Article Submissions?

[Kazzigum]

Hey all,

I was considering trying my hand at submitting some articles to the site. Anyone know who I should contact?

Thanks,

--Kazzigum

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I think that'd be Bigred. :D

[SotonShades]

As I've recently started posting articles with DrLove, I'll tell you what worked for us.

Couple of months ago, I had an idea to showcase some of the best stuff in the Painting and Modelling Forums, as the front page had become (in my mind at least) very gaming-centric, with the odd post from MBG for converting (which a few cynical people had pointed out were more about selling bitz from SpikeyBitz than making good conversions. Not my POV, as I liked a lot of stuff he did) and the odd spotlight on the armies from Bigred's FLGS and a couple of tournament winners. While that was all well and good, I felt it was a shame that the huge pool of inspriration we have in the Lounge was often going to waste.

I discussed the idea with DrLove and set out a couple of idea about how we could do it; a forum overview/review (which has all ready been posted) and army focusses for the big projects that deserve a bit more attention, including interviews with the creators and a certain amount of critique (keep your eyes' out for that one!) Having a clear idea of what we wanted to do, we used the 'Email BoLS' button on the front page stating said ideas/options, why we thought it'd be worthwhile and why we thought it was different from what was currently being shown. At least, different enough for us to be writing it, rather than getting one of the current BoLS crew to do it as part of their current stuff.

After a good few days, we got a reply giving us a thumbs up and asking for a couple of articles to demonstrate our idea in full, rather than just having the outline. It also gave us the opportunity to show how we'd write (proper grammer and spelling etc, clear thought out ideas and paragraphs. The kind of thing we, as an internet community, don't always demonstrate in Forums). Proving ourselves to the Fly Lords was one part, but the articles also had to prove popular as well, so whether we get to post more depends on how well they are recieved (first one seems to have gone down a storm... here's hoping the army focus matches up to it). We have a couple more in the works to continue with, but the be all and end all is Bigred. If he thinks we've done well enough we get to carry on. If not...

There are a few things you need to be able to post. DrLove has a better idea of that than I do as he's done most of the backroom stuff for our articles, but I believe at the very least you need to have a google blogger account to be able to work the machines that create the actual article in the BoLS formats, and Bigred needs the details of that to be able to set up you account on the BoLS servers so you can actually post.

I'm sure there is more you need to know, but get your idea sorted and clearly written down, email it to Bigred and see where it goes from there. Afterall, the worst he can do is say no.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Yeah, and you didn't mention me in it. You suck.

[SotonShades]

Post more pictures in Hobby and Project. We'll have no favouritism, just professional style journalism and critque!

Hence why we haven't posted anything from my KoptaForce or Drlove's ongoing multiproject thread! Yet...

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

So I need to set up one o' them fancy WHITE BAWKSES?

It's all going on my blog anyway. :p

[SotonShades]

Nah, so long as we can see something inspiring, we'll put it up! Clear photos are helpful though :P

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I'm working with what I've got! Screw you man. :p

[Kazzigum]

Hey, thanks for all the info guys. To be honest, it seems a bit more involved than I realized. Perhaps I should post some pseudo articles to the forums to test the waters. Do people do that? What do you guys think?

[SotonShades]

Worth a try. As you can see, me and TDA have a good number of forum posts under our belts (DrLove too) so that may have had an influence on Bigred's decision. DrLove has also had some of his rumours and the like on the front page, and I got the dirt from the last FW openday up on the forum before anyone got it on any of the other forums as well (as far as I can tell) which Bigred put onto the front page pretty quick too, probably because he knew I was going to be doing that.

I'm not saying you need a big post count to get your articles submitted, but it's probably going to help, especially if people are kind of aware of your pervading opinions before hand. For instance, it is very easy to write why tournaments are good or bad for the hobby, especially if that is your opinion. But getting your point across as a clear and constructed argument, preferably so in a way that leaves commenters something to replt to and with is a very different art. It's one of the reasons newspaper journalists don't always make good internet journalists. Equally there is no point being contentous for the sake of it to generate comments. It will work for a while, but regulars will quickly learn to avoid your articles (as I do with Plastic Dudesmen... not my style of humour) and people new to the site will probably leave with a dim view of the whole experience.

The articles I'm writing with DrLove aren't to try and generate comments (though we really enjoyed reading the ones we got for the overwhelmingly positive support) but to get people exploring the Hobby and Project lounge, hopefully to get inspired and post some pics of their own stuff. Hobby love creates more hobby love. At least, that is what we are hoping :)