eHow is becoming better and better! Their current Submission Guidelines more than proves it. Anyone who has actually submitted manuscripts to a hard copy magazine or publisher knows there is more to getting published than just writing, copying, stuffing in an envelope with an SASE, and submitting. You need to know what the editor/publisher publishes and how they want it! eHow has upgraded their criteria for the articles that are posted to reflect the quality of writing they are striving for. Instead of griping about losing articles, be proud of the ones that are still posted! Having articles on eHow can be used in a resume as a writing credit and samples of your writing work.
Good luck in your writing career on eHow and in all your writing projects. Smiling!
This is a direct quote from eHow’s Forums concerning the new writer’s guidelines:
We hope this post will help many get clarification on what is an acceptable eHow article. Thanks.
-Rich
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Guidelines for writing eHow “How to” articles
Following the guidelines will help your article meet the site’s “quality content” standards.
1. Title and article must match: Articles that answer a question related to the title, but not the question posed in the title, will not be accepted, regardless of how well-written they are.
2. Titles must contain an objective that can be accomplished: Make sure your title reflects what the article actually instructs the reader to do. Do not rely on promises you can’t keep to draw attention to an article; doing so undermines your credibility as a writer.
o Titles like “How to Know” or “How to Understand” don’t lend themselves to the “How to” format. We strongly suggest, to the point of insisting, that you avoid titles that promise to provide instruction for “knowing” or “understanding” anything. Instructions don’t necessarily impart knowledge or understanding.
o Also avoid titles that aren’t realistically accomplishable via simple instructions. Do not write article titles that make promises they can’t reasonably keep; for example, “How to Make a Million Dollars Online,” “How to Lose 30 lbs in 10 Days Without Dieting,” or “How to Teach Your Dog to Talk” are bad titles because the article can’t actually satisfy the title’s objective. Articles must contain a relevant introduction and at least three actionable steps: Articles that do not offer anything more than common sense will not be accepted. For example, an article that tells you “How to Pour a Glass of Milk” or “How to Take a Shower” would be rejected on common sense grounds. Articles should explain how to do something most people don’t automatically know how to accomplish. Again, if an article provides instructions for something the majority of people likely know (as a result of common life experience) then that article could end up rejected as common sense. Here are some examples of common sense article titles:
o How to Make Ice
o How to Make Toast
o How to Bite Your Nails
o How to Lick a Stamp
o How to Turn on Your iPhone3. Every step must have actionable instructions: An article should thoroughly and insightfully answer the question posed in the title. The overall article should explain, in step-by-step form, how to do something useful. Each step must explain how to do a particular part of the title’s objective.
Opinions offered as facts are not permitted and do not substitute for steps. Articles that read like personal stories or simply describe an event from your life will not be accepted. We are a How To site, which means we do not take blog entries. Personal asides are allowed, however they should not bury the step within the digression or take the place of instructional information; asides must always accompany actual instructions.
We remove articles with fewer than three steps. This includes articles that technically have three steps (i.e. text in at least three “Step” boxes), but only two or fewer steps actually provide actionable content. Introductions that consist of gibberish or incomplete sentences are not acceptable. Introduction sections should give the reader a taste of the article’s content, but do not need to refer to the body of the article directly.4. Clear & defined steps: Steps should be simple and explained in a way the reader can easily follow. Articles with poorly constructed, missing or confusing steps are unhelpful, thus they’re not permitted on the site.
o Key information must be present
o Each step supplies specific instructions that move the reader forward in completing their objective
o We reject articles missing important pieces of information relevant to complete the task5. Missing Steps: Articles must provide all the information necessary to complete the project/how to. If a project can’t be completed or doesn’t make sense because a step is missing the article is rejected for this reason.
6. Credibility: Writing useful and informative articles requires that the writer understands the task being completed and the process the completion involves. Instructions contained within the article must explain the task in understandable terms and do so thoroughly. Maintaining the “How To” format is essential to eHow’s credibility; the form is also important because internal consistency helps present a professional appearance.
