Contributor Guidelines

Dear contributor,

Thank you so much for helping and contributing to Tools & Toys. Below you'll find important information, guidelines, and other details that will help you out in your work. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

— Shawn and Josh

Why does this site exist?

As a contributor, you're probably already familiar with what the site does: publish reviews, photo essays, gear guides, articles, and links to awesome and interesting things.

We aim to be more than just a cool stuff site. Our longer-form articles center around the idea of mindfulness, intentionality, knowing your tools (and your toys), and appreciation for quality. As fun as it can be to geek out over the latest and greatest, we also want to balance the fact that, at the end of the day, life is about more than just owning the newest stuff and your self-worth is not tied to how often you upgrade your gear.

Cool new stuff is cool and new, but we also want to be mindful and intentional of our consumption habits and our lifestyles.

We like to consider what’s most important and to celebrate craftsmanship and well-made products that are built to last. We are okay with not upgrading everything we own all the time (even though we want to). And we like to find inspiration in the march of technology and art and creativity that is always around us.

In short, we want to highlight awesome gear while not finding our identity in that gear but rather in the values we hold that inspire us to make better and do better.

Reviewing a Product

When reviewing a product, be honest, fun, detailed, and opinionated.

We only review products that are awesome. So, in your review, tell us why the product is so great. What makes it interesting, valuable, special?

In a way, our product reviews exist in their own little bubble -- each product review is about that product. You don't need to shy away from comparing the product to others, you also don't need to make a case for "the best" version of a product.

Article Expectations

We trust you and take you seriously. By asking you to review a product, we are placing the reputation of this site in your hands.

When you agree to write an article, we expect you will submit great work. If you need help, advice, or additional resources, please don’t hesitate to ask. We would love to help you and serve in any way we can.

Things to consider when working on your review

• Why do you like this product?
• Is it priced reasonably considering the target audience?
• Does the company that makes it have a good reputation?
• Do other people who know about this product recommend it?
• Would you / do you use it?
• Would you recommend it to your spouse/parents/boss/coworkers/friends?
• What makes this product special?
• What about the product needs improvement / what would you change?

Style Guidelines

• There is no word count requirement — the article should be the length that it needs to be in order to accomplish what it sets out to accomplish.
• We use serial commas at Tools & Toys.
• We prefer articles be written and submitted in Markdown.
• When submitting your article, please submit a polished, finished work. But rest assured we have an editor.
• Please include a one-paragraph summary (tl;dr version) that gets right to the point of what and why.
• We take our work seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Please have fun!

Photography

All of our reviews include product photography. We'll need one "hero" image that will serve as the main cover photo to your review, as well as several inline images.

When writing your review, please use the following format for placeholder text in the places where you wish to place your photos inline in your review:

!(~/imagefilename.jpg)[Photo Caption]

Terms and Payment

Please let us know if you’d like to be paid via PayPal, Square Cash, or check in the mail -- and the relevant email or mailing address.

Blanc Media or Blanc Media Network LLC will pay you the agreed-upon rate within 7 days of when your article is published. Usually we pay on the date of publication.

By agreeing to write an article, we expect you will submit great work. If you’ve previously written something that is on the same topic as what you are writing for Tools & Toys, we are okay with you re-using your work from other places, provided you meet all of the above article expectations and style guidelines, and that you have permission to re-use your past work.

By allowing Tools & Toys to publish your article you are giving Blanc Media and Blanc Media Network full ownership and editorial rights over your article and photography. This means we can: (a) edit it as we see fit without your permission (though if we make any drastic changes to the content we will try to let you know); and (b) use all or parts of the article and photography in different contexts on the site and its properties, including but not limited to re-using the content for other reviews and articles, email newsletters, social network posts, and any other use for promotional purposes.

In 180 days from the time we publish your article, you are free to post it on a site which you own. You cannot sell or give your article to any website that is in obvious direct competition with Tools & Toys (example: another gear review site).