Article Submission and Publishing Policy
As salamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu dear writers!
Welcome to the IOU blogging family 🙂
We strive to make the IOU blog of high quality source of information. Hence, we desire articles of excellent quality, which would be a representation of our motto “Changing the Nation through Education”. However, none of this would be possible without setting up some rules and guidelines to help us along the way.
Please keep the following points in mind and make sure that your drafted article meets all the instructions specified here and in the Guidelines. Articles that do not meet all the specified requirements will need additional attention of the author which will result in delays and extra work for the writer and editor also. Hence, pay close attention to all below mentioned points to maximize our efforts and avoid wastage of precious time.
- We will not publish an article that does not fit into the motto of “Changing the Nation through Education”. So please make sure that your submission is inspiring and sparks a change in the hearts and minds of readers to strive to be better Muslims with the knowledge they have received while reading your article.
Here are few simple points that should help you to write an inspiring article:
- Give practical tips in your article
- Encourage readers to do good
- Give hope
- Arm your article with authentic knowledge
- Keep your readers engaged in what you write by keeping your message simple and clear
- Make readers reflect and contemplate after reading your article
No one likes to read dry content, especially in a day and age where people get distracted in a couple of minutes! So please ensure that you engage with your readers while you write.
2. A new writer is put on a 3-month trial period, so we can see the quality of your work. If you receive three feedbacks from us within this 3-month trial period, you will be moved from the regular writers list to our guest writers list.
3. All writers will receive a feedback email for failing to:
- Write the keywords/ tags/ short description/ excerpt/etc.
- Insert Arabic calligraphy
- Reference the Quranic texts or ahadith properly
- Follow closely all IOU guidelines
- Enter their names on the spreadsheet before the deadline
- Submit articles on time
- Inform in case of delay or inability to submit for a particular month
Articles which require too many edits or have unclear content will also receive a feedback.
4. If any writer receives 3 feedback emails from us stating that their article is not up to the mark or does not fit into our motto, they will be moved to our guest authors list and will not be a part of our regular writers team.
5. A Google spreadsheet is created every month. This sheet has a list of themes which writers can choose to write about. If you are not comfortable writing on those mentioned topics or if you have some other topic/theme in mind, you are always free to submit your personal choice of topic as well. You will be expected to write your name and the title of your article on the spreadsheet before the 8th of that month, and you have time until the 30th/31st of that month to submit your article. The Google spreadsheet will be shared on the 1st of every month in our FB group for the Team IOU.
6. In the spreadsheet, you are expected to write a short description of your article. This summary will be published with your article. It should attract readers and tell them why they should read your article. Please make sure that your description is crisp and interesting, so readers click your article’s link immediately.
To conclude, we want writers who are serious about deadlines and rules. We are not looking for perfection, we are looking for excellence. And while this is a volunteer position, we should remember that we all work for the sake of Allah. Therefore, we need to make sure that we give our BEST in order to please Him and Him alone.
Verily Allah has prescribed ihsan (perfection) in all things.” (Muslim)
Doing half hearted work or not being careful enough, and not taking the reminders and rules that are constantly posted seriously is not acceptable when working for Allah’s deen. It is also not part of the Muslim character.
If we are expected to give in 100%, let’s strive to give in 101% to receive more reward and blessings from Allah. Remember, every single minute of your life you spend to strive for this deen is going to be rewarded in ways you can never imagine, so please don’t underestimate the rewards you can collect.
Let’s start striving to be nothing short of THE best in what we do and let’s please Allah in the process. If any of you need any help or guidance, please don’t feel shy to post it on the Team IOU group on Facebook. All of us are here to help each other out and guide each other to become better in what we are doing.
Jazakalah khair for your continued support and contributions.