Writer Guidelines

Agoura365 is a community news site serving Agoura, California. For an overview of the city, take a little time and read through the web site. You can also learn more about it here.

Freelance Writers

We favor nearby writers, but there are many times when a competent reporter with a phone can cover the news properly. We’re an internet site, so we dig technology like e-mail and even phones.

We try not to get “stuffy” serious here, but we take journalism and our reputation very seriously. If you are representing us, even as a freelancer, you need to be professional in your demeanor and approach, including things such as incoming voicemail messages and e-mail addresses. For regular writers, we will provide a Agoura365 e-mail and phone access.

All correspondence with us should be via e-mail, since there are fewer chances for miscommunications.

Agoura365 will own full copyright on all material submitted. We are affiliated with other community news sites and sometimes your articles, or parts of them, may appear in those publications as well.

Assignments

The average minimum story length is 500 words and you should check with us before submitting anything over 900 words.

Turnaround is 24 hours, unless we have approved something longer beforehand. For non time sensitive stories, this can be fine, but please discuss it first.

Style

Make your stories accurate, clear and interesting.

Accurate: there is nothing more important and there is absolutely no excuse for getting facts wrong. Write only what you know and get it right. Everything should be properly sourced and for all interviewed subjects, please submit contact information so an editor can reach that person. All corrections will appear in the published article itself.

Clear: use short sentences, use short first paragraphs and use active language. If you’ve never read Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, you should. It’s thin and good and you can download a free PDF here.

Interesting: mix in facts and quotes and do your best to make it a good lead. We don’t allow first person, but that’s no reason to be boring.

You can find some decent news writing tips here, here, here and here.

Payments

We pay a fixed fee per article, negotiated beforehand. Expenses are included in this amount, so if you believe there will be necessary expenses or extraordinarily long telephone conversations involved, please be sure to discuss this with us beforehand.

We will pay within 48 hours of an approved submission. We hate paper checks, preferring writers to deal with us through Odesk or, as an alternative, PayPal.

We will use CopyScape.com to ensure that the work is 100% original. If you’ve borrowed from some other writing on the web, we’ve no use for you. Please be original.

Questions?

If you have any question at all, we’ll answer them happily. It’s simple. Just click here.