Style Guide

Woo-hoo! Thanks for your interest in sharing your story on Untemplater!

We’re thrilled that you’re eager to share your untemplate experiences and wisdom for a remarkably awesome and unconventional life.

But before you begin crafting your literary masterpiece, please make sure to read our Write For Us page in its entirety in addition to what’s covered here.

Untemplater is a strong and unique brand, one that we’re very proud of. Our readers (probably yourself included) have come to expect a certain style and quality of authorship from our articles. So, if your guest post doesn’t fit with these expectations it’s won’t be published. We’re not trying to be jerks, just good brand managers (so to speak!).

The Untemplater Vision & Mission

Untemplater has a simple mission – to inspire a special community of free-thinkers to “shatter the template lifestyle” in favor of a truly passionate, unique, and unconventional one. We reject the “deferred life plan” – that of grinding away the best years of your life in some cubicle or “factory” for the fleeting hope of a golden retirement at 65.

Instead, we aim to live life on our own terms by shattering the template lifestyle and apologize to no one for our beliefs. Our motto is Work where you want…Live how you want…Be who you want to be.

Thus, Untemplater features a beautiful and diverse assortment of articles that either inspire and/or educate our community on how to practically and successfully pursue their dreams. We publish articles on creative ways to start a freelancing career, to free yourself from cubicle nation, to achieve location independence, to improve your personal finance, to build an army of true fans and vibrant relationships, and much more.

Further, we look to the unconventional titans of today and yesteryear for both inspiration and guidance. The secrets to a remarkable and free life aren’t new or crazy complicated. So why reinvent the wheel?

The Untemplater Audience

Untemplater’s audience is supportive, energetic, and open minded. We’re still in the trenches of creating our own unconventional lives and connect with and encourage those like us to join in our discussions.

The community at large tends to be a free-thinking, nonconformist bunch. They’re looking for insights, tips, and “hacks” on how to improve their odds against the status quo. Hence, they need solid advice and tactics that work from your personal experience- no fluff, no shenanigans, no crap! Only thoughtful, constructive, and valuable information.

Lastly, though politics rarely (if ever) comes up, we wager that many in the community are of a progressive and “independent” mindset. The readers are interested in solving problems in new and creative ways. Nothing is off limits if it’s a legit idea.

The Untemplater Style

The Untemplater brand is quite distinct (have I said that already?!). Thus, we need to ensure that submissions from other authors are in accord with it.

So, to assist you in ensuring your article is line with the Untemplater brand, please follow these guidelines. Naturally, not all guidelines need to be used in every post; they’re meant to provide general guidance.

1. Find a way to relate your article to a free-thinking and independent life. Remember that those living an Untemplated life do not placate to the status quo (or those in it). Hence, it’s always a good idea to discuss a shortcoming in mainstream society and how to resolve it through an independent lifestyle.

2. Provide relevant and quality examples, especially from your own experience, to backup your ideas and positions. Mindless rants of alleged but never substantiated wisdom is a hallmark of today’s template society. So do the opposite and share your ideas with supporting facts. After all, no one likes a self-proclaimed know-it-all.

3. Don’t preach. Sharing your passionate and unwavering perspectives is fine; encouraged in fact. But you must understand the difference between expressing conviction and pontificating totalitarianism. Your point of view isn’t the only one. And matters of “right and wrong” don’t fly. Everyone is entitled to make their own choices. What we do is simple provide the options for their consideration.

4. Use humor. Untemplater prides itself on it’s wild use of shtick. A happy, healthy, and successful Untemplated life requires humor and laughter. So by all means use jokes, puns, and other gags. But know that this is a fine line. Don’t cross the line into disparaging remarks or rude idioms. If you do, we won’t publish your article.

5. Look to the past and future for inspiration. We’re not the first trailblazers advocating a life free of rules and controls. Many others have come before us, some walk in our presence today, and others are pioneering the way into the future. So find these folks and use them as models. Comment on their philosophies and tactics. Weave their teachings into your own stories. It’s a powerful way to bolster your credibility.

6. Read and comment on Untemplater! If you submit an article for our consideration and have NOT read Untemplater I promise you we’ll know. Reading past articles is the best and truest way to get a feel for our style. Show your support by participating in comment discussions.  You’d be surprised how many submissions we get that aren’t even close! Don’t be that guy.

7. Write in a blogger-friendly voice. This is an important style element, so listen up! If you’ve never blogged before (or need a tune-up) then understand that “traditional” writing styles don’t work here. I’m talking about your book reports, honors thesis, and other anthologies from your school days. Instead, write in a real “voice” (your voice). Use short sentences and short paragraphs. Break up your article with sub-headlines, quotes, and other relevant yet entertaining tidbits. Use bulleted and/or numbered lists. And use active voice!

Requirements for Article Submissions

Here are some general yet essential requirements that need to be followed.

  • We’re looking for individual entrepreneurs, fans, and bloggers with untemplate lifestyle experience.
  • Submissions should be about, or relate to, your own personal untemplate adventures.
  • Grammatical and spelling errors should be slim to none.
  • Get involved with the site first.  Introduce yourself, tell us why you like our articles, and post comments.
  • You must write all of the content yourself. No ghost writers or plagiarism allowed.
  • No affiliate links are allowed.
  • The article you submit cannot be published on other sites (including your own).
  • Article length shouldn’t dip below 600 words or exceed 1,200 words.
  • If you’re leveraging someone else’s idea, content, or article – then source it! Stealing is bad karma. Don’t do it.

Editing Policy

We expect that the article you submit has been fully edited to the best of your ability. Mind you, we don’t expect you to be an expert at this (we aren’t either!). But a flaky rough draft is simply unacceptable.

We’ll examine your article for grammar and simple typo mistakes and reserve the right to make edits and formatting changes if needed.

We may offer feedback on your article if it does not live up to our expectations. But you should not expect this. We simply do not have the time to serve as a full-time editor, and sloppy work won’t make the cut.  So please send us your best stuff on the first take if you want to be taken seriously!

Images Policy

You are encouraged to include an awesome image for your article. Either use a picture you personally took and own, or find one in the public domain that adheres to a creative commons license and is valid for re-use.

If you do include an image, provide detail on how and from whom you obtained it.

Lastly, we reserve the right to change your image without notice if we feel there’s a better option and/or if you did not comply with creative commons requirement.

SEO Policy

We do our best to amp up our Google-juice with each and every article. So we need your help to make each article its SEO best.

This means three things – (1) meta title, (2) meta description, and (3) meta keywords.

  1. A powerful title that is catchy, enticing, and filled with good keywords (see #3 below).
  2. A max 160(ish) character summary of what your article is about. Use active voice and as many of your strong keywords as possible.
  3. All the highly searched words and phrases that apply to your article. We recommend using Google’s Keyword Search Tool and Google’s Wonder Wheel. Both are free to use and easy!

We highly encourage you to submit the above three items with each article submission. It will go a long way to helping your odds of publication if you do!

And if you don’t have a clue about SEO, now is a good time to start learning! It’s a valuable skill that will carry your writing career far.

Publication Policy

Please remember that your article submission is not a guarantee that we’ll publish it. If for any reason your article does not confirm to our style requirements or Untemplater’s standards, it will not be published.

Once you’re set, please submit HERE

Acknowledgement – Our great thanks to The Art of Manliness for inspiring our style guide!