Submit a chapter
“The Portland Bottom Line” is a collaborative project based on trust, respect, and individual responsibility. Planning, managing, and executing a project of this scope — remember, 50+ contributors — takes a lot of time and energy. Help us make the project a smooth success by closely following these guidelines. We really appreciate it!
Ready? Here’s how to become a contributor of “The Portland Bottom Line”. Please read carefully, as we may be unable to respond to questions answered on this page or the rest of the website.
Quick Guidelines
- Read the detailed guidelines. We may be unable to respond to questions answered in the guidelines.
- See if you meet the contributor criteria.
- Find your place in the book — topic you want to cover and part/section where it belongs.
- Learn the parameters of your chapter.
- Email us your Contributor Agreement [pdf]* (or fax it to 360.397.2615).
- Once we have your agreement, we’ll grant you access to the project wiki where you will submit your chapter in the desired section. Follow the instructions there to submit your chapter (by
7/27/16).
Detailed Guidelines
Contributor Criteria
To become one of the 150 contributors of “The Portland Bottom Line”, you must meet all of the following conditions on May 1st, 2010:
1) You are at least 18 years of age.
2) You own, manage, or are employed by a business with the following characteristics:
- 100 or fewer full-time employees, and $5 million or less in annual revenues in the last fiscal year
- Headquarters in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, including Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, and Clark Counties (“Portland”) for at least 1 year; or, 1 year of residence for sole proprietors; or, 1 year total if combining ownership, management, or employment in more than 1 company
- Implemented sustainable business practices in own or client business; or observed or assisted with the implementation of such practices in another business and able to report per chapter requirements below
3) You are comfortable using or self-learning how to use online collaboration tools (see below for details).
Pass? Read on.
The Parameters of Your Chapter
Content
The book is divided into three parts — People, Planet, Prosperity — each of which contains four sections. Sustainability is a vast and nebulous term, so we’ve created descriptions and questions to help your creative process. To distribute content evenly among the sections, each section should contain 12-13 chapters.
In your chapter we’re looking for
- One idea, tip, or practice with demonstrated impact — what worked, how and why. The rule is, Do one thing and do it well.
- Actionable, practical, and valuable advice the readers can implement in their small business with reasonable resources and within a reasonable time span.
- Best, innovative sustainable / triple bottom line practices – Sustainability 2.0, if you will.
Remember, the point is to highlight the best of what Portland’s sustainable small business has to offer, so keep that recycling bin in your copy room to yourself. We aim to educate and assist the reader — be helpful.
You can use a case study format, or you can pose a question or problem and answer it. Your topic can be strategically-oriented or deal with a tactical, front-line issue.
Keep self-promotion out of it. While we ask you to share your company’s experience or expertise with sustainable practices, the idea is to teach, not pitch. Stay on this side of the fine line between a case study and an infomercial. Keep in mind, your name is on the chapter. Links to your website and Twitter profile will be included on the Contributors List page, with the chapter and in the contributor list at the end of the book. Goes without saying: one chapter per company, one company per chapter.
Style and structure
Be yourself. The benefit of having so many authors is the variety of voices and experiences. Remember your chapter represents you and your company in the book.
Feel free to make strong or controversial claims, as long as they’re substantiated (do include your data) and clean in terms of language. You don’t need to refer to the book in any way – your chapter should stand on its own merits and be usable out of the context of the book.
Tell a story. It’ll make for a more interesting and understandable read.
While you’re free to write in any way you’d like, we’ve found the following two frameworks helpful for writing this kind of content.
1) The Heath brothers’ SUCCESs framework for making sticky messages. Hit on these characteristics with your chapter, and you’re golden.
- Simple
- Unexpected
- Concrete
- Credible
- Emotional
- Stories
2) The case statement framework, borrowed from the nonprofit fundraising playbook:
- Before = Problem: Problem or issue you resolved or were forced to address with sustainable practices you want to write about
- During = Solution: Solution or practice you applied
- After = Results: Qualitative and quantitative results the practice or idea brought about.
Format
Your chapter must be 400 words or less, including the title and your name and excluding your bio. 400 words seems like a lot, but it’s tough to get the point across quickly. For example, each post on this website clocks at less than 400 words. Because of the project parameters, we have no flexibility on the word count.
All chapters must be submitted via “The Portland Bottom Line” wiki (see below) — We will accept no chapter submissions by email or other means. The wiki contains a template for your chapter: it’s where you select your section and where you include your bio (see bio samples).
Other than that, the content of your chapter is entirely up to you!
Submit your chapter
1) Email us your Contributor Agreement. The Agreement protects you, the contributor, and us, the editors. Complete all portions of the agreement, including the top, print and sign it, scan it into a pdf or jpeg and email it to editors@portlandbottomline.com*. In your email, briefly introduce yourself, too: tell us the name of your company and what motivated you to participate.
We’ve capped the number of contributors at 150, after which we’ll create a waiting list. First come first served!
2) After we receive your Contributor Agreement, we’ll grant you access to ”The Portland Bottom Line” wiki. This is what the email granting you access will look like
You will submit your chapter in the desired section on the wiki. Further instructions are on the wiki Welcome page.
The deadline for your chapter submission is midnight, Friday, July 2nd 16th, 2010.
No chapters, edits, or votes, will be accepted afterward – our timeline and human power doesn’t allow exceptions (remember, trust, respect, and individual responsibility). Besides, there may be people on the waiting list.
A few don’ts (yes, we must)
- Don’t ask for an exception. This process and out timeline don’t allow for any. Having said that, if there are any parts of the process that can be improved or simplified, email us.
- Don’t edit other contributors’ chapters on the wiki, except for grammatical mistakes or misspellings. If you have something to add or comment on, use the Comments section.
- Don’t publish or otherwise share your chapter before the book is launched. Your Agreement has more to say about this, we just want to make sure you help us out here.
- Don’t ask questions answered on this website. We’ve tried to make things as clear and straightforward as possible. With 150+ contributors, we fear for our sanity should we be asked to respond to every question that is already answered on the website, or later on the wiki.
Recap
- Read the detailed guidelines. We may be unable to respond to questions answered in the guidelines.
- See if you meet the contributor criteria.
- Find your place in the book — topic you want to cover and part/section where it belongs.
- Know the parameters of your chapter.
- Email us your Contributor Agreement [pdf]*.
- Once we have your agreement, we’ll grant you access to the project wiki where you will submit your chapter in the desired section. Follow the instructions there to submit your chapter (by
7/27/16).
* In Print mode, make sure to select “Fit to Printable Area”.
