Write for Us and Share Your Knowledge With Others

Why Write for Us

There are two main reasons why you might want to write for us. For example, you may want to write for us, for no payment, in order to get:

• Free publicity for your company, organization, consulting service, training service, product, website, newsletter, book, etc. Our website gets over 300,000 visits each month, which is a lot of free publicity.
• To gain experience as a writer.
  
• To get publishing credits. This can be important if you want to begin writing magazine articles or books, and you don't have any writing credits to include on your resume.
• To build publishing credits on your resume to help you find a better job.

• An opportunity to share your knowledge with others. We all learn unique skills on our job that others don't know, and many of us like to share this knowledge.

If you write one or more articles for us, we will give you your own author's webpage where you can include any information you want about yourself, including your resume if you like.

Write for Us to Make Some Money

The second reason you might want to write for is to earn some cash. Under certain conditions, we will pay from $25-$200 per original 1,500+ word articles on SQL Server performance tuning or clustering. In order to get paid for your article, you must meet all of the following conditions:

• The article must be original.
• The article must be exclusive to SQL-Server-Performance.Com for 1 year. After that, you can publish it anywhere else you desire.
• You must give SQL-Server-Performance.Com unlimited rights to publish the article indefinitely.

• The article must be about how to performance tune SQL Server or how to cluster SQL Server. We are also interested in SQL Server book and software reviews. Note: The information found later on this page applies to both paid and unpaid articles, but keep in mind that for payment, we are only interested in articles on SQL Server performance tuning and clustering.

• Article should not duplicate content already published at SQL-Server-Performance.Com.
• The article must be at least 1,500 words long, and include any necessary illustrations or code examples. Book reviews need to be at least 500 words.
• The article must be well-written using proper English spelling and grammar. The better the quality of the writing, the more I will pay.
• You must contact SQL-Server-Performance.Com before you submit the article, telling us about the article. Once you get an initial OK, we will then take a look at the article. If it meets our needs (which is not guaranteed), we will then offer you an amount from $25 to $200 for the article, based on what we think the article is worth to our readers. If you agree to this, then we will publish your article and make payment to you. The amount we will offer depends on how much rewriting we feel the article needs before it is published. Payment will generally be made via PayPal.com.

If you don't meet all of the above requirements, then we may still publish your article, if you wish, but for no payment.

What Types of Tips, Reviews, and Articles Are We Looking For?

In general, we are looking for tips, reviews, and articles on how to get the most out of Microsoft SQL Server. We are not looking for rehashes of SQL Server Books online. We prefer content that addresses the real day-to-day needs of anyone who uses SQL Server as part of their job.

Article Guidelines

Your article ideally should include the following:

• Should show our visitors how to do something useful, or how to do something better, or how to be more productive.
• Be tutorial and how-to in nature, hand-holding visitors through complicated steps. If appropriate, provide step-by-step instructions.
• Provide practical, real-world information, with minimal theory.
• Include lots of examples, including code (if appropriate), tables, figures, screen shots.
• Code examples should not exceed 50 percent of the length of the article.
• Include lots of practical advice based on your own real-life experiences.
• Explain the "why" along with the "how-to" (very important).

Tip Guidelines

Your tips ideally should include the following:

• Should not repeat a tip that is already on the website. Before writing the tip, search the website to ensure that it has not been discussed before.
• In some cases, if a current tip does exist, and you think it can be substantially improved, then that is OK, as long as you have added substantial new content.
• New tips should fit into one of the tip categories listed on the home page of the website. If it does not fit into any of these categories, and you think it is important, contact me to discuss it. Also, be sure to tell me what category you think your tip fits into.
• Should show our visitors how to do something useful, or how to do something better, or how to be more productive.
• Be tutorial and how-to in nature, If appropriate, provide step-by-step instructions.
• Provide practical, real-world information, with minimal theory.
• If appropriate, includes code examples.
• Include lots of practical advice based on your own real-life experiences.
• Explain the "why" along with the "how-to" (very important).
• Be sure you review the current tips on the website, and use them as a model when writing your own tips.

FAQ Guidelines

In our forum, there are many topics that are asked over and over again. In these cases, we like to create a FAQ. A FAQ is essentially a common SQL Server-related question, and its answer. If you would like to write a FAQ, you can. First, you need to identify commonly asked questions in the forum. Once you have done this, you need to verify that this question is not already covered by an existing FAQ. If it is not, then write the FAQ in the form of a question, and its answer. Answers should be at least 250 words, and answer the question using a tutorial-style format. See the current FAQs for examples for you to follow.

Book and Product Review Guidelines

If you are writing a book or product review, keep in mind that we only want to publish positive reviews, not negative reviews. This means if you dislike a book or product, then don't send us a review for that book or product. Only send reviews for books you have read and find worthy, and for products that you actually use and feel are worth based on their cost. In addition:

• Books and products must be SQL Server-related.
• Reviews should be less than 500 words.

• Should include the full name of the book or product, copyright date, author (if applicable), the publisher, retail price; and if a product review, information on how to purchase it, such as a website URL.

• The review should specify for whom the product is recommended (the target audience).

• The review should outline the product's key features.

• The review should describe why it would benefit the target audience. This point is very important.

• If the product is not perfect, which they never are, you can include some of the problems with the book or software, as long as the overall product is worthy.

