For Writers

Guidelines For Contributors

A PakNationalists.com Special:

How To Be A Writer Whose Words Influence Policy?

BY WEB EDITOR | Tuesday, 14 August 2007.
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

The Editorial Board at PakNationalists.com has developed a concept for writing political commentary to ensure that your articles can easily catch the attention of influential readers. In every piece published by PakNationalists.com, we try to make it simple for policymakers to easily extract recommendations and ideas they can use to influence policy.

To contribute commentary or op-eds to PakNationalists.com, and to be a commentator whose ideas influence opinion and policy makers, follow these rules:

COMMENTARY: Avoid longwinded analysis. Imagine that you are writing a quick memo to the President. You must give him context in simple terms and lay out the options. You have to be catchy, brief and direct. Since the President receives other memos from people just like you, you want to make sure you lay out your argument as intelligently and convincingly as possible. You can also write just commentary and not a problem-solution piece. Our readers are looking for sharp, witty and direct political commentary. It should be written in a simple, catchy style providing irony, information and context.

BREVITY: The world’s best argument can be offered within 600 words. Only in exceptional cases can we consider something more than this limit.

Avoid lengthy quotes and references. Instead of making long quotes, make a short one and link it to the original Web story or report. This way you save space and give the reader the choice of reading the original link only if he or she is interested. Remember that people want to hear YOUR take on events, not quotes from other people’s writings.

FUTURE, not the Past. Preference is for opinion and commentary that look toward the future. Relevant references to the past are fine. We at PakNationalists.com want to influence the future.

BIAS: PakNationalists.com is a platform for projecting bold opinions on Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policies. We follow a line of reasoning biased in favor of Pakistan. While our objective is to inform Pakistanis and others beyond Pakistan, we are not seeking a debate over Pakistan and its legitimate interests.

Opinion pieces on current events, economy, and strategic issues are welcome. Submissions that technically probe economy, religion, or scientific issues not of immediate concern to Pakistan are not exactly our cup of tea. Better send them to specialized publishers. Here we want to focus on Pakistan and policy issues.

EMAIL US: Send your submissions to

FREQUENCY: Please do not send a piece just because you want to see your name online. Send it whenever you have something interesting to say, a great idea or policy suggestion, or an angle on a story that Pakistanis and their policymakers shouldn’t miss. We’d like to give priority and space to contributions that specifically address issues through lively commentary and direct policy options.