Submission Terms & Guidelines

Sharing a Shine.Buzz is Good for Your Soul!

We Want to Help You Share Your Shine Buzz!

If you would like to submit a Shine Buzz for publication at Shine.Buzz, please take note of the instructions below to ensure that your story is considered for publication.  Only submissions that meet these criteria will be considered for publishing.

  • The submission must be positive in nature and leave the reader with a real “Shine Buzz,” as described here.
  • The submission must be relevant to the readers of Shine.Buzz.
  • The submission must be grammatically correct and well-written.
  • The submission must not include marketing-related links and must not be self-promotional.
  • The post may include links to your website and blog in a brief author’s bio (approximately 3 sentences), which will be published at the end of the post.
  • Submissions must be original and may not have been published elsewhere online already without prior approval from the Shine.Buzz editorial team. All submissions will be verified for originality using a tool such as Copyscape.com or Plagium.com.

Editing

We will not make any edits to your post with the possible exception of unrelated links, spelling, grammar and punctuation. The original message of the post will not be changed or refocused without your permission.

In some cases, our editorial team may provide a short introduction or conclusion to your post to provide context or the rationale as to what we think our members can get out of it.

We will ensure that our comments are set off from yours stylistically so that our members understand clearly that the notes are ours rather than yours.

Acceptable Submission Types

  • Personal Narrative
  • Original Artwork
  • Your Own Photos
  • Prose/poetry
  • Jokes
  • Memes
  • Song lyrics
  • Videos

Share Your Story on Video 

Here are some basic instructions on how you can share your video story for Angie’s YouTube Channel.

  • If you choose to submit your story by video, please keep the video at under 15 minutes.
  • If accepted, your story will be shared in a video by Angie Atkinson or another Shine.Buzz contributor.
  • We want this to be easy, so just sit down in front of your camera and tell your story.
  •  Any video or webcam will do, and yes, a cell phone/smartphone is okay, but be sure to prop it up in landscape (so the video is sideways), and sit close enough to the microphone to get good sound quality.
  • Don’t worry about editing (I’ll take care of all that!) and try to keep your video under 20 minutes if you can.
  • Do not upload to YouTube. Instead, upload privately to Google Drive or Dropbox and share to angyatkinson@gmail.com.
  • Email angyatkinson@gmail.com and melina.a.moutria@gmail.com with a link to your Google Drive or Dropbox upload as well as any additional information, photos or thoughts you’d like to share.
  • In most cases, I’ll publish your story within 30 days of receiving it.
 

Other Important Points of Note for Shine Buzz Submissions

  • Shine Buzz submissions that are approved for publishing will be published without notice.  Please check the site periodically to see if your post has been published.
  • You may submit one image for publication with your story. If you do not submit an image, one will be procured or created by the Shine.Buzz editorial team.
  • When you submit a story to Shine.Buzz, you agree not to publish it anywhere else, including your own blog or website for a period of at least six (6) months, or without prior approval from our team. You may, however, post a brief “tease” or summary on your site that links to the post.
  • Due to the high volume of survivor stories Shine.Buzz receives, messages following up on the status of a survivor story submission will not be responded to.
  • Survivor story submission is not a guarantee of publication.
    • Your story cannot be an advertisement for your product or the equivalent of a sponsored post.
    • All links will be checked to ensure that they are valid, secure, and are not advertisement or spam.

Disclaimer
Please note that we understand the work that it takes to write or create a Shine Buzz. With that being said, while we would love to publish every submission, only those that meet our guidelines, as outlined above, will be published.