Do you create topic descriptions for writers to make proposals or submissions on? There’s an art to creating a useful description. Some common omissions regularly evoke complaints from writers. A description that doesn’t work well will result in submissions you can’t use or none at all. When you have to reject them, that sours writers who might have provided you with good material. Here are some tips, based on my experience:

• Give a concise but specific summary. The writer should know exactly what material you want covered. Something that’s too broad will get off-topic submissions. A description that’s too detailed will tie the writer down too much, leaving little room for creativity.
• Don’t ask for a topic unless you mean it. Asking for a topic and then saying you aren’t interested in articles on that subject is a great way to lose good writers.
• Never say, “I want a rewrite of article XXX, which I don’t have the rights to.” That’s called requesting plagiarism. You can say that you’d like an article similar to an existing one. You can ask for a rewrite of material which you own, but make it clear that you do.
• Make sure any abbreviations are clear. What a three-letter abbreviation stands for in your industry might mean something entirely different elsewhere. A lack of clarity could result in a submission on the wrong topic.
• Specify your target audience and tone. Are you looking for a B2B piece or one aimed at the general public? Is its main purpose to sell or to educate? Should the tone be serious or light-hearted? It’s frustrating for all concerned when you get a great piece that isn’t targeted the way you’d like.
• Specify the call to action, if any. If you’d like the article to build up to a CTA, let the writer know what you want.
• Don’t obsess over keywords. Keyword stuffing doesn’t fool search engines. Specify a few keywords to include, if you like, but it’s enough if the writer includes each one two or three times. Blatant padding with keywords annoys the reader and doesn’t give a good impression of your business.
• Have reasonable expectations. If you want an article that displays a specialist’s knowledge, offer enough money to interest a specialist. Writers can fake it, but not well enough to fool experts.
• Don’t make excessive demands of the writer’s time. If watching a long video is a requirement for writing an article, factor it into the pay you offer.
• Provide reference materials, and make sure the customer has access. Links to relevant material make the writer’s job easier. Be careful about ones that you can access only because you have a subscription to a service. It’s easy to forget if you’re logged into the service all the time.
• Specify whether you want links and what kind. Some clients like links to source material to bolster the authority of their articles. Others just want a piece without any distractions. Let the writer know which it is. Tell them what links (e.g., competitors, crowdsourced sites, old material) aren’t acceptable.
• Assume the writers are professionals who know what they’re doing. Trying to micromanage good writers through the topic description will stifle them, and it won’t make bad writers better.

Spend a little time on the topic request, and you’ll be rewarded with better submissions.