Write for us
Add an entry to the catalogue
We take guest posts from people who write by hand, repair pens, make paper or study the history of ink.
Topics we would like to read
- Pen care and repair that a careful owner can do at home, with clear limits on when to stop
- How inks behave: flow, shading, drying time, water resistance, chemistry explained simply
- Paper: how it is made, how it behaves under a nib, UK papermaking history
- Handwriting, including left-handed writing, teaching and improving an adult hand
- Journaling methods with real practical detail, and approaches to keeping them up
- Stationery history, archives and how records were kept, with sources a reader can follow
- Calligraphy and letter-writing for ordinary people
What we will decline
- Thinly disguised product promotion, "best of" lists and affiliate roundups
- Claims that a product has been tested when it has not
- Machine-written or spun text, and anything published elsewhere
- Medical claims about journaling or handwriting that go beyond what the evidence supports
- Anything relating to gambling, adult content, pharmaceuticals or crypto, and links to such sites
- Invented statistics, quotations, studies, or customer stories
Length and format
Aim for 900 to 1,500 words in plain British English. Answer the question in the first paragraph. Send a Word document, Google Doc or plain text. Include a suggested headline and a short author line.
Link to the sources behind your facts, and make sure they are public pages that a reader can open. Photographs must be your own, or licensed for commercial reuse, with the source and licence stated.
Original work and disclosure
Everything must be your own original work, unpublished anywhere else, and true to the best of your knowledge. If you work for, are paid by, or otherwise have an interest in a company mentioned or linked in the piece, say so in your pitch. We will state that connection on the published page. We edit for clarity and accuracy, and we may decline a piece at any stage. Links are included when they help the reader, and we choose whether they stay.
How to pitch
Email [email protected] with "Pitch" in the subject line, and tell us:
- The question your piece answers, in one sentence
- A rough outline, and why you are the person to write it
- Two or three sources you will draw on
- Any commercial connection or link you are hoping to include
Please read a couple of entries in the catalogue first. The one on paper gives a good idea of the depth we are looking for.