Update – August 2019
While earlier this year it appeared the Huffington Post had opened up their site for submissions in some countries, it seems as the year has progressed they’ve now shut their doors to new writers and kind readers have advised me the old email addresses aren’t working anymore.
But don’t despair, dear reader, there are a whole lot of other wonderful sites out there you can write for (check out some of my suggestions here).
And while you’re here, I’d love to share a few quick tips for getting your work seen through guest posting:
- spend a little time lovingly falling down the rabbit hole (err, I mean – “researching”) and find a few quality, complementary, sites where your ideal clients hang out.
- read their about page + a couple of blog posts and get a feel for the site to ensure you’re a good fit.
- find their submission terms or, if they don’t have any, note their email address.
- brainstorm two or three ideas for posts / content that would be really helpful to the readers (and the owner of that website). Be generous, give away the best stuff you have to offer + centre it around quick wins for the reader. Make their day, make them laugh, or share a tip or tool that will blow their mind (and that they can implement immediately).
- make a note of what you’re submitting to who or keep your email submissions (Note: I’ve had people message me before saying – “I got my guest post accepted but I submitted it on their website and now I can’t remember what I offered to write about! Help!” so keep a document or record of what you’re pitching and where!)
- craft a thoughtful email to the website owner or follow the submission guidelines to submit your post ideas. If you’re emailing, make sure you share the value you’re bringing and you could even include brief info on how you’ll promote the post if published. (Note: while you’re absolutely writing this as part of your strategy to grow your own business, you really want to come at this with whole-hearted good intentions and loving kindness – people can sniff out a slimy, self-promoter from 50 paces, so be generous and be easy to work with).
- if you don’t hear back after 10 – 14 days, send a short, polite email to follow up. If you don’t hear back after that, move on. You may hear later, you may not – either way, don’t dwell on it, tap back into your inner awesome and know there are people out there who need to hear what you have to share.
- if your submissions are accepted make sure you’re clear on requirements, deadlines etc. submit your piece on time (or early if you can), send them everything they need in terms of head shots, links etc. and check with them as to anticipated publication date so you can share, share, share.
- once your post or piece of content is live, share the shiz out of it! And share it more than once. Don’t be that person who writes for someone else and waits for the traffic to flow. It’s a two way street and the nicer you are to work with, and the more you share it with your community, the more the other person is likely to want to share your stuff too (even more so if it’s helpful, inspiring, informative, gives their readers epic value / help). So share across all of your marketing platforms on release and then diarise or schedule re-shares every 3 – 6 months. Continuing to share it benefits you as much as the owner of the site you created content for, so be generous in all you do when it comes to guest posting.
As ever if I can help, or you’d like to workshop your topic, content and pitch, you can book a coaching session with me HERE.
Good luck!
Sarah x
Update – early 2019
If you’re keen to have your work published on the Huffington Post, it looks like they’ve opened up their site for submissions in some countries.
To send your pitch, scroll down and follow the step by step instructions in the section titled “The original ‘How to Get Published on the Huffington Post’ blog post“.
The only change is that instead of emailing arianna[at]huffingtonpost.com you’ll now send your email to blogteam@huffingtonpost.com.au (to share your work on HuffPo Australia).
From what I could find, HuffPO USA aren’t accepting blog posts ( read more about what they’re accepting here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/static/contact-us ).
And if you’re keen to look at options for other countries, you can select from the dropdown list on the top left menu bar of their website (it looks like this):
Some of the countries list clear info on their contact page, others don’t seem to have a contact page at all. It’s quite inconsistent.
And if you’re reading this and feeling like it’s all too hard, or not worth the effort, here’s a list of 9 fantastic websites you can write for instead.
Good luck!
Sarah x
Update for 2018
Hi guys!
It’s been a while since I posted an update on how to get published on the Huffington Post so I wanted to add some fresh info and let you know where it’s at.
Platform Change
In 2016 the Huffington Post switched from their previous format of ‘pitch a post’ to their ‘contributor platform’. (Note – original blog post and instructions are still as first written below so you can see the evolution of things.)
What that meant for bloggers is you could still have your work published on the Huffington Post website (and thus be able to display their logo in your “as seen in” section for what was, at the time, the blogging equivalent of ‘street cred’).
BUT that platform update brought with it some interesting changes.
Immediate Publishing
First up, submitting via the contributor platform meant that once you were accepted as a contributor you could upload and publish your posts instantly.
No waiting for approval.
No review by an editor.
Just write, hit publish and your words and work were live on the Huffpo site.
In theory this sounded great and was very much in line with their rumoured goal of publishing content from 1 million contributors on the site. But my personal thought is that this approach simply flooded an already busy site with even more content.
And by busy we’re talking over 1,600 pieces of new content being published. Every. Single. Day.
Which begs the question, if your awesome work is going to get lost in the endless stream of content, what’s the point in blogging for HuffPo?
Which leads us to point number two.
No Index & No Follow Links
The switch over also meant that content was no longer indexed or ranked on search engines as the Huffington Post used what’s called “no index” and “no follow” links.
What does that mean?
A no index link tells a search engine not to add a page to its search index and a no follow link tells a search engine not to let that link influence (or increase) the link’s ranking in the search engine index.
So basically it means if you (or your fans, followers, community or your Mum) searched for your HuffPo blog post on Google, Bing or other search engines, it wouldn’t return any results.
For example, if I wrote a post on HuffPo through the contributor platform called How to grow your Instagram following and I searched:
Sarah Jensen Huffington Post Instagram
or
5 ways to grow your Instagram Sarah Jensen
or even
5 ways to grow your Instagram following Sarah Jensen Huffington Post
a link to my HuffPo blog post of the same name would NOT be one of the bajillions of results I got in my browser search (and it definitely wouldn’t be at the top of the results).
End Result
You write a piece of great content, publish it on HuffPo, share the shiz out of it and send lots of traffic to the HuffPo website, but no one can search for your article or find your article unless YOU give them the URL.
That’s a whole lot of one way traffic and, if your whole purpose for guest posting is to reach a new and wider audience to grow your online community, it makes it kinda a waste of your time and effort.
No surprises then that a lot of people thought that move was pretty uncool (me included) and stopped submitting work to the HuffPo.
But there were still more than enough people wanting to get on board and write for the Huffington Post because by late 2016 / early 2017 they closed their contributor platform to new submissions.
During that time they also deactivated their old blogger platform so all new submissions had to come through their new platform.
(Note – the old blogger platform is the one I used to publish my articles on HuffPo and I’ve chosen not to apply to access to any of the new platforms.)
New Name, New Editor, New Focus
Fast forward to 25 April 2017 – Arianna Huffington had moved on from The Huffington Post to focus on her new platform, Thrive Global, and the Huffington Post had rebranded to HuffPost under the direction of a new editor named Lydia Polgreen.
With the change came what was described by Polgreen as a refocus on their mission to ‘provide a space where a broad range of voices can share their own stories and opinions.’ (Read the full “Letter from the Editor” about HuffPost’s new chapter” here)
And while my best efforts at searching their Australian site haven’t netted anything as concrete as a ‘how to write for HuffPost’ page or ‘submission guidelines’, the HuffPost Australia website’s Contact Us page reads:
“To pitch a blog piece email blogteam@huffingtonpost.com.au”
From that it looks like the good old “send an email” approach I wrote about in September 2015 might be back in action.
So if you’re keen to see your words and work published on HuffPost, head to their website (your browser will likely default to your local or nearest offering – mine defaults to http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/ as I’m in Australia), scroll to the bottom of the site, click the “contact us” link and check out the details on where to pitch your blog post.
To Blog or Not to Blog?
I want to wrap by saying that it’s absolutely a personal choice if you want to write for HuffPost (or any other website). Some people will, some won’t and either way that’s ok.
If it’s a goal, go for it! Have fun, enjoy the process and share your success in the comments.
And if you have strong opinions about not writing for the HuffPost or guest writing for free that’s ok too. You might enjoy this article by Eye Heart Creative about not writing for the Huffington Post.
Either way I encourage you to get out their and Rock Your Goals in your own awesome way. And if you want any help, give me a shout or book in for a coaching session and we can Rock Your Goals together.
The original “How to Get Published on the Huffington Post” blog post
I’m over the moon to have had my first article published on the Huffington Post today. Yay!! Major milestone ticked off the list.
I thought I’d share a quick step by step on how you can get published on the Huffington Post in case it’s something that’s on your goals list but you don’t know where to start. I hope it helps.
ONE ::
You can write an article from scratch or re-purpose one of your old blog posts. HuffPo don’t mind if you’ve published your article on your blog already. If you have I recommend changing it a bit so the articles aren’t identical. Having said that I don’t recommend repurposing articles you’ve written and had published as guest posts on other people’s websites. For this HuffPo article, I repurposed this old blog post.
