African’s knowledge systems and concepts. As a microblogging platform with a combination of self-publishing and engagement tools, the platform creates a space for interrogation, engagement on Africa’s Indigenous knowledge systems, concepts and ideas.
There are two ways to publish a post, story or article on our platform. You can published your article by submitting it in a word document via email to the editor at [email protected] or send a request to editor to create a profile for you so that you can access the platform self-publish tools and become a team of our regular contributors.
Submit your Post, story or article:
Send a word attachment in any font you like at [email protected]
Suggested title for your article. Our story articles are written in non-technical language yet philosophical but easy to comprehend and follow the conversation. Questions format articles that engage the reader to comment and converse. So, your title, or the article itself must encourage readers to share their thoughts on your ideas.
Your name. Provide a brief, one to two sentences bio.
Supporting Materials. Include any relevant images / videos, soundclouds, etc. Non-copyrighted photos suggested—please use Wikimedia, Flickr Creative Commons or another source that allows photo sharing. If you send images, attached these as jpegs or clearly list the URL(s) of the jpe(s).
Self-publishing on our platform (For regular contributors):
Our platform has a self-publishing tool - The WISYWYG editor used to compose an article. It looks like the final version seen by reader.
Remember, great formatting prioritizes the human reader by providing them with organized, scannable, media-rich, intent-driven content. Remember, getting people to click on your article is only half the battle. The other half is getting them to this point.
Once the editors has created your profile, you can log onto the platform and start posting articles at your convenience on a regular bases.
How to format a your
Here are platform article formatting tips arranged in five simple steps.
1. Organize your content logically
An organized blog story article will mean different things to different publishers depending on the type, length, and style of your content.
However, there are a few standard practices that will boost reader engagement for any article.
Create a beginning, middle, and end - Although the way people read has changed dramatically over the last few decades, many of their expectations remain the same. Readers crave order.
Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. The above quote is most often used in reference to craft a great speech, but every piece of writing is like a speech delivered inside one’s head. It must connect the dots.
Use section headers to arrange ideas - Few readers have the patience or desire to read long blocks of text. That’s why headers are an essential formatting tool. They allow writers to organize their content around central themes, making the content easier to read and digest.
Pro tip: Make your headings interesting by adding useful information, action verbs, or strong opinions. These will keep your reader absorbed in your article.
Insert a table of contents to guide readers - Once your content is organized, offering readers an easy way to navigate it will go a long way toward them appreciating what you’ve made. A table of contents in a blog post links to the section headers available within an article.
2. Make your article post scannable
Scanning an article is not cheating. There is no morally right way to read a post. The best publishers understand and optimize for this. Making your content scannable doesn't mean draining it of its complexity. Instead, it means using the available tools to make your article as visually attractive as it is useful or entertaining.
Format your text to emphasize what’s important - There are so many ways you can modify text:
· Bold specific words or sentences to draw readers towards the main idea
· Italicize titles, foreign words, or proper names
· Use header tags to divide sections and organize your reader’s journey
· Add block quotes from interesting figures to support your writing
· You can also use markdown to highlight, strikethrough, insert code, and more.
· It’s best practice to use these sparingly. Bolding everything defeats the purpose.
Pro tip: Choose one word or idea within every section or group of paragraphs to modify. This will give your reader something to hold onto as they progress through your post.
Draw the eye with lists - Lists are the cornerstone of scannable content. To this day, listicles are still one of the most popular forms of content because of their user-friendliness.
Lists come in two customary forms:
· Bullet points
· like
· this.
· Numbered lists
· Like this.
Use bullet points when the order of the list doesn’t particularly matter. Use numbered lists either when the order does matter or when the list is longer than five items.
Keep sentences and paragraphs short - “Most sentences can be cut in half.” — Josh Spector
An article post doesn’t need huge blocks of text to communicate depth.
Let the value of your content speak for itself.
By keeping your sentences (2-12 words) and paragraphs (2-4 sentences) short, you gift the reader with more whitespace.
Additional whitespace has been shown to increase reading speed and comprehension.
Help readers get more from your writing by giving them less.
3. Incorporate media intentionally
Some things are best explained visually. That’s not a knock-on blogs or newsletters. It's an invitation to learn how to combine different media types to give your readers the best experience possible.
Use images and gifs to explain complicated topics - If a picture is worth a thousand words, then using images, diagrams, and graphs can significantly cut down your word counts.
Here’s a quick list to keep in mind for when and how to use images effectively:
· Ask does this image serve a purpose? If it does, use it. Otherwise, it’s simply taking up space.
· When explaining a technical subject, combine short paragraphs with images so that readers must scroll. The task of scrolling will help them feel like they are making progress and keep them engaged.
· Ensure that images are high quality and relevant. Poor images give the impression of weak content. When appropriate, create your own images such as screenshots, drawings, or otherwise.
Embed videos and podcasts to support readers – Our readers have high expectations when it comes to story articles. They want valuable content as well as a guide to what to do or consume next. Offering readers an embedded video to watch or podcast to listen to can immediately satisfy this desire and keep visitors engaged for longer than a simple text article could.
The platform editor allows users to embed videos (YouTube, Vimeo) and audio (Spotify, SoundCloud) directly within your blog posts.
Pro tip: If you create video or audio content, repurposing it into written format can help you take advantage of SEO while also providing additional accessibility options for your audience.
4. Match the reader’s intent
If you want to improve your content dramatically, ask this question every time you write: what is a reader expecting to see when they click on this blog post?
Every piece of formatting you include should help you answer that question while fulfilling your reader’s intent.
Feature templates, formulas, and graphs when needed - Every reader that clicks on a story article is expecting to leave with something, whether it be an answer, a resource, or a next step. Your goal as a writer should be to give them what they're looking for in the most direct way possible.
Keep your blog post the appropriate length - Not every question requires a long-form article to answer. Some of the best blog posts accomplish their purpose in only a few hundred words.
Everything comes back to the reader.
What do they need? And what is the most efficient way to give them what they’re looking for?
5. Experiment to get noticed
Some rules are made to be broken. Which ones those are is up to you. Great content is as much an art as it is a science. If you ever feel pigeon-holed by a formatting convention, take a step back, ask yourself what purpose that rule serves, then see if there's another route to accomplishing it.
Many of the best practices blogs now follow were once experiments themselves that caught on because they worked. The future of blogging will be shaped through the same process.
Be obvious
Article formatting is the practice of making the best ideas the most obvious.
This can be done by creating sections with distinct headers, modifying text elements, and splicing in pictures and media, all in an effort to draw the reader's attention toward what's most important.
But formatting is merely a collection of tactics. Obviousness is the strategy.
If you can be obvious in a way that no one has before, go for it.
Other things
We don’t pay people for submissions. We do, however, offer incentives for consistent contributors.
Publicity for your writing: If accepted and published, please feature your AIAC work on your website, in your portfolio, etc.—the more you feature it in your personal sphere, and email it to friends, the more traction and traffic it will get.
We’re happy for you if you are able to sell the work you publish here elsewhere; however, please make sure that Africa’s a Country is credited and linked to.