to make edits to articles, however, we do not make major changes to the underlying content. If we feel that an article requires more significant edits we will either decline to publish it or refer it back to you for more edits.
May I write several articles to be published over time as a multi-part series?
We generally discourage authors from doing this. We have found overall traffic to the articles in the series tends to decline as it progresses and can lead to frustration for readers who have to wait for subsequent articles or who may miss parts of the series. However, sometimes it may be necessary, such as to avoid having a very long article.
If you feel you need to present your articles on a topic as a series, we need to have all articles you want published in the series submitted together in order to consider them for publication.
Do you pay for submissions?
We do not. However, you are welcome to include a link to your company’s website in the author byline at the end of the article. With our high volume of traffic, we have found this to be a valuable way for authors to drive traffic to their websites and generate leads for their businesses without alienating readers with overt promotions.
May I become a regular contributor?
Absolutely! We are always looking for contributing writers. If you want to become a regular contributor for FedSmith.com, we allow you to have your photo included with your articles (if you wish) and we set up an author page for you on the FedSmith.com site with a listing of your articles and your bio. The bio page can include a contact form where readers can contact you through our website. This is also optional and your email address is not exposed on the site. All that we require is a minimum of five recent articles from you that we have published and that you continue to send new ones periodically. You can write as often as you wish, but you have to have an article published on our site at least quarterly (every 3 months) for your name to appear on our featured authors page.
What should I do after my article is published?
We’d love for you to share it on social media. Sharing it helps boost the readership of your article. Also, we hope you’ll be active in the comments, responding to readers’ questions or thoughts, as this encourages healthy discussion of the topic.
Submit Your Article
Use the form below to submit an article to be considered for publication on FedSmith.com. This form is only for submitting articles; if you are trying to send a general contact inquiry, use the contact form instead.
Please note that articles which are simply advertisements/promotions for a product or service, are not relevant to our user base, contain numerous typographical errors, or have otherwise not been properly proofread will not be considered for publication. FedSmith reserves the right to make any edits we deem necessary to any submitted articles that we decide to publish.