TWO ::
Articles should be between 500 and 1000 words and can be about pretty much any topic as long as it’s not offensive – keep it clean and positive. The cool thing is too that the Huffington Post covers so many different topics so you can write about almost anything you like. Choose a topic you love, that you have lots to say on and write in your own, natural voice. You don’t have to write a certain way and it’s ok to write in a conversational way. Make sure you spell check it, tidy up your grammar and you can always have a friend read it for you if you want a second pair of eyes on it before you hit send.
THREE ::
Once you’ve written an article you’re happy with, email it to Arianna Huffington herself – arianna[at]huffingtonpost.com include a short hello, a sentence or two about your post and include your post. I sent it in the body of the email (below the sign off) AND as a Word document just to make it easier for her/her team to read it. I just wrote “article submission” in the subject line.
FOUR ::
This is the second time I’ve submitted. The first time I didn’t hear back – if they don’t want to publish it they won’t reply. This time however, I received a reply within 4 days. I have heard of it taking up to 2 or 3 weeks for people to hear back.
FIVE ::
If you get the yes, you’ll receive an email from Arianna saying they want to publish, then you’ll receive an email from the blogging team with your log in details. You then log in, set up your bio, add your photo, add your post and format it (simple WordPress style formatting where you can add numbering, bold/italicise text) – it’s easy to do. You can also add a photo to be used with the post but it must be one you have permission to share – so not something you’ve just grabbed from the web or Pinterest. As far as I understand photos from free stockshot companies like Unsplash, Death to the Stock Photo etc. are ok.
**Important note: make sure you add your bio at the bottom of your blog post at the time of formatting. The HuffPo instructions don’t make it clear but if you don’t type your bio into the same box where you type and format your blog post it won’t show on their website.
SIX ::
Once you’ve formatted your post you hit the save button which submits it to the editing team. They check it and if it’s all ok it’s usually live within 24 hours (unless they’re crazy busy, then it can take a couple of days). For me it was less than 24 hours.
SEVEN ::
Share it around your community and celebrate the heck out of yourself for doing an awesome job!
That’s about it. Happy to answer any questions you might have. Sarah x
P.S. here’s a link to my first HuffPo article
QUESTIONS ::
I’ve been asked a few questions since sharing this post, so here’s a bit of a Q+A section. If you’ve got any questions feel free to ask in the comments below. I’m here to help.
Q: Do Huffington Post pay you if you get published?
A: No. The Huffington Post don’t pay contributors. Think of it as writing a guest post on a really big site.
Q: Why would I write for Huffington Post if I don’t get paid?
A: This varies for everyone and it’s a really personal thing. For some people it’s about gaining confidence as a writer, reaching an audience bigger than you have on your own website or just showing the ‘as seen in the Huffington Post’ logo on your website. For new bloggers it can be a bit of a rite of passage and a personal milestone but for others they won’t write for HuffPo because they don’t pay. It’s totally your choice.
Q: Does it make a big difference to your website traffic? What results do you get? Is it worth it?
A: Again it’s different from person to person, article to article. Some people get huge click throughs and newsletter sign up spikes and other see almost no difference at all. For me it’s been pretty quiet but that’s probably because I didn’t add my bio at the bottom of the post (rookie mistake) so there’s nothing to click through to. Oops!
Q: Will I get published the first time I submit an article?
A: Not necessarily. I got published on my second submission and my beautiful friend Bree took 7 bites at the apple before she landed a post on the HuffPo. The message here is if you want it, go for it and don’t give up! Bree shares what she learned about keeping your eyes on the prize and how to get published in THIS ARTICLE.
Q: What do I put in the subject line of my email to Arianna? Does it have to be clever or attention grabbing?
A: You don’t need to spend hours agonising over the “perfect” email subject line. I wrote “Article Submission” in mine – simple, clear and direct.
Q: Did you send the post as an email attachment or in the body of your pitch email?
A: When I sent the pitch, I sent an email which attached the article in a word document AND included it as part of the email body underneath my sign off. I figured that way they’d have it in the form they prefer. I also figured by writing my “hello, I’m Sarah, I write about xyz, my post is about abc”, and offering up a compliment about her and her work first, then signing off my email and including the article underneath all of that, the editor could get a feel for what I was submitting instantly without reading the whole post. They could then keep scrolling to read the post or they could open the attachment to read the post – I thought I’d cover all bases.
Q: When you pitched your post did you have to specify which section of the Huffington Post your story was for?
A: Not at the time of pitching/submitting my story, no. Once you’ve had the yes from Arianna and you’ve got your HuffPo log in, you can select which section your post fits in at the time of uploading for publication.
Q: So I’ve got a log in, does that mean I can write for HuffPo any time I like?
A: Sure does! Once you have your log in you can submit posts as often as you like. In my experience it took about 24 hours (sometimes longer if they were backlogged) for the post to go live but from what’s been shared by awesome bloggers in the comments of this post, it sounds like the process has changed slightly in the last couple of months (it’s May 2016 today) and that when you hit “publish” it goes live on their site straight away.
Q: Can I include affiliate links in my HuffPo article?
A: I don’t know the official HuffPo stance on this but I’m going to go with my gut here and say, out of courtesy and professional respect, it’s a no. Think of it this way, if someone wrote a guest post for your website, would you want them selling something in the middle of it?
Here’s some info I rustled up and shared in response to a lovely blogger named Amy when she posted this question:
“I’m not certain about including affiliate links. It’s not something I’d do and I’m guessing that it’s not something they’d allow so check the Blogger FAQ section once you have your post approved and have created your log in. I’ve had a quick read and the references I found are these: “You present to us that any blog posts, photos and any other content you submit is not an advertisement or solicitation of business or contributions” and “In an effort to be as transparent with our readers as possible, HuffPost bloggers should disclose any financial conflicts of interest related to the issue they are writing about. If a blogger receives payment or income from a company, organization, group, or individual with a financial stake in the issue he/she is weighing in on, that information should be disclosed at the bottom of the applicable blog post. Moreover, bloggers should not submit posts that include links that are paid for in whole or in part by marketing firms.”
If you’re in doubt you could email the blog team at Huffington Post and see what they say. Here’s their email: blogteam@huffingtonpost.com”
Q: I got an email from Arianna saying they want to publish my article and that she would forward it to her team to give me the log in info but I haven’t heard back. What should I do and how long does it usually take?
A: It can take a couple of weeks to hear back with the log in and it seems the experience is different for everyone. Some people receive their log in details within a day or two (I had mine within a couple of days) and for others it can take 2-3 weeks. If you haven’t heard within a couple of weeks, send an email through to the blog team blogteam@huffingtonpost.com to follow up.
And here’s Curt’s experience of timeframes which he kindly shared in the comments on this blog post:
“Hey Sarah – Thanks for this article. Was just approved and set up my blogger account on HuffPo! Followed your advice, so thank you.
Wanted to also add my timeline to give others another data point to use when trying to figure out what “normal” is in regards to response time.
Emailed Arianna as you suggested on March 24.
Received a reply from Arianna (at least her email account) on March 26, cc’ing an editor and saying the article pitch was a good fit.
Received a reply and blogger invitation on April 5.
So 2 days for a response, and 10 days after that for a blogger account invitation.
Hope that’s helpful!
Curt”
Q: I didn’t see a “save” option for my blog post, just a “publish” option and it seems to have gone live without going through an editing veto. Have they changed the way it works since you wrote this blog post?
A: It’s possible they’ve updated their back end since I published my last post for HuffPo. I know they’ve been talking about updating their “blogger” platform to make it a lot more user friendly. When I log in I still see the same old system but if that changes, I’ll definitely update the post with any new information I learn.
UPDATES ::
It’s six weeks later and it’s time for a traffic report. So just how much difference has being published on the Huffington Post made to my website traffic? Hold your breath dear writer because it’s not what you might think…
I’ve had 8 click throughs from the Huffington Post to my website. Yes, that’s right – 8.
On the flip side of that, 108 people have clicked from my website to the Huffington Post.
What’s been an unexpected win from this exercise is actually this blog post. I hadn’t planned to write a ‘how to’ style post about being published on the Huffington Post; this started off as a quick Facebook group post to help other bloggers and the response was so amazing and overwhelming (in a good way) that I decided to add it to my site as a blog post.
Since I hit publish on this post six weeks ago it’s had over 1,500 views, been shared almost 200 times and has over 80 comments. It just goes to show that writing for the ‘big’ sites might not always bring you the traffic you’re looking for, but writing posts that helps people rock their goals will.
It’s time for another traffic report!