• Product reviews should include information on how easy the program is to use, and an approximation on how long it takes to learn and master.

• Be sure you review the reviews on the website, and use them as a model when writing your own tips.

Submission Length

Your submission should fall into one of the following categories:

• Tips & FAQs: 100 - 500 words

• Short Articles: 500 - 1,000 words (includes both book and product reviews)

• Long Articles: 1,000 - 3000 words

Target Our Audience

Generally, you will want to pick a single audience and target your content specifically for them. In some cases you may want to target more than one group, if appropriate.

• SQL Server Database Administrators

• SQL Server (Transact-SQL) Developers

• ASP/Web Developers who use SQL Server as their back-end

• VB Developers who use SQL Server as their back-end

• Access Developers who use SQL Server as their back-end

Target Our Visitor's SQL Server Experience

Each article should focus on one of these target groups. Try not to write an article designed for both novices and advanced readers. Select your target group and stick with it for the entire article.

• Novice

• Intermediate

• Advanced

Software Focus

All articles should focus on SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005, although articles that cover both are encouraged. References to other products (other than SQL Server must be in connection with SQL Server.

• SQL Server 7.0 (only cover if also included in 2000 and 2005)

• SQL Server 2000 (all versions)

• SQL Server 2005 (all versions)

• ASP.NET

• VB.NET

• Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 (prefer articles that cover both)

Topics We Are Interested In

We are interested in performance-related articles in all of these areas:

• SQL/ASP, ASP.NET

• SQL/Access

• SQL Server Configuration

• Transact-SQL

• VB/SQL

• Database Design

• Optimizing Indexes

• Performance Tuning and Optimization

• Database Settings

• SQL Server Reporting Services

• SQL Server CE

• XML/SQL Server

• Analysis/OLAP Services

• Clustering

• DBA Best Practices

• Very Large Database

• .Net

• Index Wizard, Profiler, Query Analyzer, Full-Text Search, English Query

• Case Studies: articles focusing on how a particular problem was solved

• Book Reviews: SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005-related books

• Product Reviews: SQL Server 2000 and 2005-related products

While we prefer tips and articles that are SQL Server performance- or high-availability-related, we will consider non-SQL Server performance-related articles on a case-by-case basis.

How Do We Determine Which Tips and Articles We Publish?

When you send us a tip, review, or article idea, we evaluate it using these guidelines:

• Does it fit within our stated writer's guidelines?

• How original is the idea?

• How much relevant SQL Server experience does the writer have?

• How much writing experience does the writer have?

• How does the submission compare to other submissions we have received?

• Do we have similar tips or articles already on our website? Please check our website to see that we have not already covered the topic recently before sending us your idea.

If we decide that we like the tip, review, or articles you have submitted, we will contact you, letting you know when the article will be published on our website. If we don't decide to publish your tip, review, or article, don't take it too hard. We encourage you to send as many tips, reviews, or articles as you like.

What Rights to Your Submissions Do We Want?

When you send us an tip, review, or article for free, we want your permission to publish it on our website, only. We will not publish it elsewhere, and if you should ever want us to remove your tip, review, or article after it has been published, we will do so. If we pay for articles, then we want more rights, which we will discuss with you on a one-on-one basis.

Will You Publish Tips or Articles That Have Been Printed Elsewhere?

Yes, if you are submitting them for no payment, we'd be glad to, as long as you have the legal right to do so. When some websites or publishers use your content, they want exclusive rights to it. If that is the case, then we can't publish it on our website. If a tip, review, or article has been published elsewhere, be to tell us when and where. We don't pay for articles published elsewhere.

How Do I Physically Submit My Tip, FAQ, Review or Article?

Our first choice is for you to submit your article in HTML, using an HTML editor like FrontPage. Don't do any fancy formatting, just write the article, and include any code, diagrams, or screen shots as appropriate.

Our second choice is for you to send it in the text format, with no fancy formatting. If you have any diagrams or screen shot, include them separately.

Our third choice if for you to use Microsoft Word. And again, don't use any fancy formatting; and embed any code, diagrams, or screen shots directly into the Word document.

Please include (as part of your article, at the bottom of the document) a short biography of about 25-100 words. We will include this with the article. If you like, include your e-mail address, company name, or website with the bio.

Submit the tip, FAQ, review, or article, including code and other supporting files (zipped or not zipped) via e-mail to webmaster@sql-server-performance.com.

How Does the Editorial Process Work?

Once you have submitted us a tip or article, we go through an editorial review process, checking the content for accuracy and performing copyediting. This process can take from 1-3 weeks. Once the editorial process is complete, we will schedule your tip, review, or article for publication on our website.

All Tips, FAQs, Reviews, and Articles Must Be Original

We do not accept any content, including tips, articles, code, illustrations, figures, or other content that is not 100% original and created by you. Plagiarism in any form is not permitted.

 

What Are Our Writing Style Guidelines?

Rather than for us to tell you how to write, we suggest you check out these websites for advice on article writing and writing style:

• The Elements of Style (a must read) www.bartleby.com/141/

• Guide to Grammar and Writing webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm

• Writing Corner www.writingcorner.com/

• Writer's Digest Magazine www.writersdigest.com/index.ht

If you have any questions, please e-mail webmaster@sql-server-performance.com. These guidelines are subject to change at any time.