Decrypt regularly publishes op-eds and guest columns by non-journalist contributors. To pitch one, you can email editor@decrypt.co.
These articles, which draw on the writer’s expertise and experience, help Decrypt provide a diverse range of voices and perspectives both from within the crypto industry and from outside. These posts are not a vehicle for a founder or executive to promote their company or project.
What is a guest column?
An opinion piece by a guest writer focusing on a topic that’s currently in the news. Typically, it will run between 500 to 800 words long. It’s important to have a clear line of argument; what’s the main point you want your readers to take away from the article?
How do I submit an op-ed?
Send your submission to editor@decrypt.co. Please share a summary of your post and the completed draft—if we like it, we’ll move it into a google doc where we can edit and leave any comments/questions that require your response.
If you’re looking to write a quick-turnaround piece on a story that’s breaking right now, send us a rough draft; time is of the essence.
We’ll aim to get back to you within one week. We only publish guest columns that are exclusive to Decrypt; please don’t submit an op-ed that has been published elsewhere. We do not pay for these posts, so as to avoid any ethical issue, since many guest columns are by people representing companies we might cover in the future.
What do we look for in a guest column?
Our bar is high.
We’re looking for well-written, concise pieces that make a strong and interesting argument, ideally about a newsworthy topic or debate going on in the crypto world right now. We’re also interested in opinion pieces that challenge received wisdom, or even pick an argument with previously published op-eds elsewhere.
Above all, write what you know; it’s your specific expertise that gives you a unique perspective on the news. You should also avoid making generalizations; if you’re making an argument, you need to back it up with specific facts and figures. Where you use facts, figures and quotes, we expect them to be cited with links to original sources.
Try to avoid jargon and quickly define terms (like crypto technical acronyms); don’t assume you’re writing only for a crypto-expert audience.
Guest columns are not promotional tools for your product or service. If you work for a crypto project, that gives you a unique perspective on issues pertaining to that project’s offering, so it may make sense to mention; but it doesn’t give you license to shill your project on Decrypt. (A common guest post pitch we get is: Popular Company/Platform X isn’t working, here’s why my company/project is better; that’s a “no” for us.)
And remember you’re writing an article, not an academic thesis; it needs to engage readers, so keep it pithy, with short sentences that get to the point.
What’s the process?
Once an editor has reviewed your op-ed submission, we’ll contact you should we decide to take it forward. It will likely need to go through a round of revisions, or the editor may have suggestions for using the submission as a starting point.
This back-and-forth process can continue over several drafts, to ensure that the article matches our house style, that citations are accurate, and that the article is engaging. Once writer and editor are agreed that the article is ready for publication, we’ll publish on our site and promote the article through our social media channels.