It’s now almost 8 months later (today is 10 May 2016) and this post has become the most popular on my site by far. It’s now had almost 10,000 views, over 200 comments, been shared hundreds of times and has helped over 100 people get published on the Huffington Post (including an Emmy Award winning writer!!). But the biggest surprise numbers wise has been the click throughs from Huffington Post itself. In 8 months just 48 people have clicked through from HuffPo to this website but almost 850 people have visited HuffPo from my website. HuffPo, you’re welcome!
Just goes to show that sometimes you might not get the outcome you expect or hope for. Sometimes it’s WAY better and to me the fact that I’ve been able to help so many people totally rock their goal of being published is so much more awesome than a bunch of click throughs from a website.
If you’ve rocked your HuffPost goal because of this post, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and share your experience!
Photographs in this post via the wonderful Jana Bishop
Thank you … I had already written my pitch and in the moments of procrastination I did more research and found your blog which reminded me to keep it short and sweet. This post also gave me the courage to reach out to Arianna herself. She emailed me back immediately, saying she loved the piece and would love to feature my voice. I’m proud to report that I am now a contributor to ThriveGlobal!
That’s fantastic Levantay, congratulations!
hi there, this is such a great article and I have one ready to send over following these tips – does anyone know what the best email address is now please seeing as Arianna has left?
Hi Jo, I haven’t heard any updates from HuffPo regarding email addresses but will keep my ears to the ground! If you hear anything let us know.
Thank you for being such a generous spirit Sarah. Congratulations on your published article….well done 🙂
You’re welcome Kym, thanks for your kind words. 🙂
Great post – off I go to tick this off my list of wishes for 2016 🙂 Thank you for your generosity in sharing x
Great work Susie! You can do it. 🙂
I am having issues signing in to the site can someone help me.
Hi Denise, your best bet’s going to be contacting the Huffington Post directly as it’s their software. Try the blogging team or check the contact page on their website and see if they have a support or tech team. If not, just email the blogging team and ask them to give you a hand with it. Good luck.
Dear Sarah,
Can I use a published HuffPost blog of mine on my own website (blog) afterwards?
Thanks so much
Hi Beverlye. I’d suggest you don’t reproduce the article entirely on your own site as Google aren’t big fans of duplicate content. You could either write a new introduction to the article and then link from your site to the Huffington Post article you’ve written or, if you prefer, publish the post on your own site but change the article so it’s not identical to the HuffPo article. I hope that helps.
Hi all, add me to the list of grateful writers of this post 🙂 Very concise and easy to follow. And Ta da, it works! Thanks so much. I also got a nod from Arianna. I have logged in and put in my article. It is showing in the drafts section. Should I just go ahead and click on ‘Publish’ button and wait to hear back from the team on any corrections etc ?
Hi Gayathri. Congratulations! You generally won’t hear back from anyone with corrections so be sure to give it a thorough editing yourself (and you can ask a friend or fellow blogger to review it too if you need a pair of fresh eyes on your work) and then enjoy hitting the publish button. 🙂
Hi Sarah! I just wanted to say thanks so much for this article. I’m a high school student and I was hoping to get an article I had written published, so I followed your format and then sent it in. They accepted it and I was so happy! Thanks so much for such a great article. It helped me get mine published! 🙂
That’s fantastic Mark, congratulations! I’m so happy for you and I’m glad this article helped you rock your goal. 🙂
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I did it! I emailed Arianna exactly as you instructed and she responded less than an hour later. Within two hours her editor had also emailed me and provided me with a login.
Just posted my second article an hour ago.
Thank you SO much!
Wuhoo! Congratulations Mindy, great work. 🙂
Hello Sarah,
Thanks a lot .. Awesome instructions and great guidance ..
I sent an article late last Friday (Aug 12th), got response on Monday morning Aug 15th from Arianna with a CC to new Editor-in-Chief ( Madeline Wahl ) as Arianan stepped down and started her new company http://www.thriveglobal.com. Today Aug 16th I received email from Madeline with login information. I am happy & excited to say may article is published. Publishing happen immediately.
Thanks a lot
Sincerely,
Bhaskar
Congratulations Bhaskar, that’s fantastic. Thanks for the update about Arianna stepping down too. Any indication in the email you received whether they’ll be keeping the “Arianna” email account operating for continued submissions to the HuffPo?
I received a similar response from Arianna. She passed along a new email address (associated with Thrive Global), but did not indicate if her HuffPo email would remain operational for submissions. I am awaiting to receive my log in details from Madeline. Once I do, I will ask about Arianna’s email and hopefully be able to pass along an update!
Also, thank you for your article. It’s because of your advice that Arianna accepted my pitch!
Oh fantastic, thank you! Let us know if you hear anything. And huge congratulations on being published, I’m really happy for you. 🙂
Thank you so much for this helpful post! Within 9hrs I received a response from Arianna telling me her editor would be sending me information. That was July 20th. Can you offer any advice on how long is enough to wait before pursuing the editor that was cc’d on Arianna’s e-mail? And if you suggest I contact her, how do I approach it without sounding like an entitled, impatient person? Many thanks!
Hi Steph, hopefully you’ve received your log in details by now. If not I’d suggest just one, politely worded email following up. If you don’t receive a response to that I’d suggest re-submitting the article or submitting a fresh article. Also, have a read through the comments from this post as lots of wonderful bloggers have shared their experience of waiting for log on details. Some receive almost immediately, others have waited 2 – 4 weeks. Good luck.
Thank you Sarah for all your generous help and suggestions! I just got my login yesterday and uploaded my post. For anyone who is awaiting the log in information and not hearing back I would be persistent. I emailed the blog team yesterday and heard back from the editor I was trying to reach within an hour. It is a little disheartening that they changed their platform just before I had decided I was ready to submit my article but that aside I am really excited to have the opportunity to share that I have been published with Huff Post. Thank you again for all your generosity. I think it’s wonderful that this post has brought so much attention to your site and business. That is how the Universe works when we open our hearts to being generous! Best wishes!
Congratulations Stephanie, I’m so excited for you and thank you so very much for sharing your experience with everyone. It’s so helpful to hear from other people and what their experience has been in terms of getting a response to their submission or getting their log in invitation. I really appreciate that you took the time to share your insights. Have a wonderful day. x
Thanks so much for this awesome post. I followed your directions and also was accepted! I am still waiting for a login, it has been a week since Arianna said “yes” so I am still a bit on edge. Praying that I get the login info soon. As I’ve read on this post, it sometimes takes a couple of weeks. I received a reply from Arianna only a couple of hours after I pitched my post so I was expecting to hear something sooner with my login.
Huge congratulations on getting the “YES!” Melissa, that’s fantastic news. Receiving a quick reply to your submission won’t always guarantee the log in reaches you quickly. There doesn’t seem to be any real consistency in terms of how long it takes to receive the log in details. Some receive it almost instantly and others have waited up to 4 weeks so don’t lose heart. I’m sending you good vibes and I hope you receive your log in details very soon (if you haven’t already). 🙂
And this is how to get on the front page of huffington post!
http://olo.news/o/how-to-get-published-on-the-huffington-post/2EjNvW
Congratulations 😉
Wow! Thanks for sharing that Zare, I hadn’t seen it. I’m not sure whether to be excited or contact them and remind them they don’t actually have permission to use content from my website. Cheeky people!!
Hi Sara,
I think you should be excited that it was published even if its without permission. As someone mentioned somewhere in this comment section – that is how the universe works when we open our hearts to being generous. You have helped many of us get published on our dream site and now you will be helping even more people, permission or no permission. Please do not allow the little things diminish the bigger gifts in whatever form they present themselves to us cos in the large scope of life, things like permission doesn’t really count – at least not in this case.
Thanks Caroline. 🙂
Hi. Came across your post and decided to write to Arianna. I was so nervous when I hit send but boy was it worth it! Shew replied within 12 minutes! I was stunned. 5 mins after that I got another mail from one of her editors. 4 mins after that my login information! I am so delighted. My newest problem now is deciding which post to publish first.
Sheri – A Busy Bees Life
Congratulations Sheri, that’s wonderful! And if you still can’t decide, toss a coin or put all the blog post titles in a hat and pick one out to get you started. 🙂
Hi Sarah, I have now published two articles and I am so happy. Excited to share more of my work and hopefully it will help em grow to be being a better blogger. Thanks again Sarah!
That’s wonderful Sheri, congratulations! I’m so happy for you lovely. Keep shining. x
Thank you Sarah! This is the best article I have ever read on submitting to Huff Post. So helpful without a bunch of fluff we don’t need. You rock :D.
You’re welcome Lisa, I’m glad it helped!
Is anyone having problems logging into the blog platform? Says server can’t be reached when I try.
I hope this has resolved for you now Natalya. I’ve logged in just now without issue, although it looks like it won’t be for long. They’re inviting me to move to the new Contributor Platform so I’d say it’s only a matter of time before we’re not able to submit via the old Blogger platform.
