Write for Us

Looking to contribute true crime stories to True Crime Detective? Here’s what we’re looking for in terms of content, style, and formatting.

Here at True Crime Detective, we’re always looking for well-written, gripping true crime stories from new and established writers. We’re interested in all aspects of true crime, from murders and missing persons to fraud and corruption.

Three particular areas of interest are:

• Unsolved cold cases.
• Stories with an international flavor.
• Reports that haven’t received much coverage elsewhere.

There are, however, several guidelines for our publication. These are in place to ensure that the stories we publish meet our high standards and to make sure that they’re suitable for our readers.

Your story should be well-researched and thoroughly sourced. Please ensure that your images have the proper credit attached and you have the right to use them. Equally, please ensure that you refrain from plagiarism. Any author found to have stolen another’s work will be removed from the publication.

Your story should be between 1,200 and 5,000 words in length. We may be able to make exceptions for particularly long or complex investigations. Generally, we’d rather not publish shorter pieces except under exceptional circumstances.

You should tell your story clearly, concisely, and engagingly. We want our readers to be gripped from start to finish, so make sure your writing is compelling. Reports should be well-written in English, with careful attention paid to spelling and grammar. While we don’t have an official style guide, we recommend AP and will happily publish articles in both British and American English.

If your spelling and grammar aren’t the best, we recommend Grammarly as an excellent tool to assist.

Your stories should be based on fact, not fiction. Please do not submit fictional stories masquerading as true crimes. Equally, please avoid excessive personal speculation, sensationalism, or salacious details. Do not insert opinion as fact or present any form of fake news.

Please maintain respect for the dignity of the victim. This is particularly important in cases where relatives of victims are still alive. We are not a tabloid, and the stories of the victims and subsequent struggles for justice should be at the heart of what we do. For example, the sensationalism surrounding the 2021 murder of Gabby Petito is precisely what we do not want as a publication.

Please ensure that issues of race, religion, gender, sexuality, and disability are handled carefully and respectfully. We want to create a safe space for all our readers, so discrimination or hate speech will not be tolerated. Please censor any slurs used in quotations and be mindful of tone.

We are happy for you to include a CTA or links to your other work, including any books or commercial content you may have. However, please don’t include links to affiliate marketing products or paid advertisements.

Once you have completed your text, please ensure that your article has a title and subtitle with a main illustrative image. The title should be in title case, not sentence case.

Please use one of our sections as a tag on your article, e.g., “United States” or “United Kingdom.” Our sections are divided by the location of the crime and can be seen as part of the menu on the main page.

Please use paragraphs, subheadings, and images to break up your text.

We suggest that you submit locked content that is behind Medium’s paywall. This has several benefits, chief among them being that it allows you to earn money from your content. Equally, locked content is distributed via Medium curation, meaning it has a better chance of being seen by a wider audience.

We also suggest that you submit your article to us as a draft. This allows us to provide feedback before it is published and means that we can help make any necessary changes.

Your article will usually be checked and published within 24 hours of submission. Changes may be made, including cosmetic alterations to the text and replacing images with higher quality versions. The main image may be edited to fit our cosmetic style. Your text will remain the same. After it is published, we will promote it on our social media channels.

Thank you for your contribution!

Once your story is published on True Crime Detective, we will share it with our followers on social media and through our newsletter.

Simply shoot us an email at: contact@truecrimedetective.co.uk

Please include your name and Medium profile to be added as a writer. If you’d like to tell us a little about yourself and have some ideas or even a ready article, you’d be most welcome.

You can also simply reply to this article in the comments.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

The True Crime Detective Team