GUIDELINES & INFORMATION

Regular contributor

We’re always looking for new contributors to the site! 

Please note: At current, regular contributor positions are on a volunteer basis.

Applying to be a contributor:

Please include the following information and anything else you think might be of interest (like funny anecdotes or cute pet pictures). We aim to respond to all emails within 7 working days – please note we are a small team monitoring the inbox.

  • Your name

  • Email address

  • Social media handle

  • Links to recent examples of your work

  • Places you currently contribute to (if relevant - we also accept budding writers)

  • What you are interested in reviewing e.g. slasher films, books, film festivals

Tone of voice guidelines:

  • We generally have a friendly, slightly sassy and playful but professional and intelligent tone of voice. 

  • We accept different styles of writing to allow for writers to feel comfortable and express their creative freedom. 

  • However, we do expect a certain level of professionalism and academia within all pieces, and therefore editors will edit with this in mind. 

  • Generally we write in third person, but certain editorials are suitable for first person style. Please speak with the editor to see which would work best. 

Style guides for reviews:

We are all about showcasing the individual voices of our content creators, and therefore we keep our guidelines short & sweet. 

  • 500 - 1000 words for reviews

  • Italicise all titles of media e.g.  

  • Include dates where relevant

  • Include hyperlinks within your text (this can be internal links to other articles you’ve written at Ghouls and are relevant or to external sources)

  • Please send your article to us as a Google word document and an Editor will edit this. 

  • If significant edits need to be made or discussed, we will get back in touch with you via email. 

  • *For Film and TV Reviews, you may include 2-3 images to accompany your piece

  • *For Book Reviews you may include 1 image to accompany your piece

  •  *For all reviews, please refer to ‘How to select the correct image’ section on Page 2 below for detailed guidelines*

  • Unless otherwise agreed, deadlines for Reviews will be 2 weeks from the date of pitching/allocating reviews to writers

  • When you send in a review, please include a rating out of five (only full stars please, no half stars)

  • Headline style for reviews:

    • Option one: [Film review] I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

    • Option two: [Film Review] A Woman Hellbent on Revenge in I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

  • Headline style for interviews:

    • Option one: [Interview] Director Can Evrenol Talks Baskin (2015)

    • Option two: [Interview] Changing an Actor’s Life Through Film – Can Evrenol on Baskin (2015)

    • Option three: [Interview] “Making This Film Changed mMy Life!” – Can Evrenol Talks Baskin (2015)

  • Em dashes: You can use these in your work instead of a comma, colon or parentheses. Often used as a more impactful pause within a sentence. 

  • We use the Oxford comma to ensure clarity and avoid ambiguity. One of the most common uses of this is when writing a list, and using after ‘and’ e.g. Leatherface, Jason, and Chucky,

  • We use title case within our writing and not sentence case e.g.

    • Title case: Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors ✅

    •  Sentence case: Nightmare on elm street 3: Dream warriors ❌

Submitting a pitch for our zine

We will be accepting pitches for our upcoming zine soon. 

Please note: At current we cannot pay for pitch submissions to the site but we are working on changing this! 

Sending in your pitch idea:

When you send in your pitch there are a few details we need from you! You should also aim to detail your pitch by outlining what your idea is and why you would like to write it. We aim to respond within one week of receiving your email. 

  • Your name

  • Email address

  • Social media handle

  • Links to relevant work

  • Places you currently contribute to (if relevant - we also accept budding writers)

  • Working title for the pitch idea - this can be changed later

  • Approx. 100 words outlining your idea and why you want to write it

  • Which zine issue you are looking to submit to

Style guides for pitches:

Editorial pitches are your chance to showcase your voice and dissect a topic that means something to you. For that reason we keep guidelines short so you can write in your own personal style. 

  • 1000-2500 words for pitch articles

  • Italicise all titles of media 

  • Include dates where relevant

  • Provide in a GoogleDoc or Word Doc

  • Images and design will be chosen by the team when creating the zine and will be sent for review before publish

  • We will provide you will deadline for 1st drafts and final versions – we will also let you know how long to expect an Editor’s review to come back

How to select the correct image

  • If you want to ensure your images are used, please provide images in the following dimensions:

    • 16:9 ratio (widescreen)

    • Featured image: 1500px width x 755px height

    • Images in text: 1200px width x 455px height

    • File type: JPG, PNG or GIF if you would like 

    • Size: Preferably under 500KB (we can resize)

  • If you are unsure of images, please leave these blank and we will source these for you. We know it can be a bit complicated sometimes|

  • Please note that there might be reasons we cannot use the image you have selected e.g. copyright or resolution, so we might have to use different images.