Thank you so so much for this post, I literally followed everything you said and emailed Arianna on a Monday. Heard back Tuesday evening and got my log in details on the Wednesday. Delighted as this was a huge goal for me as a writer. I did forget your advice to add my bio unfortunately so made a mistake there but maybe next time I will do it properly. Thank you for the help, I kept your post up throughtout the whole process!
You’re so very welcome Ann-Marie! Congratulations on being published and I’m so thrilled that this post helped you rock your goal. 🙂 xx
Thanks to your post, I decided to give it a shot and I got an answer from Arianna less than 10 hours later. It was so exciting! She said that someone from her team would be in touch, and two weeks later, I’ve heard nothing. I’ve since sent two emails, one to thank Arianna for the opportunity and another to Madeline who was copied in the email, asking if everything was okay with the post.
Is this normal? Has this happened to anyone?
Thanks again for this great post!
Did you end up hearing back? I am in the same boat and it’s been a week how with a couple of emails sent. I see here that two people within the last week go through no problem. I am still waiting to hear back from the editor that was cc’d on my email.
Hi Stephanie, from the amount of comments I’ve seen come through on this post in the time it’s been live, I’m getting the impression that some editors are really quick to get details out and one or two are reliably unreliable. If you still haven’t received your details after 3 – 4 weeks, perhaps resubmit the article via a fresh email to Arianna. Good luck.
Hi Leila, congratulations on getting the ‘yes’ from Arianna. It’s quite normal for it to take a few weeks. Some people have said it’s taken 3 or more weeks and often they don’t receive replies to follow up emails they send. I’d suggest if you still don’t have your log on now, submit a new article or submit the same article again via email and see how you go. Good luck.
Hello Sarah, Awesome post.
Do you have to be a blogger or have a website before your pitch your article? Is it possible to be accepted without a strong online presence?
I do have a website but it’s not in line with what I want to write about. Would that work? Thank you!
Thanks Andy. I’m glad the post was helpful to you. To answer your question, yes you can submit articles without having an online presence. Just email your article through to Arianna as per the instruction in the blog post. If published, you can always then share that article or link to it in future if you decide to grow your online presence.
Hi
Sarah
I am a regular at Huffington Post and most of my articles have been published using the old platform. I have to say that new platform is really bad. It allows you to supposedly publish instantly but as you have pointed out that your articles are not even searchable through Google.
The exclusivity of Huffington post is all gone if they persist with this system.
I wanted to ask that when you log on, do you see their invite or you are still using the old system?
Regards
Hi Raza. You’re not alone in finding the new platform ‘less than’. A lot of people have been sharing their frustration and disappointment. As for me, at the moment, I can still log on to the old system to submit blog posts. I’m aiming to submit a new one in the next few weeks just to test it out and report back to everyone here in this post.
Hi, I recently became a contributor to Huff Po and I have a few quick questions. Firstly, I didn’t have an option to submit to certain vertical before I published my post. Have things changed? Also, where can I see the number of views on my post?
Thanks!
Hi John, I’m not sure what you mean by “submit to certain vertical”, can you please explain that for me so I can try and help? As for post views, I’m not sure that anyone has ever had the ability to view that data. The only numbers I’ve ever been able to see on my HuffPo articles is the number of shares on each social media platform (the numbers displayed against the social media share buttons for the post).
Thanks for all this great information, and thanks so everyone who has been so helpful with comments! I submitted to Arianna Huffington directly (with completed post pasted in) and got back a “yes” within a day. Now it’s been nearly a week and I’m still waiting for log-in credentials from the blog editor. But I’m concerned about having to share the URL directly in order for the piece to be seen by others. If I’m understanding it correctly, there doesn’t seem to be a point, other than to say I’m published there. Since I publish on other sites (other than my own blogs that is) I’m wondering if this is worth doing?
Yes, in the new set up this is a huge problem. I have been blogging with them for the past five years but last month they introduced a new system where you can publish directly. The problem is that these posts can not be searched and the only way to reach them is through the url which you share.
Contribution to Huffington Post become practically useless as the only way people can know about your post is through you
Email the blogteam@huffingtonpost.com and raise your concern
I did the same
Thanks Richard.
Hi Pamela. With the introduction of the new “contributor” platform it seems the only ‘benefit’ left to publishing on the Huffington Post is being able to say “I’ve been published on the Huffington Post” and I think there will be a significant shift away from people writing for HuffPo, particularly on a recurring basis. If they’re not offering author bios, Google searchability or the potential of traffic to your website, many people are asking “what’s the point?” and they’ve got a good point. If you’re looking to expand your reach, grow your traffic and get new eyes on your website, I’d suggest writing for websites who’s readers are your ideal client and who share their guest contributors’ work on social media. It’s disappointing that things have gone this way but there are a lot of other wonderful websites out there with great audiences who would love to read your work, and the work of other great writers and bloggers. As for whether it’s worth doing, that’s going to remain a very personal and individual thing. Some people will say ‘screw that’ and not submit work to HuffPo, others will still want to tick that goal of getting published there off of the list. There’s no right or wrong, it’s whatever feels good for you.
Hi Sarah
Great article – thanks 🙂
Quick question..
Is it best to use an article that already has some input (shares/likes google traction) Or a brand new article?
Thanks
Helen
It really doesn’t matter which option you choose Helen. My tip would be to make sure whatever you submit is really well aligned with the other blog posts and offerings on your website so when people visit your site from the HuffPo article there’s more good stuff around the same topics for them to dive into. Good luck. x
Hi There,
Just a quick note that I got published by using this guide, so thanks so much! I got in first go by the amazing woman herself. Ya for you and Ya for HP x
Hooray! That’s awesome Karen, congratulations. 🙂
I found your post after being confused with their new system. I was wondering if you know whether these “entry” post are actually visible. Because in the FAQ it says they are visible to me in the published posts as well as everyone with the link of the post. It sounds to me that only people I share the link to ill see it which means no actual value from being published there.
Any input on that?
As far as I understand from others who have been published (because info from HuffPo themselves is as rare as hens teeth on this change/issue) the only way people will see your HuffPo “entry” post is with the blog post URL. It’s “live” on their entry site but is not searchable on Google via the post title, your name or other post details. It certainly makes it questionable as to whether it’s worth the time and effort to submit a post to them. It really depends on your intention/outcome. If it’s new traffic and a fresh audience, perhaps not. If it’s to say “I’ve been published on the Huffington Post” then go forth and conquer. But it appears (and I don’t have all the facts so this is just my opinion/assumption based on the information I have been able to find and the information other kind bloggers have shared here in the comments) that they’ve certainly changed things a lot and it will be interesting to see if there’s a blogger backlash against writing for HuffPo as it seems they’ve removed what was previously the main benefit of being published there – the chance to reach a much larger audience than your own. The only thing left is street cred/social proof and if everyone decides it’s not worth it anymore then even that might go the way of the dodo. That’s my two cents worth (for what it’s worth!).
Sarah: Thanks for these tips. I have my login credentials and created my account. I’ve even uploaded three pictures with captions, but haven’t yet published them. What I cannot figure out for the life of me is how to enter my blog text. I get to the edit screen, but nowhere can I type and enter text. Any advice, or am I missing something? Thanks for all your guidance.
Hi Craig,
You should use IE, not Chrome or Firefox for using HuffPost editor.
When I log in to the blogging platform I see a screen that has the “Submit a Blog Post” option. Once I click that I see a screen which allows me to “write a new post” – screen shots below. Have you tried using a different internet browser as Nhon suggests? If that doesn’t work, I’d suggest emailing the HuffPo blog team and asking for their help in getting your post on the site. I’m sure they’d receive tech support style requests from bloggers who are having trouble with their system.
Thanks. I’ve tried using IE and Google Chrome, with no luck. When I log in, I see an entirely different screen, one on which I was able to upload my pics and captions, but not the blog text. Here’s what I see:
Beta Version
Craig Rothenberg
New Post
Published
Drafts
FAQ
Terms
Feedback
Invite a friend
Entry List
Title
Updated
A Top 5 Day, Relationships and JOMO
Craig Rothenberg
May 24, 2016
If you click on the “New Post” option that should take you to the screen you need to enter your blog post. Let me know how you go Craig. 🙂
Hi Sarah, thanks for all this useful info! I have a question and I’m wondering if you’ve heard of any others experiencing this. On a whim, I submitted the first article (I modified it for huffpo) I posted to my brand new blog (not to Arianna herself, but to the department I was pitching to). To my surprise, I very quickly got a response saying they could run it and then login info to set up my blogger profile. I set everything up and submitted the piece, and it has now been 3 days and I haven’t heard anything. I’m starting to worry since from everyone’s experience I’ve read about, your post should be live within 24 hours. Is it possible that an editor approved my piece, but then once I submitted it, it’s getting rejected? I did have to add an extra sentence because my original pitch had a slight error on factual info, so now my word count is a little above 1,000 words. I don’t know how strict they are with this word count. And I also don’t know if they inform you if the piece you’ve submitted (once you are set up with a blogger account) has been rejected. Thanks!
