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Write for the Edinburgh University Press blog

All of our authors and editors are invited to write for the Edinburgh University Press Blog. Before you submit your blog post, we suggest that you browse our posts for inspiration. Subscribe to the blog to keep updated with new posts.

Key points

  • Blog posts should be no longer than 800 words.
  • Potential ideas for a blog post include a Q&A, comment piece or listicle or a book/article extract. Do not send us a long synopsis of your book or a conference announcement.
  • Write in a readable fashion: conversational tone; active voice; use subheadings to split up the text; use plain English and short sentences; explain any technical terms or neologisms you use.
  • While we do not permit use of generative AI for writing blog posts, assistive AI can be a great tool for generating ideas and outlines, headlines and keywords, alt text for images and blog post summaries. For more information on how AI can be used for promoting your book, see our AI Policy.
  • Include images: a large, landscape image that we can use as the post header plus any other illustrative images or media. Also send us the placement, captions, alt text and credits. Note: you must be legally allowed to use any images you select.
  • Include a short author bio (up to 40 words) and a headshot if you are comfortable sharing one.
  • Include links in the text or in a section at the end.
  • Optimise for SEO: pick a focus keyword that people are likely to search for and use it in your title, first paragraph and throughout your post.
  • Aim to write our blog post for release date of either HB/PB or around the time of a book launch/event.

What to write

We publish:

What not to write:

  • A long synopsis of your work.
  • Anything that is time-limited. Blog posts are read for years after they are published, so they should never go out of date.
    • If you would like to publicise an event that you are involved in, ask your marketing contact to share this in our upcoming events list, newsletters and social media instead.

How to write your blog piece

Choose and use your focus keyword

Choose a specific keyword or key phrase that people who are interested in your work might search for. This will help elevate your post on search engines like Google. Find the sweet spot – avoid words and phrases that are too broad (e.g. ‘clothing’ or ‘philosophy’), or a word or phrase you have coined that isn’t yet widely used.

Your keyword should appear in your post 6–8 times:

  • Once in the post title.
  • At least once in the opening paragraph.
  • Two or three times in the subtitles and body text.
  • In the conclusion. You could close your post with an inviting question that uses the keyword, e.g. ‘What are your thoughts on [keyword]?’ or ‘What’s next for [keyword]?’

Remember to always write your keyword in full.

Include external links

If appropriate, link to related blog posts, your academic publications, news articles, your own blog or website or sources you reference. When linking, fully describe the source in the link text; avoid link text like ‘click here’.

For example:

Your author biography

  • Write up to 40 words about yourself and your research at the end of your blog post.
  • If you are happy to do so, send us an image of yourself to go with your biography.

Images to accompany your post

  • Send one large, landscape image we can use as the post header.
  • You can also send any images or other media to illustrate your post: photographs, images, sound files or videos.

For every image (or other accompanying media), send us:

  • A caption, explaining what the image is and how it relates to your post.
  • Alt text description for screen readers – find out more about writing good alt text in our alt text guidelines (.docx).
  • Credit line, including the URL if you found it online.
  • Where in your post you would like the image to appear.

Legally, we can only use images if they meet one of these criteria:

  • They are in the public domain.
  • The creator shared them on a Creative Commons licence.
  • You created the image (e.g. took the photograph or drew the diagram).
  • You have cleared permission with the copyright holder.

Some good places to find images:

  • The Creative Commons search – a helpful tool to find free-to-use images on sites like Flickr, Google Images and Wikimedia Commons.
  • Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay for images shared on a CC0 licence.
  • Your own photographs, or a friend, colleague or collaborator’s photographs.
  • Images you use in your book or article.

Submit your post

Once you're happy with your post:

  • Send it to your marketing contact as a Word document.
  • Attach images and media files separately, or send us the links to where we can find them – don’t embed them in the text.
  • Include any image information (caption, alt-text, placement, credits) in the body of your email or a separate document.
  • Send it to your marketer.

We may suggest changes to your post to make it more blog-friendly. We’ll be in touch to confirm the final version with you before it goes live.

Sharing and republishing

Share your post far and wide! Social media, Academia.edu, ResearchGate, your department’s newsfeed, Reddit, websites, blogs, email: share the link wherever people might be interested.

We’re very happy for you to re-publish or repurpose your post on other websites and blogs. Please wait two weeks before doing so and include a link to the original post.

Write for the Edinburgh University Press blog | Edinburgh University Press