FAQ
Below are some common questions that come up as a reader, author, and community member of Enable Architect.
How do I submit an article to the Enable Architect editorial team?
The easiest and most direct way to get in touch with the editorial team is by emailing your proposal to enable-architect@redhat.com. From there, we will review your proposal and respond with any next steps. Accepted proposals will then move through our editorial process.
If you'd like more information about our publication process and the types of articles we publish, please see our Article Types and Submission Process page.
How long will it take to get my article published?
It's hard to say how long it will take an article to go through the full editorial process to publication, as it depends largely upon how many other articles are on our publication calendar. For non-time-sensitive articles, you can generally expect the full process to take up to a month. The process includes: 1) editorial review for technical accuracy, alignment, and other factors; 2) copy editing; 3) article prep in our content management system; 4) author review; 5) publication.
How long should my article be?
Structure is more important than length. Articles should include an introduction and conclusion with a clear throughline in between. If word count helps, the sweet spot for an article is between 400-1200 words. Longer pieces are welcome, but are best to be outlined and discussed with the editorial team before submission.
Do you edit the articles for length, content, tone, and voice?
Yes. If an article covers more than one main theme, we will generally break it into multiple pieces. Content will go through professional copy editing and will be marked up according to our style guide. Tone and voice are up to the author and will remain throughout the article so long as it is aligned to the audience.
Can I publish my articles elsewhere?
Yes, you own your content, and we publish under a Creative Commons license. This means articles can be republished; however, we ask that you allow Enable Architect to publish the article first. Most authors typically wait a week before republishing on other sites or personal blogs. We would love it if you would link back to the original version posted here on Architect from any reposts.
Do you accept previously published articles?
We publish these less frequently than we do original content, but we welcome hearing from you if you're interested in sharing. We will copy edit to meet our editorial goals. We also will need to have documented copyright of the original article.
Do I have to submit a pitch or an outline first?
For authors new to our community, we do recommend that you send in either a pitch or outline before writing. This ensures that we are able to decide if the content is a good fit for our editorial before you spend time fleshing out an idea that we may (or may not) be able to publish.
Will I get to look at my article and check it before it's published?
Yes. We send out a version of the article after copy editing to the author for review. We will never publish an article until it is approved by the author. Also, if you notice an error after publication, you can contact us for any corrections needed.
What if I notice an error in an article?
Please email the editors at enable-architect@redhat.com with the proposed correction and link to the article. We do not respond to requests for links.
Do I need to worry about styling content?
Not at all. We are here to support you through copy editing with our seasoned team of writers and editors. One helpful habit, if you have something like code snippets or terminal output, please use some consistent system to denote that in the draft.
What medium do you prefer that I use for creating content? Do you accept Google docs, .txt files, or .md files.?
Yes to them all. We let our authors write in whatever tool they feel comfortable with that is an editable format (no PDFs, please). We get everything from Google Docs to .odt and .docx files, to plain text and .md files.
Do you promote the article after it's published?
Absolutely. We syndicate all of our authored content to multiple social media and editorial sites. We welcome your personal promotion as well and encourage you to post to sites like Reddit, Hacker News, and Twitter.
Do I need to provide the main image?
No. The editorial team will find and use a licensed image that we can use with each article. We may use an image new to the site or use one from our image library.
Do I need to provide any screenshots?
If you think your article will be enhanced with screenshots of what you are describing, then yes, please send them along with your article. Make sure the size is good enough for readers to view. Typically, a minimum of 800-1200 pixels in width is a good fit. We prefer JPG and PNG file formats.
Can I add images to my article?
Yes, however, we prefer to only add images that benefit the reader and keep our posts more on the professional side. We always need to use images that have clear copyright ownership and cited images for the site.
How do I do a proper citation?
Any quotes, facts, or sources should be properly cited with a link to the source. The editorial team does conduct a plagiarism check during the review process.
For example, in this paragraph, the author is referencing the 2019 State of DevOps report. We link back to the report and are able to reference and cite where the data points came from.
According to the 2019 State of DevOps report [1], automation in DevOps takes organizations from low performers (12%) to medium performers (44%), higher performers (23%), and elite performers (20%).
[1] Source: https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/state-of-devops-2019.pdf
For our style guide, we would not use the footnote citation shown above [1]. Instead, we would directly link inline.
What licenses do you publish articles under?
Most articles are published using a Creative Commons 4.0 BY-SA license. If there is a preference for a different license, please contact the editorial team at enable-architect@redhat.com.
What does the Creative Commons 4.0 BY-SA license mean?
Creative Commons is a public license that allows people to share their work. BY means you must give the author attribution, or credit, for their work. SA means ShareAlike, meaning you must distribute any adoptions of the work under the same license. This license allows people to share and adapt the work. From the Creative Commons definition:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Do you pay for content or can we buy links or ads?
That's an easy answer: No. This site is a network that's growing into a community of practices built on relationships. As a community-based site, we have some guidelines around the articles and authors we publish. Our writers are working IT professionals, executives, or hobbyists who are users of the technology they are writing about, and we do not pay community contributors for their work. We rarely link to external pages, and we don't sell ads nor links on our site. Please see our site guidelines for more on our community.
My question isn't listed. Where can I ask it?
Start with an email to our editorial team at enable-architect@redhat.com.