Hi Brooke, great question. I have heard of people submitting posts via the log in and the piece not going live so it’s possible the reviewing editor decided not to move forward and publish your piece (and no, they won’t let you know if that’s the case which is super frustrating from the perspective of us writers). It could also just be a delay if they have a lot of articles to review at the moment. I’d say if it’s not live within a week of submitting, perhaps try uploading a new article via your blogging log in. I’m also not sure exactly how strict they are about the 1,000 word limit – everywhere I’ve seen says 500 – 1000 words so your other option if it’s not live soon is to trim it down ever so slightly so it’s under the 1,000 word limit and resubmit via your blogging log in. Good luck!!
Thanks for your post. I emailed Ariana, and got a yes from her within 5 hours!! Thanks again. 🙂
Congratulations Charity, that’s fantastic! Sending hugs and high fives your way. 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! I’m submitting my first try at it out now!
You’re very welcome Cindy! Good luck. 🙂
Great tips! I might be one of these bloggers using the new platform. I got access to their WP platform, added my post and hit the Publish button. A popup window came up saying “Congrats! Your entry is published! Edits can take up to five minutes to be updated on the Huffington Post. Open Post Help it reach a wider audience! with Facebook and Twitter logos to share”. So my assumption was the article is live. Yeah. I clicked the Open Post and this brought my article with a URL showing /entry/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/an-adven... . Now, none of the live articles show that URL structure with /entry/ and I can’t click on my profile like you can on other articles’ profiles. And I can’t find anything live on Huffington Post directly. So I am wondering whether it’s really live or not. I emailed my contact at HP asking about this but haven’t heard from them (2 weeks now). So literally confused as to whether this is really live or not.
Hi Patricia. I’ve received a few emails about this and have now been able to do a bit more research. It looks like HuffPo have recently changed their approach and opened up / changed how they do things to align with their goal of having 1 million contributors. You can read more here: http://fortune.com/2015/06/29/huffington-platform/ Your article is definitely live and it appears to be part of the new “entry” system, rather than the previous system whereby each blogger was set up as their own entity with a contributor profile, bio etc. I’m not sure how that effects clickable bios but will see what I can find out. If anyone reading this article has any ideas, please feel very welcome to join the conversation. If I find out any new information I’ll let you know. Sorry I don’t have more definitive information but it’s been hard to find anything much on their new system and most of the information I have has been through other generous HuffPo contributors sharing their experiences here on this blog post in the comments section.
Thank you for this post! i have been dying to write for Huffington Post and have been wondering how everyone seems to land a story there! I will definitely be trying these tips.
2 Quick questions:
When you wrote your email to Arianna, did you specify which section of Huffington Post your post was for?
Once you received the log in details, are you able to just go ahead and upload posts and submit them for editorial review moving forward or do you continue to pitch Arianna the way you mentioned above?
Thank you!
Cheers,
Nikki
http://www.thepinthemapproject.com
Hi lovely, thanks for your questions. I’ve updated the Q&A section to include answers to these and I know we’ve spoken via email but I’ll add the answers in here too as it might help other bloggers. 🙂
1. When pitching I didn’t specify which section it was for. You get the chance to select that in the ‘back end’ of their system when you get your log in and get your post ready to publish.
2. Once you have your log in you can submit as many posts as you like as often as you like and you don’t have to submit stories to Arianna each time.
Thanks for the great questions and good luck with your post.
Sarah – like everyone above has said, thank you SO much for this awesome and helpful article! I didn’t even think of submitting a post to HuffPo as I thought I would need more experience (etc., etc.) but I have just had my first post published on there. I am so excited and happy… did a happy dance when I got the email from Arianna! Thank you for sharing and supporting the community 🙂
You’re so very welcome for the information and I’m so happy that it helped you. Huge congratulations on having your article published lovely. x
Thank you so much for this post! I am happy to share that your advice helped me to achieve one of my writing dreams this week!
Oh that’s wonderful news Lindsay, I’m so happy for you. Congratulations. x
Hi Sarah,
I had a similar experience to Lana and Lucy. I emailed a blog post pitch to Arianna early this week with my article and bio attached. Shortly after, I received a noreply email inviting me to join the HuffPost Contributor platform. It seems that posts are published live instantly upon submission. I also noticed that “entry” rather than my name is in the post URL as follows: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/8-tips-for-becoming-a-morning-person_us_571f7f9fe4b0fca991224e5c?tabobwvqghyp0hpvi Does this seem different than the traditional platform/URL?
Thank you so much! 🙂
Hi Jessica. One of the other bloggers who shared their experience also shared this article: http://fortune.com/2015/06/29/huffington-platform/ – from what I can gather it looks like HuffPo have opened things up recently so that posts are now going live instantly. It seems they have a goal of 1 million contributors and they’ve either released, or are releasing, new technology for publishing content on their site. That might be why quite a few bloggers have had a slightly different experience than the one I had last year. Either way, congratulations on your article! Great news. 🙂
Thank you so much Sarah, and thanks for sharing the article! It definitely makes a lot more sense now 🙂
You’re welcome Jessica, glad it helped.
This is really interesting! It’s always good to have the experience of guest posting (especially on a well-known site), but I wonder if their 1 million aim will “devalue” being a blogger on Huff Post? Will be interesting to see how it goes!
You’re right Claire, it will be very interesting to see how the changes effect both contributors and the site itself.
I’m currently in shock! I wrote Arianna and email and received a lovely response within 24 hours saying they’d love me to be one of their voices and I’d hear from an editor soon. A few days later I received an email from the blog and community editor with login details for their Athena contributor platform. I went on it last night to submit an article, assuming it would then need to be approved or rejected or edited. But it basically went live immediately. At the bottom of my post it says ‘ this article has been submitted via the contributer platform and to notify them of any concerning content etc. my question is is this different to a Normal huff post contribution? The fact I can submit anything without approval seems too easy…. Was I actually vetted or is a part of huffpost that anyone can contruibyte on…is it a new thing as I can’t see any reference to it on your post. Therefore I’m nothing special 😂 Thanks in advance
Hi Lucy,
This is exactly what happened to me! It’s now about 24 hours since I published, and when I went back and checked the post, it has been lightly edited to improve the formatting, so someone has looked at it! But I was the same: does this ‘count’ as being published on HuffPo if it was so easy (and looks like you could re-contribute through the same log-in in the same way)? Is this the new way they’re doing things? (The platform is Beta version). Looking forward to hearing any other info you, or others, get.
It sure does count Lana! Absolutely. As I said to Lucy, it’s the normal flow of events from my experience and it means they like your work. I haven’t used the new blogger platform (in Beta) as it’s been a couple of months since I wrote an article for them. I’ll give it a test run soon and report back / update the post with any changes/improvements. But over and above all of that, celebrate yourself for a great job. Sending high fives your way. Sarah x
so strange…glad it’s not me going bonkers!!1 would love to know more if you find anything out lana…maybe we are just so amazing we don’t need approval 😉
Yep, that must be it Lucy 😛 Will post with any further information if I get it…
just checked out your facebook page and website and it’s great…can deffo see why you were a chosen one Lana 😉
Thanks Lucy, lovely to hear you enjoyed my work!
Hi Lucy, congratulations on having your post published. That all sounds normal to me and basically the same as I experienced – submit by email, get the yes from Arianna, receive an invitation to create a log in, submit the post via the log in and it’s live in less than 24 hours. You can submit as many posts as often as you like now via your blogger log in. From my understanding they will still be checked over to ensure the content is good by a member of the HuffPo blogging team but if you’re a good writer with interesting and useful stuff to share, you’ll find most of your posts will go live quite quickly once they’re submitted. It’s not at all that you’re nothing special lovely, to the contrary it’s a compliment to you and your writing and the HuffPo team obviously welcome many more articles from your lovely self. 🙂
that’s great news….one of my bucket list wishes well and truly ticked now!! thanks for your help
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the great post which I followed to the letter – and I have just been published! My experience has been a little different: I didn’t see a ‘save’ option for blog post, just ‘publish’ and it seems to have gone live without going through an editing veto?!
It’s definitely a blog post, was wondering if they may have changed the way it works since you wrote this or if yours was an article not a blog post?
To add my experience re: the timelines, I had a very quick turnaround. Less than 24 hours to reply and blogger account given basically instantaneously.
