There are other tech news sites on the internet, but none are as cool as Hackaday. I’m totally biased, of course, since I’m one of the writing crew, but the point still stands. Anyway, I was thinking about writing this for a while. A simple guide to what we writers look for in a project and how to increase your chances of getting a write-up.
What get’s featured anyway?
Let’s clear up one misconception right away. Hackaday is for everything tech, not just ‘hardware stuff.’ Software-only hacks are just as interesting and likely to get a write-up. We cover anything from a neat clock you made to an amusing software debugging story and everything in between. Have you been bio-tinkering with bacteria? We want to hear about it!
How to let us know
The best way is to use the submit-a-tip link on the website. As it says, please make the subject obvious and descriptive and provide us with a link to find your stuff. If you don’t have a website, create a free account on Hackaday.IO and load up your images and build logs. Don’t be shy!
Another way to do it is to email the tips line directly at [email protected]. If you want to talk to a specific writer because you think their interest aligns with yours, you could try emailing directly. You can’t find our contact details on the Hackaday About page, but you can always email me at [email protected], and I may be able to help.
Another option is to get involved with the Hackaday Discord channel and post a link to your project in the #submit-a-tip channel. You can also ping the writers there, but not everybody is on Discord.
It’s All In The Details
Whilst it’s possible some writers will trawl through long social media threads and jump all over the internet to gather information about your project, if it’s a lot of hassle, then people will be less likely to go through it all. The best projects are documented projects, either on your website or some other appropriate platform, such as Instructables or Hackaday.IO. The more information you provided, the clearer the descriptions of why and how you did what you did, as well as some photographs to back it up.
Top marks for linking to a GitHub repository (or similar) with project files for Open-Source tools, e.g., KiCAD for electronics, OpenSCAD or maybe FreeCAD or Fusion360 files for 3D work. That sort of thing. Software projects should have complete source and binary downloads for maximum user appeal. It doesn’t matter if your project is not open-source; if it’s interesting, it will be considered fairly!
Images
Images can be a problem for us, and sometimes, we have to make something up! Ideally, we want a 16:9 ratio (16:5, perhaps) featured image showing off the best angle of the project. This is what helps readers decide whether to click through and read more or not. The same image would ideally also be available in a square (1:1) thumbnail format for social media. Usually, the writers just crop the featured image down as best they can.
Additional images will also help with explaining your story and add more interest. The more, the better!
Attribution
Finally, knowing who you are is always helpful; a real name or an internet handle is OK! Whilst we are careful to infer correct pronouns when referring to project authors, we can make mistakes. Please let us know suitable pronouns in advance if there could be any ambiguity.
