We strongly encourage authors to submit a proposal for their Voice article before beginning the formal writing process. This will give our editors an opportunity to provide feedback on the topic and particular angle of your article. If you have already drafted your article, please let us know in the submission.
Crafting your proposal
An article proposal should contain the following:
- A brief statement of the article’s purpose (why are you writing this? And why now?);
- A brief statement of the article’s core thesis (what is your main point?);
- Any research, evidence or professional experience you as the author will draw upon to support your arguments (why are you the best-situated expert to write on this topic?);
- The specific value the article will deliver to the marketing community. (e.g., “This article will help marketers ______); and
- A brief statement communicating how the article meets our criteria for originality, relevance, evidence, credibility and clarity.
What to include with your proposal
Please clearly disclose both your title and organization, with a description of your organization. This will help us understand your particular role in the broader marketing ecosystem. Please also disclose any financial or business relationships you have with the companies or organizations cited in the proposed article. If you are submitting a completed article, please disclose whether the article has also been sent to another publication for consideration. We do not accept previously published works. Please indicate whether any material proposed for publication is embargoed or subject to additional final review by individual persons (i.e., who else aside from the author must sign off on final publication?) Be prepared to assign copyrights to Adweek upon your article’s acceptance. If your article is accepted for publication, you will be asked to send a bio that contains your name, title, organization, any previous publishing credentials and your unique area of focus in the marketing ecosystem.
What to expect following submission of a proposal
We understand that your ideas are important, and our policy is to respond to article proposals as expeditiously as possible. Given the volume of submissions we receive, we cannot guarantee a personal response to every proposal.
If your proposal is promising, one of our editors will notify you of provisional acceptance, request additional details or propose alternative approaches to an article. Please note that we cannot guarantee final acceptance based on an outline or executive summary. While we may encourage you to write a full article based on a submitted outline or executive summary, we reserve the right to approve articles for publication once we have reviewed the submitted manuscript.
During the editorial development process, our editors may propose a conference call to discuss the merits of the article and next steps toward final publication. We aim to work collaboratively with authors to develop Voice articles for publication. Please be advised that an editor may pose clarifying questions, recommend substantial structural changes to an article and rewrite drafts significantly to best serve our audience and elevate the overall quality of the content. The time it takes to complete our editorial process depends on numerous factors, including staffing resources. As such, we cannot guarantee a publication date at the time of provisional acceptance of a proposal or acceptance of an article, unless expressly stated. Priority will be given to articles that are accepted for inclusion in Adweek special issues and articles that have time-sensitive elements or whose themes are tied to a specific industry or global event. For all other content, we strive to complete our editorial process as expeditiously as possible, and we will communicate the timing of publication to the author.
We understand that your time—and your ideas—are valuable, and we are grateful for your interest in contributing to Adweek.