Thanks again for the great post!
Lana
Congratulations on being published Lana, that’s fantastic. It’s possible they’ve updated their back end since I published my last post for HuffPo. Thanks for letting me know, I’ll whip up another post and submit it and see how it all looks. Having said that, from my understanding, they often don’t “edit” posts, they just approve or reject via the back end post submission system so it’s usually published exactly as submitted.
Thanks for getting back to me Sarah. Yes, I seemed to have overlooked the fact I sent them my entire post in the submission, so obviously they liked it enough to publish it! I guess I was caught off guard by it going live straight away. Next time I’ll factor that in (will definitely be a next time :P).
Same here. All happened within 24 hours!
Hey Sarah – Thanks for this article. Was just approved and set up my blogger account on HuffPo! Followed your advice, so thank you.
Wanted to also add my timeline to give others another data point to use when trying to figure out what “normal” is in regards to response time.
Emailed Arianna as you suggested on March 24.
Received a reply from Arianna (at least her email account) on March 26, cc’ing an editor and saying the article pitch was a good fit.
Received a reply and blogger invitation on April 5.
So 2 days for a response, and 10 days after that for a blogger account invitation.
Hope that’s helpful!
Curt
Ah good to know it took so long to hear from the blog team! I also get a yes from Arianna and have been waiting for four days for an email from the blog team. Guess I don’t need to be concerned yet 🙂
Hang in there Sarah, I’m sure it’s on the way. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your timeline and experience Curt, that’s really helpful. I appreciate it and I’m sure the other bloggers reading this post will appreciate the extra information. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
That is so helpful, Curt. Thank you. I received an email invitation 4.25.16 but haven’t received my log-in information from the cc’d editor yet. Thanks to your timeline post, I won’t worry.
Sarah, thank you so much for this article!
Hi Sarah. I got a yes, and an email from Arianna’s colleague inviting me to post for Lifestyle. The link sent to me to set up my account was not the blogger link, nor did it lead me to the template for posting. Instead, it was to set up an account and have access. Emails to the original colleague go unanswered. I started over, and Arianna contacted me, said yes, and said that they would be in touch. Hopefully, I’ll hear back soon. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
Sorry to hear you’ve had such a frustrating experience Sharon. I hope you’ve received your log in details now and your wonderful article is up on the site.
Hi Sarah, after reading your blog I submitted and heard back from Arianna within 24 hrs. She told me that I would be contacted with a password to a blog and then I should follow directions. 5 days later nothing. You said anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. Thank you so much for all your information. I never would have done this had I not read your article.
My question: even if Arianna says she want to run your story…that is not a sure thing?
Hi lovely. It’s not always a sure thing even if Arianna says yes. I’ve had one or two friends who got the yes and then never heard back. It’s very rare but it does happen and it’s likely just a case of things falling between the cracks somewhere between you getting the yes and the blog team sending you your log in details. If you haven’t heard back within say 10 days to 2 weeks, then forward the email you received to the blog team and follow up your log in with them. The unfortunate thing is the blog team don’t always reply but I’d suggest following up two or three times with them over the space of one to two weeks. If you don’t hear anything back then you could try resubmitting the piece to Arianna or submitting a new piece. It’s frustrating but this does happen. The blog team’s email is: blogteam@huffingtonpost.com Keeping my fingers crossed for you Chery xx
Thank you so much for your reply. I will let you know if I hear back from them and will do as you advised.
Quick question Sarah, or anyone else who may know 🙂 Once you’re set up with an account will they let you know if you’re submission was rejected? I’ve submitted a few pieces and they were published but the last one I submitted is still waiting and it’s been 3 days. I’m wondering if they let you you know if it’s a definite no or just never publish it?
Hi Stephanie, my first post didn’t get published, even though it was approved by Arianna. I followed up with the blogteam and the editor many times but no reply. It’s been 2 weeks + so I guess it’s a no. I heard from other bloggers they don’t reply. There’s one who had hers published after a week and half. Maybe you can try following up first? It’s only 3 days, there’s still chance. Do let us know if it’s published 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience Joanna and for helping Stephanie, that’s lovely of you. 🙂 x
Thanks so much for the feedback Joanna!
I was wondering this as well. I set up my account and submitted my post but have not heard back and it’s been a few days now. Do they let you know either way if they decide not to post it?
Hi Brittney, as I understand it, if it’s a ‘no’ you just won’t hear back from them. If it’s a particularly busy time of year give them a few days, but posts submitted through the blogging platform are usually up on their website within about 2 – 3 days.
Hi Stephanie, once you’ve been set up with an account your blog post will usually be live within a few days (unless it’s a holiday or busy time of year) and it’s my understanding if they’re not going to publish you won’t hear back (which sucks but I guess they must get hundreds if not thousands of submissions per day).
Thanks Sarah!
You’re welcome lovely. 🙂
Thanks so much Sarah – I’ve been thinking of doing this soon… I think you might have just given me the little nudge I need…
Go for it Rachel and keep me posted! Good luck. xx
I followed your tips and it paid off on the first submit, “5 Life Lessons From the Heart.” Thanks for the advice!
That’s great Mirissa! Congratulations. 🙂
Thank you for this valuable info. I haven’t been considering submitting to HuffPost. I might change my mind now. If for nothing else than to see how many bites it takes 😉
Go for it Tamara! You can do it. 🙂
Hi Sarah, your post helped me a lot. I managed to get through, so excited! I’ve created an account with HuffPost and after I’ve clicked ‘Create Account’, it leads me to this page that says you will receive instructions for logging into your account soon. How long does it take for the instructions to be sent to your email? I thought it was immediately but it’s been a few hours. Just not sure what’s the procedure like.
Hi Sarah, I have received the login instructions. I’ve submitted for publication last Wed. Wonder how long it takes to get published or will it even get published at all?
That’s fantastic Joanna. So glad you received your log in details. Articles are usually on the HuffPo website within 24 – 48 hours unless they’re really busy, but in my experience within 24 hours. 🙂
Congratulations Joanna, that’s great news! It can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks for the log in details to come through. If you haven’t heard from the blog team within two weeks, send them through a follow up email. 🙂
Thanks Sarah, I followed your instructions and sent my article yesterday and they have replied already with a positive response. Thank you so much for your useful information!
That’s wonderful Ingrid! Congratulations. Can’t wait to read your article. 🙂
This is just what I needed, thanks so much Sarah! It worked like a charm, all thanks to you! 🙂
Congratulations Stephanie, I’m so excited for you! Great work. 🙂
Hey Sarah, I’ve sent request to Arianna 7 day back but I haven’t heard anything yet. What should i do?
Hi Pawan. Sometimes it can take a while for the Huffington Post to reply. While for some it’s a matter of days, others have waited a few weeks, others longer. There’s no predicting how long it will take them to reply as there’s no ‘standard’. My advice is don’t worry about it and use the time to focus on writing your next guest post (for HuffPo or another website you want to see your work published on).
Okay Sarah, thanks for your advice. I will let you know when i get the revert.
I am trying to work up the courage to submit. I guess the worst thing that can happen is a no, right? Thank you for sharing your story! I love the blogging community– people really want to help each other succeed! ❤️
Take a deep breath and go for it Erika. You can do it. I believe in you. I didn’t get published the first time but the main thing is, if you want it, go for it. 🙂 x
Very simple and easy to follow! I love the step by step instructions!
Thanks Brianna. 🙂
Good to know! Thanks for the tips and the step-by-step process!
You’re welcome Jenny. 🙂
Thanks so much for the tips and congratulations!
Thanks Kim and I’m glad the tips were helpful. x
Thanks for such a detailed post! I was looking for something like this. Now I have to get my courage together))))
Go for it Anna! You can do it. 🙂
Hey Sarah,
Thanks for sharing this information. it’s very useful for me. I have sent an email to Arianna (Attached my post). Let’s see what happened! Again thanks for sharing!
Good luck Pawan. 🙂
this is a great guide and so helpful! thank you so much!
You’re welcome 🙂
What a fab post. Pinning to digest later. I’m a huge fan of the Huffington Post. Thank you for sharing 🙂
You’re very welcome Gill, so glad it helped. 🙂
Hi Sarah,
Thank you so much for this post! These easy-peasy steps lit a fire under me and it paid off. I’m waiting for my submission to go live. Extra thank you for the reminder to put an author bio at the bottom. That would be easy to overlook. :0)
Hi Michelle. I’m so excited to hear your article is about to go live. That’s fantastic. Be sure to send me a link to your article so I can check it out. 🙂
Hey Sarah,
Thanks for a brilliant post, I followed all the steps and had a reply from Arianna within a day! Just a quick question – she cc’d in one of her editors to send me my log-in details, but I haven’t heard anything back yet. Do you know how many days it was before you heard back?
