Dos and Don’ts for Getting Published in Universal Cargo’s Blog

It’s been a few years since we published guidelines and a video for getting published in Universal Cargo’s blog, and it’s high time for an update.

I receive many email queries and submissions (sent to Jared@UniversalCargo.com) and have spent a lot of time explaining why certain topics wouldn’t be a good fit for us or why a submission wasn’t approved for publication. Thus, this post may be a bit self-serving in that it could save me time. However, if you heed the words of this post, it will also serve you in your attempts to get published in Universal Cargo’s blog – and possibly elsewhere too!

Many hopefuls do get published in Universal Cargo’s blog. However, there are plenty who do not. Follow the dos and don’ts that follow if you want to be in the former group rather than the latter.

Dos

Do Follow All the Submission Guidelines

Universal Cargo’s submission guidelines have not changed. If you want to be published in our blog, your submission must be:

• International Shipping Related
• Original Content
• Previously Unpublished
• 500+ Words
• Include an Author Bio

We have a short video explaining this:

Do Reread, Rewrite, and Edit Your Work

Universal Cargo is only interested in publishing high quality articles. Submitting an article riddled grammatical and spelling errors is an easy way to get rejected. While I will do some editing to fix the occasional mistake that snuck through in an otherwise excellent article, a submission that is plagued by mistakes makes the author appear lazy, uneducated, and/or unprofessional. That’s not the way to get published anywhere.

I’m not here to rewrite your article for you. Take the time to read over your work and make sure it is at its best before you submit. I had a professor once who often said, “The world only wants your best.” He wasn’t wrong.

Do Read Previously Published Articles on the Same or Related Topics

Sometimes I have to reject an article that was well-written and follows all of Universal Cargo’s guidelines simply because it’s redundant. You can do a search on Universal Cargo’s website to bring up previously published posts on a topic. Make sure your article isn’t just rehashing things we’ve already covered in the blog.

If we have already published articles on your topic, that might be a good thing. That means we think the topic is sufficiently valuable to our readers for us to blog about it. If we have covered the topic, just make sure your article goes into more depth or has something new to say about it.

Do Be Accurate

I’ve rejected many submissions over the years for making statements about international shipping that are wrong. Make sure the information in your article is clear and correct.

Write For Our Target Market

Universal Cargo’s target market is U.S. businesses/businesspeople who import and/or export goods. The target market is not freight forwarders or other businesses that offer international shipping services. That’s what we do, and we post blogs for our customers and potential customers. If your article is not written for our target market, it won’t get published.

Don’ts

Don’t Submit Articles About Auto Shipping

Universal Cargo got away from shipping cars and other automobiles years ago. Please do not submit articles about shipping automobiles because they will just be rejected.

Don’t Submit Articles About International Moves

Universal Cargo helps businesses import and export goods. We do not ship household goods. Much like articles about auto shipping, articles about moving internationally will be rejected.

Don’t Plagiarize, Joe!

Yes, this is in our guidelines, but it’s worth emphasizing. Stealing someone else’s work is not only wrong, it is also illegal when it comes to copyrighted material, such as what you’d find in books, magazines, and websites.

You can’t simply paraphrase a published work and call it your own. It’s okay to research, paraphrase, and even quote from others’ works – just make sure you properly credit the original authors and where they were published.

Despite the current president of the United States history with it, plagiarism does not pay. We do plagiarism checks on submissions. If you are caught submitting plagiarized work, not only will your article be rejected, but we won’t consider other submissions from you in the future either.

Don’t Be Too General

Articles submitted to Universal Cargo should not be fluffy musings of general knowledge. Don’t submit articles that are nothing more than paragraphs of basic information.

If a reader could know everything in your article from scrolling through a Google search page on its topic, don’t expect your article to be published. What you write should provide actual value to our target market of U.S. importers and exporters.

Don’t Be Rude

I would think this would go without saying, but submission emails I’ve received have proven me wrong. Don’t be rude when submitting articles.

We’ve spent years building Universal Cargo’s blog into a recognized, respected, and high-Google-ranked source of information about the international shipping industry. We’re happy to give shippers, writers, and industry professionals the opportunity to share in the benefits of our hard work. Because we’ve opened our blog up to submissions does not mean you are entitled to be published in it.

When submitting work anywhere, you should always be polite. Why would any publisher, of a blog or anything else, want to publish someone who is rude in a situation where courtesy, if not gratitude, is called for?

Submit Now

To submit articles for publication consideration in Universal Cargo’s, email articles or queries to Jared@UniversalCargo.com.