So, you need help with submitting a post to DZone? Well, you've come to the right place. Below, we'll dip into a few frequently asked questions that we get from contributors before diving into a step-by-step tutorial on how to submit a post. Let's get started.

FAQ

Many questions come up when speaking with potential DZone posters. If you have any questions that aren't covered here, please feel free to ask them in the comments section of this post or contact us directly.

Q&A

1. Can I submit an article as a normal DZone community member?
   
   Yes, you absolutely can, and we encourage you to do so! We work with a large variety of authors—MVBs that keep up their own personal blogs, MVBs that blog on various company blogs, MVBs that post exclusive content on DZone, Zone Leaders that both write and curate posts for DZone, non-MVB individuals whom we contact directly to post articles on specific topics, and normal DZone community members who submit articles directly to us. All of our contributors are important to us no matter what the status of their DZone membership is.
   
   If you have an interest in posting on DZone, plan on submitting an article that follows our Article Submission Guidelines, and currently have a DZone account (It's free, you should!), then you are eligible to submit an article for consideration to be posted on DZone.

2. Can I post somebody else's article?
   
   You can, as long as you have their permission. When you fill out the "Author" section in the upper right-hand corner of the article editor, you can credit authors other than yourself. If you are going to post in someone else's name, we highly advise having that person create a DZone account so that you can correctly attribute the article to said person.
   
   Simply crediting an author using an inline citation isn't going to cut it. If the correct author isn't attributed in the "Author" section, the article will not be posted, and you will be contacted by a DZone editor to properly attribute the author. This is the only way that we can ensure an author is notified when posted and that their attribution is prominently displayed on DZone.

3. How does moderation work? And, how long does it take for a submitted article to go live?
   
   Once you click on "Send to Moderation," your article will be added to our editorial team's moderation queue. A member of the team will review your article to make sure it's a good fit for our audience—they'll check how relevant it is and if there are any specific content or grammatical issues. If need be, they'll edit your article to match our standards or contact you if intensive edits are needed. Once the editorial team is satisfied with your article, they'll schedule it for publication.
   
   It generally takes about 1-7 days after submission for an article to go live. Three days is generally the average. The ones that take seven days either take more time to edit than the average post or a being published in a more popular zone that has a lot of scheduled, pending content.

4. Will you link my post on DZone back to my website?
   
   Yes! If your post exists elsewhere on the web, please link to it. It's really important that we credit where the post originally came from. To do so, just enter the link to your website (preferably to the specific post you're sharing) in the "Original Source" field in the lower right-hand corner of the article editor. When the article is published, it will have an attribution link at the bottom of the post.

These are just some of the basic questions we get from potential contributors. Hopefully, this helps, but if you have an unanswered question, feel free to leave it in the comments or contact us via support@dzone.com.

Tutorial: How to Submit a Post to DZone

Below, I'll provide you with a tutorial outlining the steps involved in submitting a post to DZone. Remember, submitting a post to DZone does not ensure that it will be published, only that it will be moderated. Submitted posts must be assessed to make sure that they are indeed a good fit for our community. If you read our Article Submission Guidelines and follow them closely, your submission is likely to be accepted.

With that in mind, here's how you submit an article for consideration to be posted on DZone:

1. Sign in (or sign up) to DZone.com.

2. Next, click on the plus sign (+) beside your profile picture and select "Post an Article."
   
   

3. After that, fill out all of the following spaces remembering to tag yourself as an author. Just because you're listed as the original poster, that doesn't mean you'll be automatically tagged as an author. (Also, notice how you can credit authors other than yourself… if you are going to post in someone else’s name, I advise having them create a DZone account so that you can correctly attribute the article to said person):
   
   
   Also, notice that you can access your drafts from the sidebar:
   
   Just click on the title of the one that you want to access and you can continue working on it.

4. Once your article is ready, go to the green arrow connected to "Save draft," use the drop-down menu, and then click "Submit to Moderation."
   
   

5. After the article is in moderation, our editors can review it, decide if it’s a good fit (message you if it needs work), and schedule it for publication. Upon being published, you should be sent an automated email notification. 

Congratulations! You're officially done. You can relax and wait for the post to go live. If we come across any problems with your submission, we will contact you. Otherwise, we will schedule it to be published, and you'll be notified once it goes live.

If you run into any problems or come across something that's not covered in this tutorial, please let us know. Thanks very much for your interest in posting on DZone.