We commission a small number of articles from people who know a subject properly — network engineers, telecoms and infrastructure people, video and streaming specialists, and researchers. If you have spent real time with something and can explain it clearly, we would like to read your pitch.
Two things this page is not. It is not a link-building opportunity: we do not accept guest posts submitted to place a link, and we do not sell links in editorial articles. It is not a volume programme: we publish a few outside pieces, and we pay for them.
What we publish
Articles of roughly 1,000 to 1,800 words in one of our four sections:
- Home Networking — Wi-Fi standards, routers and mesh, cabling, troubleshooting that actually works.
- Internet Infrastructure — fibre and PON, DNS, routing, transport, network security.
- Digital & Media Networks — CDNs, streaming and codecs, peering economics, edge delivery.
- Business Networking — the research and the practical craft of professional relationships.
The pieces that work best here take one specific question and answer it properly: why does mesh backhaul halve your throughput, what does a PON splitter actually share, what did that study really find. Broad surveys of a whole field rarely do.
What we are looking for
- First-hand knowledge. You have configured it, deployed it, measured it, operated it or researched it.
- Primary sources. Standards, RFCs, specifications, post-mortems, published papers — cited and linked. See our Editorial Policy for the hierarchy we use.
- Specifics over adjectives. A real number with a source beats “blazing fast” every time. If a number cannot be sourced, describe the behaviour instead.
- Honesty about limits. Say what a technology does not do, where a measurement was taken, and what remains contested.
- Plain sentences. Assume a reader who is intelligent and interested but does not already know the jargon. Define a term the first time you use it, then use it.
What we will not run
Pieces that promote a product or an employer; anything with a commercial link requirement attached; content substantially generated without verification against primary sources; rewrites of existing articles; press releases; and anything already published elsewhere. We check for prior publication.
How to pitch
Send a short email to [email protected] with the subject line “Pitch: [your topic]”. Do not send a finished draft — we would rather shape it with you first. Include:
- The question the article answers, in one sentence.
- A five- or six-line outline of the sections.
- The primary sources you intend to use.
- One or two sentences on why you are the right person to write it.
- A link to something you have written or built, if you have one. A good mailing-list post or internal write-up counts.
We reply to every pitch, usually within five business days. If we commission it, we will agree a word count, a deadline and a fee before you start writing.
How the process works
- Commission — we agree scope, length, deadline and fee in writing.
- Draft — you write it. Send sources with the draft; we check them.
- Edit — we edit for structure, clarity and length, and we fact-check every figure against the source. You see the edited version before it runs, and nothing that changes your meaning goes live without your agreement.
- Publish — with your byline and a short bio with one link of your choosing.
Payment and rights
We pay a flat fee per commissioned article, agreed in advance and paid within 30 days of publication. You keep copyright in your work. You grant us the exclusive right to publish it first, and a non-exclusive right to keep it online and to promote it thereafter. You may republish it on your own site or blog 30 days after publication, with a canonical link back to the original.
Disclosure
You must tell us about any employment, consulting arrangement, shareholding or other financial interest in a company or product you write about. That does not automatically disqualify a pitch — often it is why you know the subject — but it must be disclosed, and where the interest is material we will either disclose it in the article or reassign the piece.
Corrections
If an error is found in your article after publication, we will contact you and publish a dated correction at the foot of the piece. We do not quietly edit errors away, and we do not remove a contributor’s byline from a corrected piece.
Contact
Pitches and contributor questions: [email protected]