Writing for HO and other FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions:

 

How do I become a writer for HO?

The first step to becoming a writer on HO is to register. We used to have a register button on the home page, but we are becoming inundated with Russian accounts trying to register and get on the site.  SO, if you want to register email me Donna Cavanagh at Donna@humoroutcasts.com.  I will open the registration for you.  Sorry for the inconvenience, but I want to make sure these fake accounts do not get on the site.  Once you are registered, I will send an email to tell you that you are that registration is complete.  Once registered, you can also submit work to become a writer on the site..  If you are accepted as an author, you can post as often as you like. We recommend that you do not post more than once a day as readers have a tendency to read one article per author. We hate to see good work wasted.  We have no minimum amount for posting. Some authors post daily; others post monthly or less.  It’s up to you. We are a no-pressure zone!

 What can authors post on this site?

HumorOutcasts wants quality humor. We realize when you are dealing with humor that individual tastes vary and things that are funny to one person may not be funny to someone else. We do not want to stifle creativity in anyway, however, there are “Terms and Conditions” which must be adhered to for this site to continue to function. Our key rules are: no graphic language in the titles of work. Why? Naughty titles catch the advertisers attention. We don’t care about the language in the body of the work, but the titles must be G to PG rated.

How Can I help promote my work and other authors?

Join our community. Comment on others’ work and reply to comments on your work. Follow Humoroutcasts and Donna Cavanagh on Facebook,  HOPress (twitter), Instagram   etc.

When I entered a comment it didn’t post, what happened?

To cut down / eliminate comment spam we use comment moderation. After a comment has been entered it must be approved by the author, our Admin or our editor Betsy. Once your first comment is approved, you will be able to post more comments on other entries without moderation.

My comment was approved yesterday but today it went to moderation again, what happened?

If you close your browser or reboot your system, our system forgets about you and puts your first comment after the reboot in for moderation again. We know this comment moderation is a bit of a pain, and we try to approve comments as quickly as possible but we have some aggressive spammers and our goal is to always protect our writers and readers from this element.

I read your terms page and you seem to have a lot of rules for a site that professes artistic freedom?

The rules shouldn’t inhibit artistic expression. However we are a “hosted” site so there are certain minimum rules we must follow. In addition there are advertisers such as Amazon and Google who also have rules about sites where they will allow advertisements. Since this is a site dedicated to humor we don’t think the basic rules we have in place should be a problem for our artists.

How come HO is blocked where I work and at certain wi-fi spots?

In order to maintain our creative integrity, we allow our writers to push the envelope, and this might not meet the censor requirements of workplace or family-friendly restaurants etc. We will not compromise to meet these criteria. So, what we can say is don’t search for HO at work. Go home, relax and then enjoy our talented writers and their posts on your free time.

How can I find out about HOPress/Shorehouse Books?

You can click on the HOPress icon on HumorOutcasts.com home page or go to HOPress-ShorehouseBooks.com for all the information on our boutique publishing house.

Why can’t I see the number of reads I get for a post?

We don’t post those stats because I have found in my many years of writing on the internet that cliques form when writers say, “I’ll click on your post if you click on my post.” When this happens, work just gets clicked but not read, and that is a true shame.  You might laugh, but this is still a problem with online sites, and the people who deny it the most are the worst offenders.  This site’s mantra has always been  cooperation and creativity–not competition.  I want each writer to bring their “A” game each time they post. I want them to focus on their work, not on how to get the most reads. I am pretty good about telling writers when their posts go viral.   A second reason is that we count our reads by the more accurate Google Analytics–not by wordpress. WordPress stats tend to be quite a bit different (on the low side) than Google Analytics, and I don’t make my Google stats public as I have more than reader stats attached to them.