Got an opinion you want to publish? How about a story you’ve always wanted to get out into the world? 

Email us at thevaultpublication@gmail.com and submit your piece for review! If we can publish it, we will— as long as it’s related to multimedia, anything is game.

Your email should include:

• “Submission” somewhere in the subject line
• Your name
• Your social media

Here’s our process:

1. We receive your submission in our inbox
   1. Accepted files types are .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
2. We review your submission, and if it’s something we can publish, we’ll put you in touch with one of the Vault editors
3. You’ll go through the process of making a WordPress account and becoming an editor on our site
4. You and a Vault editor will likely go back and forth on revisions in a separate chat or Discord channel, but you should see your piece get published within a week or so on our scheduled posting days (Tuesday and Thursday)

After you’re published, we’ll shout you out on our social media! Quid pro quo, if you’re feeling generous, but there are no obligations.

While all levels of skill and experience are welcome at the Vault, we do have a set of loose standards to think about when writing or editing articles. This is a set of flexible criteria that should help to guide you when thinking about making a publishable piece. They should ideally also help to guide discussion between writers and editors during the editorial process. Don’t worry if your writing doesn’t fit perfectly into these categories!

Writing quality

Writing quality generally deals with the understandability of your writing. When writing, it’s usually important to give your audience a clear grasp of what you are trying to say. This in turn begins with the basics of language, like spelling, grammar, and syntax.

Things to look for:

• Proper grammar
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Word choice
• Organization
• Syntax/Structure

Content

Content can be a little tricky when coming up with interesting article ideas. By far it is the most lax standard, as most article topics are generally acceptable, so long as they relate to multimedia or pop culture works. We allow for freedom of speech in expression of your opinions. However, when writing about serious subjects, we ask that writers exert a level of discretion. Make sure your arguments are worth entertaining!

Things to look for:

• Has to be (at least loosely) related to multimedia topics
• Writers are allowed to include opinions about serious social and political topics (race, gender, sexuality, etc). However, these subjects must be treated with a respect worthy of their gravity.

Argumentation

Proper argumentation lies at the heart of many of the article formats that we use. Non-fiction pieces such as essays and reviews are particularly important as they require the exposition of an opinion and then evidence to back this stance up. That said, not all formats require an argument. If you need clarification about whether or not argumentation applies to your piece, don’t be afraid to ask!

Things to look for:

• Watch your fallacies
• Evidence/Logic
• Cogency/Flow

Length

In order to make sure that we have a level of consistency in the stuff we publish, we have some standards on how long articles should be. Generally a good rule of thumb for beginners is the five paragraph ‘burger’ structure for a standard essay. Of course, articles can be both shorter or longer, depending on the situation.

Things to look for:

• Nonfiction pieces (especially those which are argumentative in nature) should be no less than 500 words
• Articles longer than 5000 words should be divided into parts
• Pieces with a fictional format, such as short stories and poetry, should be submitted for review

Generally accepted formats:

Here is a list of accepted article types that we usually look for. If there is a style of article that you’d like to use that isn’t here, feel free to bring it up with us!

Non fiction:

Reports, Reviews, Recommendations, Essays, Critiques, Histories, editorials, op-eds

Fiction:

Short Stories, Visual Novels, Graphic Novels, poetry, games

Other Media:

Art, Comics, Videos, podcasts