They're always looking for people to submit articles here on HBT. Lots of good exposure that way.
They were doing that for a while, then it stopped. I have written a couple/three articles for them, including one that was submitted and nothing was done with it. Here are a couple:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/want-build-keezer.html
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/myths-surprises-homebrewing.html
Looking for advice, and looking to branch out and write more and get some notice. Two of my hobbies are drinking/beer and writing, so it'd be great to start to combine the two (and possibly make them go from hobby to actualized form of job/money).
I wrote a weekly column for my local newspaper for 13 years. I had an open portfolio, I guess you could call it, meaning I wrote about whatever I wanted to write about.
Here are some things I'd suggest to anyone looking to write for public consumption:
1. Write at an upper high-school level of English, maybe 11th grade. Too much jargon is likely to turn off readers. That's somewhat less likely to happen with beer-related blogs or columns as they are, almost by definition, jargon-filled. But acronyming people to death, or using intentionally obtuse terminology will cost you readers.
2. Decide whether you want to entertain your readers, provide them information, or show how smart you are. Sometimes writers are more interested in showing how smart they are than they are in providing content to readers. Try to move away from doing the "smart" thing and toward providing your readers value.
3. The "Hook." I always tried to hook my reader in the first sentence if possible, and if that wasn't possible, in the first (short) paragraph or so. You want people to keep reading, so give them a reason right off the bat. The title of the piece can help with that, but readers will tend to read a couple paragraphs and if they aren't "hooked" they won't keep going.
4. Shorter paragraphs. Look through some of the threads on HBT. Look especially at the first post of a thread, and ask yourself whether it leads you to read more, or turns you off. Very long paragraphs are difficult to parse, and while a plethora (see? obtuse!) of 1-sentence paragraphs might seem better, they're not. Occasionally a 1-sentence paragraph can work, but a whole slew of them? No.
5. Look at things written on HBT, and ask whether you like how they're written, or if they make it difficult to parse or to follow. Draw conclusions from that, and incorporate them in your own writing.
6. Use structure to lead your reader through the piece. That can be written structure or things like numbers and bullet points. Notice how my use of numbers here makes this much easier to navigate. You know each number is a new idea or comment, and you can browse through them that way. Written structure can also be used but that's a little harder. "Parallel structure," for instance, trains your reader to expect certain things in the way you've written them. The same goes with a tri-colon type of structure. If you're consistent in the structure you use, you train the reader how to read what you've written, and it makes it easier for them to read it.
[I'm re-reading this the next morning and editing it. Can't help it. 
Here's an example of how structure can work or hurt. Here's a part of the above paragraph:
"Parallel structure," for instance, trains your reader to expect certain things in the way you've written them. The same goes with a tri-colon type of structure.
I've quoted "Parallel structure" to set it apart. But, in the next sentence, I refer to tri-colon, and I should have quoted it, as it's similar in concept to the parallel structure point.
That's the kind of thing I routinely pick up on an edit, and after a night's sleep. "Fresh eyes" can see things tired ones never will.
One more thing: I wrestled with whether to explain parallel structure or tri-colon as part of the paragraph. Doing so would have moved me very far away from the bullet point approach I am using here. My presumption was that if someone read that far, cared about the subject, and didn't know what parallel structure or tri-colon is, they would google it. Normally with jargony things like this I'd be inclined to explain them, but doing so would have greatly disrupted the flow, IMO.]
7. It's almost always a good idea to write something, sleep on it, then pull it out and re-read and edit it. You'll find things that don't make sense, such as assuming knowledge on the part of readers they may not have, or writing that is poor and needs to be tooled up to sound better and convey information more effectively. It may also pay to do this multiple times over multiple days.
8. Once you have the column/blog written, "sizzle" it. Take out useless verbiage, strive to shorten sentences where there is valueless writing in them, or cut out redundancies in writing or ideas. I worked with an 800-word limit on my newspaper colums; it was common for me to write them long, then cut them back. "They don't need to know this, that doesn't help make my point, that's too long, it can be said more simply," and so on.
When I wrote those columns, I'd write them, sleep on them, then whack on them to cut them down. I always felt like it was my duty--if I truly wanted people to give me some of their time to read what I wrote--to honor their time by (
making my use of language as economical as possible) using language as economically as possible. I can't do strikeouts here, so the writing in parentheses is how I originally wrote that. It's more passive, less direct, so I changed it to what you see following that. Note that I went from using 9 words to using 6. Fewer words honors the respect the reader is showing me by reading my work. I won't waste their time.
9. Find someone whose blogs or columns you like, especially in terms of writing or structure, and try to make your own writing sound similar. One of my favorite writers of all time, George Will, had a wonderful way of turning a phrase. I didn't agree with him all the time, but his writing was eloquent and well-put-together. I adopted some of how he wrote in my own writing.
10. An outline isn't a bad idea, even if it's just a few words or ideas you wish to convey to your readers. It helps with structure and flow, and can help you identify places where your ideas aren't flowing well. I wrote about 650 columns over the years and I got to the point where I could outline in my head pretty well, but that came after years of doing it for real.
Now, my sense of this is that my points above are too many, and only someone dedicated to writing would read all of them. Well, sure.
But here's the funny thing: writing for public consumption is a learned skill. It reminds me very much of the learning curve in home brewing. At the outset, we aren't great, we make mistakes, we wish we could have things back for one more edit after they appear in print. But we become better writers over time, as we not only take into account feedback from readers, but also turn a critical eye toward what we've written.
So, jump in, find a style, and go! Good luck, and hopefully we'll be reading a lot of interesting things from you.