Content provided by the community is not held to the same standards as professional writers. So you’ll see some variance on the site as far as articles that lack capitalization, proper spelling and punctuation. However, we suggest that you proofread your work and run spell-check before publishing; the presence of multiple errors of this type increases the chances an article will be deleted. Writing your article in a word-processing program, instead of the browser-based template, often makes double checking your work easier. The rule of thumb is that if problems with grammar, spelling, punctuation or capitalization would likely distract a user (not a professional editor) from the article’s merits then eHow reviewers may classify the article as poorly written.Poorly Written articles are also those containing:
-ALL CAPS
-Multiple misspellings
-Nonsense title
-Repeated steps
-Very limited or non-existent use of proper punctuation, capitalization or complete sentences
-Multiple questions, especially when questions are outside the Introduction. For example, “Does your partner go out late at night? Does he keep his phone on vibrate after work and not leave it unattended?” etc. aren’t acceptable.
-Content irrelevant to the titleWe are more lenient when recipes aren’t exactly in perfect “how to” form, as long as they include the required steps. Listing the ingredients either in the “Things You’ll Need” section or
internally in the article are both acceptable. But all the steps necessary for completing the dish, including ingredients, measurements, cooking time and oven temperature, must be present and clearly stated in the article.7. Facts included are correct: All information provided must be correct. Incorrect information will not be permitted on eHow. As a writer it is your job to fact-check everything you write.
o If we are positive something is factually incorrect we reject it for this reason.8. SPAM: Articles that read like ads for other sites, products or services will not be permitted, as we consider these forms of SPAM. It is acceptable for articles to include links to other sites if instructions are included as part of the article and the links are not simply promotional content. Articles that simply list various websites as steps with a description of what the site does will not be accepted. Instructions must go beyond do an Internet search for XYZ, select a specific website and sign up for _____ after registering on the site or anything with similarly generic steps.
o SPAM – articles should not read like product endorsements and must never solely pitch or endorse a product (even if you are not affiliated with the product and will not profit from sales).
o Articles that tout one service, provider or product and offer no alternative choices may get classified as SPAM.9. Clone: Clones are defined as multiple articles on very similar subjects by one author who reuses content to saturate a subject, creating additional articles without providing unique content. Articles that may be considered clones use cut and paste tactics instead of writing separate content for each article: “How to Look Up Someone Online,” “How to Use the Internet to Find Someone,” “How to Connect with Old Friends Using the Internet.” Another example: “How to Find a Friend in Connecticut,” “How to Find a Friend in California,” “How to Find a Friend in New Jersey,” etc. If you write more than one article on a topic, make sure that you do not reuse information from your previous articles; otherwise you risk having your article rejected as a clone.
10. General Offensive Content: Offensive content includes articles that present a danger to users/others, plagiarized material, or instructions for illegal or potentially illegal activities. We also don’t allow articles that encourage hatred or violence. Articles that promote racial, sexual, or religious intolerance will be removed.
11. Articles of a sexual nature are permitted as long as the information is approached from an educational and instructional standpoint using scientific terms and does not contain offensive slang, statements or photos.
12. Photos must be appropriate to the site.
o Photos cannot be offensive in nature, either by being explicit or illegally obtained, so keep this in mind when creating your own articles. We request that members refrain from flagging photos for copyright violations, as we do have permission from various sources to use their photos and members would have no way of knowing when this is the case. You may only flag photo articles if you own the photo in question.
o All photos must match the subject of the article. Articles with photos attached to steps that are unrelated to the actual steps will be removed. You may NOT use a photo of yourself as the main image of an article unless the photo is directly related to the article in question.13. Interpreting Guidelines – Writing is subjective by nature, so rules are not easily categorized into black and white terms. If you are questioning whether an article you’ve written meets all of the above guidelines, try the following exercise. Imagine this is your first time at eHow and you’ve come to the site searching for the answer to the latest title. After reading the article, will you as this new visitor leave satisfied with the answer? Do you feel the person who wrote it gave a thorough explanation? Do you feel the writer knows his or her subject? Do you trust the information contained within the article? Would you be able to complete the task with no prior knowledge of the subject? Would you return to eHow based on the quality of your evaluation?
The answers to the above questions should help you determine whether your article is ready for publication on eHow.
End of Quote.