Thanks again!
George
Hi George, that’s awesome. Congratulations! It can take a couple of weeks to hear back with the log in and it seems the experience is different for everyone. Some people receive their log in details within a day or two (I had mine within a couple of days) and for others it can take 2-3 weeks. If you haven’t heard within a couple of weeks, send an email through to the blog team blogteam@huffingtonpost.com to follow up.
Looking forward to reading your article on HuffPo George. Great work.
I think the reason why you got so many hits on this post is because it is so helpful to bloggers.
I’m glad it’s so helpful Andrea. 🙂
Nice post Sarah, I will try this 🙂
Good luck Sasha!
Hi Sarah, I followed your steps and had my first article posted yesterday. This would not have happened without you. Thank you so much!
That’s fantastic Tony. Congratulations! I’m so happy for you. And remember, you did all the work so make sure you celebrate your awesome win.
Thank you so much for this post! We got a response with in hours and my husband was published within days (faster if the email hadn’t been lost the first time). Followed your advice to the T and it worked perfectly. Awesome job! Now I’m sharing this for our network and subscribing to your stuff. Well done and thank you!
My pleasure Sharyn and congratulations on being published, that’s so exciting! And huge thanks to you for sharing and subscribing, I appreciate you. 🙂
Just wanted to thank you for this post. It was THE BEST advice I found on how to get published on the Huffington Post. I just had my first post go live with them yesterday so I wanted to come back here and thank you!!! 🙂
You’re so welcome Andrea and I’m thrilled it was helpful. HUGE congratulations on being published lovely. Great work. xx
My second article for HuffPost went up today. Thank you again for your practical ‘how-to’ and also your motivational support, Sarah! ox
Wuhooo! That’s awesome Camille, congratulations lovely. xx
Awesome list. Now writing a post for HuffPo is on my list of things to day. You rock!
Kick ass Renae! Good luck with your submission. 🙂
Great read! I’ve never considered submitting to the Huffington Post but I think I’ll def add that to my 2016 to do list! Happy New Year Too x
Go for it Marisa! You can do it. Good luck and keep me posted. 🙂
I have not written for the Huff Post, but I do agree that having your work on a larger platform can definitely increase readership of your own site/blog. I write for several larger sites and I always see a surge in traffic when my posts go live elsewhere. That’s the “payment,” so writers just have to decide if it’s worth it for those reasons. Lots of great tips here. Thanks!
You’re so spot on there about “payment” and it’s definitely a personal choice. The more I learn about blogging and the more I’m fortunate enough to get my writing out there, the more I’ve realised that it’s more about finding the ‘right’ sites to write for (i.e. where YOUR ideal people hang out) than just ticking big names off a list (though that can be hugely satisfying from a personal goal perspective too – so it’s all really just a personal choice)! 🙂
Thanks for the tips! I haven’t tried submitting yet but hopefully I will soon!
Go for it Jennifer! 🙂
What an awesome post! Thanks and congrats on being published on Huffpost!
xo,
Liz
Thanks Liz! So happy you found the post helpful.
Great article, Thank you for sharing. Huff post Australia also have email addresses that you can email blogs and press releases to. I just submitted on on Huff Australia and got an instant reply below.
Many thanks for your interest in the HuffPost blog platform.
Due to the large amount of blogs we receive, we are unable to reply to all submissions. But please rest assured that your blog will be read and we will be in touch if we wish to discuss publication.
Best wishes,
HuffPost Australia
Thanks for sharing Matthew. I’m glad you found the article helpful and sending you lots of luck and best wishes for your submission with HuffPo!
Thank Sarah for your sharing!
It’s very clear and helpful. And congrat for your achievement.
Thanks and you’re very welcome. 🙂
Hi again, I made my 1st post on HuffPost as your sharing. Thanks so much!My post is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/7-lessons-to-learn-from-gossips_us_572326dbe4b0fca991227867
It seems that HuffPost now allows contributors to publish their post immediately.
Congratulations Nhon, that’s great news!
Hi. How long until you heard from the editor? I received a reply from Ariann saying she will forward my email to the blogging team but over a week later and I haven’t heard anything. Thanks.
Hi Raquel, I heard fairly quickly – within a few days. BUT having said that, it’s coming up on a very busy time of year when things take a lot longer. The USA have had Thanksgiving holiday and it’s coming up on Christmas so don’t worry your lovely self. Give it a couple of weeks, then if you haven’t heard back you can email Arianna to follow up or contact the blog team at blogteam@huffingtonpost.com to follow up. From what I’ve heard and experienced it can be anywhere from 2 days to 2 months so take a breath, relax and throw your energy into writing a new and wonderful piece for another website or your website and know you’re awesome. xx
This just made my day- thanks for the uplifting post! After getting 4 rejections from a site last night, I needed this 🙂
Hooray! So glad I could help Elizabeth. Keep trying! My beautiful friend Bree from Starbrite Warrior – http://www.starbritewarrior.com/ tried 7 times before she was published. She’s currently writing a blog post about her experience and I’ll be sure to link to it once it’s live. Don’t give up gorgeous. If you want it, believe in yourself and keep going. Sending you HUGE hugs and high fives. And don’t forget, HuffPo or no HuffPo, you’re already awesome! xx
Awesome read! I just got my log in credentials from them, so all this will help out a lot! Thank you!
Valerie
mapleleopard.com
Congratulations Valerie, that’s awesome! 🙂
Sarah thank you so much for sharing, this was very helpful 🙂 I sent my first article off to Huffington Post so fingers crossed!
You’re very welcome Rebecca, I’m so glad you found it helpful. Sending you lots of luck. x
This was really interesting and helpful. I love these type of How To posts. Congrats on being published, it’s a huge achievement!
Thanks Di and I’m so glad this was helpful for you. 🙂
Congratulations on your published article Sarah and THANK YOU for documenting and sharing your experience for other’s benefit. I just submitted my first one and hope to hear back! Cheers!
You’re welcome Ashley and I’m so glad this post was helpful for you. Good luck with your article and let me know how you go. Good luck! xx
Great job getting on Huffington Post. It is always great to hear of other people’s wins. Keep it up and live unstoppable.
Thanks Rhonda. 🙂
Thanks so much for the advice! I took the plunge and emailed Arianna! Thanks for giving me some much needed courage!
Oh that’s wonderful Celina! Keep me posted on how you go lovely. Good luck xx
Hey Sarah! I got an email from Arianna saying they want to publish my article and that she would forward it to her team to give me the info – however, I haven’t gotten an email and it’s been since November 23rd – should I email her? How long until you got the second email?
Hi Celina it can take a few weeks, particularly at this time of year. Plus it’s been Thanksgiving holiday in the USA recently so don’t worry too much. If you haven’t heard in a couple of weeks you can either email Arianna or the blog team to follow up. The blog team email is: blogteam@huffingtonpost.com Let me know once your article is live so I can support your awesome efforts!
Hi Sarah,
Congratulations on the Huff Post piece! Plus, a big thanks for writing this ‘How To’… It’s always so helpful to read about someone else’s experiences!
I was wondering if you would share what you wrote in your email subject line?
Many thanks & can’t wait to read your next article in HP!
Amelia
Thanks Amelia. I’m so glad to hear the post was helpful for you. I just wrote “Article Submission” in the email subject line. Good luck! x
I’ve been published 3 times since reading your post. Thank you so much!!
Wow! That’s amazing Diedre. Congratulations. I’m so happy for you and so glad the post was helpful. Keep shining lovely. x
Thank you for the outstanding post! These are really helpful tips. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and congrats.
You’re welcome Serena, so glad it’s helpful. x
Well done, ladycakes! So very proud of you. And you’re such a generous soul for sharing just how to go about it and what you learned from the experience. x
Awww thanks gorgeous one. xx
Firstly a huge congratulations! I think just going through that process is a huge learning curve and great experience for people who love to write. Learning how to deal with the knock backs, and then keep trying, is a big lesson! Well done again.
Megan || Oh Hey! blog
Thanks Megan. x
Great tips! Thank you so much for sharing! Once you are published with Huffington, is it easier to get accepted again? Or about the same as before?
You’re welcome Lacey. From my experience when you’re published you’re given a log in so you can more easily submit articles for publishing. Having my second article accepted was even quicker and easier than the first one so yes, I’d say it was easier to get accepted the second time around. 🙂
I was referred to your site by Jassica Leow and thanks for an awesome tips. Congrats Sarah for being featured at Huffington site!
Thanks Sharon! (And thanks to Jassica too). 🙂 I’m glad the tips have been helpful for you.
Great post! These are all awesome tips. I’m all for people sharing their stories with the world. What I read a lot of on Huffington Post happens to be personal accounts. Write from the heart and people will find value in your story. Live unstoppable my friends.
You’re welcome Rhonda and you’re spot on there – write from the heart is a great tip. 🙂
Great article 🙂 informative , interesting , & motivating. I’m a new blogger so thank you for the breakdown /tips , and congrats!
Thanks Kelli and I’m so happy to hear the article was helpful for you.
This is so inspiring! I feel ready to make the leap now! 🙂
Go for it Lydia! You can do it. Good luck. xx
Great tips! This was so helpful!
Thanks Brie, glad to hear it. 🙂
This both is both interesting and helpful, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience!
You’re welcome Miriam, I’m so glad you found it helpful.
I submitted an article about a month ago and never heard anything back. I got discouraged. I read there stuff everyday but now I will go back and try again. I will also be checking out your post. Kudos to you.
Don’t be discouraged Lakisha, I didn’t hear back the first time either so definitely try again! Good luck with your next submission. 🙂
Awesome tips!
James
http://www.jamesphu.com
Thanks James.
Great, encouraging tips. This is a goal for me for 2015, so I’ll keep plugging!
Go for it Rob and keep us posted!
I’ve been seeing people post about getting posted in the huffington post and I’ve always been interested. I’m so glad you can re-purpose a blog post. These are all very helpful tips! Thanks so much for sharing!
lizacaroline.com
You’re very welcome Liz. Good luck with your submission!
WOW, this is actually quite amazing. Did you hear back from her for real or someone representing her?
The email address was Arianna’s, that’s not to say it’s not a team of people monitoring it but I like to think it’s her (even if it’s not!). 🙂
I love that you are sharing this inside information. What a wonderful community we are part of! Congratulations Sarah on being publish! Very exciting!
You’re welcome Rebecca and I couldn’t agree more. Bloggers and writers are the most amazing group of people! 🙂
This is amazing information you’ve provided! Bummer on no bio at the bottom. It would have been awesome to see some type of growth from it! Congrats on such a great writer accomplishment 🙂
Thanks Iyanna! 🙂
You are awesome for sharing this! I have been wanting to submit to them for awhile, I am definitely going to submit something over the next couple of weeks.
Ashley
ashleygabrielle.com
Oh thanks so much Ashley! Just go for it lovely, you can do it. Let me know how you go and know I’m sending you lots of luck and best wishes.
Congrats on being published! These tips are really useful. I hope to be published sometime soon.
You’re welcome Jaimee, I’m glad you found the tips helpful. 🙂
Congratulations Sarah, this is so awesome. I have been published in two magazines. I knew nothing when I submitted to the first one, they did not publish a link to my site or any social media, because I did not include it, I thought they would ask. I was really bummed as it is a major fashion publication. You have given me courage to try to submit to the huff post! Thanks for sharing this!
Valerie
Thanks Valerie! Huge congratulations on your magazine publications. Great work. I know how you feel about the link not being included. I made the same mistake with my first Huffington Post article too. I wish you lots of luck with your HuffPo submission and let me know how you go. x
Thanks for the step by step instructions – and confidence to go for it! I’m a newbie but am gonna try – what’s the worst that can happen? Do you know if you can include affiliate links in a post submission?
You’re welcome Amy. I’m so glad you’re feeling confident and I totally agree with you, what’s the worst that can happen. But also, what’s the best that can happen! I didn’t get a yes the first time I submitted but I tried again. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned pro, if it’s something you’d like to achieve I say go for it.
I’m not certain about including affiliate links. It’s not something I’d do and I’m guessing that it’s not something they’d allow so check the Blogger FAQ section once you have your post approved and have created your log in. I’ve had a quick read and the references I found are these: “You present to us that any blog posts, photos and any other content you submit is not an advertisement or solicitation of business or contributions” and “In an effort to be as transparent with our readers as possible, HuffPost bloggers should disclose any financial conflicts of interest related to the issue they are writing about. If a blogger receives payment or income from a company, organization, group, or individual with a financial stake in the issue he/she is weighing in on, that information should be disclosed at the bottom of the applicable blog post. Moreover, bloggers should not submit posts that include links that are paid for in whole or in part by marketing firms.”
If you’re in doubt you could email the blog team at Huffington Post and see what they say. Here’s their email: blogteam@huffingtonpost.com
Congratulations Sarah and thank you for writing such an awesome post.
Fatima
http://www.blogsbyfa.com
You’re very welcome Fatima.
I’ve just read Thrive written by Arianna. I didn’t know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised that it focused on sleep, meditation and self care rather than slogging away at your business.
What an honour to be featured on Huffington Post and thank you for the tips in this post. This will definitely be on my to do list!
I have that book too Tracey but I haven’t read it yet. There’s definitely a need for balance and self-care in life, especially when you’re building a business. It can be so easy to burn out.
I’m glad the article was helpful to you and I wish you lots of luck with your Huffington Post submission. Keep me posted. 🙂
Such great and generous advice – will definitely bookmark this to come back to – when I decide to submit something. Thank you xx
You’re a beautiful writer Katie and I’m looking forward to seeing your work on HuffPo! xx
Incredible advice, Sarah! I think I’m finally going to make getting published on the Huffington Post a priority thanks to you making it sound so easy. 🙂
Go for it Lu Ann and let me know how you go! Good luck. x
Congratulations, Sarah! What an honor it must be!:)
Thanks so much for sharing your tips as well.
Thanks Pernnille and you’re very welcome, I hope the tips helped. 🙂
Congratulations on being published on the HuffPost!
I have heard of so many bloggers I’ve followed recently being published and having recently read one of Arianna’s books, I’m so impressed and motivated to one day be published on there! Definitely going to save your post as a reference, thank you!
Kyah – http://www.weekendtempo.com
Thanks Kyah. I’m so glad this post was helpful. You can do it! x
Congratulations Sarah! What an amazing acheivement xx
Awww, thanks Lauren xx
Congratulations Sarah! This is so exciting! Thanks for sharing these awesome tips. I’ll definitely keep them in mind as I’m about to start exploring guest posting more.
Thanks gorgeous! You’re very welcome and you’ll totally rock guest posting because you’re such a great writer. Go for it honey. x
Congratulations Sarah and thanks for the tips!! Has your Huff Post debut made an impact on your blog? i.e visitor numbers etc?
Hi Lily. The impact has been tiny – like maybe 5 click throughs from HuffPo BUT… I made the mistake of not including my bio at the end of my article when I uploaded it because the HuffPo instructions on this weren’t 100% clear. The basic deal is that you save your bio in their system, then upload, format and submit your blog post. I assumed since they had my bio it would automatically show up at the end of my post but that’s not the case. You have to type your bio in (and link to your website, social media, newsletter etc.) WITHIN the blog post upload or it won’t show. For me it means there’s nothing for people to click at the bottom of the article. HOWEVER – I plan to submit another article to HuffPo in the next couple of weeks (with bio!) and (assuming they publish it) I’ll test whether that makes a difference in traffic, sign ups etc. I’ll add to this blog post or write a follow up when I have the data! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing… I’m a little nervous about submitting an article to huff post. But, this post has definitely inspired me to just go for it!
Hooray! Go for it Alex. Can’t wait to read your article in the Huffington Post! 🙂
Oh glad you can repurpose old posts, thank you for clarifying. Congratulations on an amazing achievement Sarah, you must be stoked!x
You’re welcome Cynthia and thank you. Yes, I’m definitely stoked! 🙂
It seems silly to say it out loud but I didn’t realise you could repurpose old posts! Great read and share thanks! Kate, Wondrous x
It’s not silly at all Kate. I had no idea either! It’s brilliant to know that you can share some of your existing posts with a fresh spin and get in front of a new audience. Good luck. x
Well done on the milestone of your HuffPo debut!
I’ve never thought of submitting a piece but thank you for this post to walk us through the process 🙂
Thanks Cheryl and you’re welcome. Glad to help. 🙂
Thanks for the useful tip! And congrats 🙂
You’re welcome Fabiola and thank you. x
So awesome! Congratulations! Definitely a great accomplishment!! 😀
Thanks Tiffany. 🙂
Thank you for the awesome post! These are really helpful tips and I will be referring to this again. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us!
So glad I could help Chrissa. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and the step-by-step process. I never would have thought you’d email Arianna herself!
You’re very welcome Ashley. xx
Seriously? It’s that easy? I think I need to look into trying this.
Go for it and good luck Marie! x
Very generous of you to share this Sarah. Bravo on your HuffPo debut too.
Thanks Isla and you’re very welcome. 🙂
Great article Sarah thanks for pulling your process together in an easy-to-follow guide. It has re inspired me to have a crack at Huff Po publication. Xx
You’re welcome lovely and I say go for it – you can do it! xx