About Simple Talk
Simple Talk is a technical journal and community hub brought to you by Redgate Software. It is free to access and features a vast array of educational material, opinion pieces and other content for professional developers, administrators, architects, IT professionals, hobbyists and more. We even have our very own podcast, and are looking to branch out more into other media (such as video).
Despite being Redgate-owned, Simple Talk is editorially independent. If you are looking for articles about Redgate or our tools, visit the Redgate Blog or Redgate Product Learning.
We cover a huge variety of technical topics, highlighted by content about Databases, DevOps, Sysadmin, Development, Cloud and more. Whatever your interest, whatever your database of choice, we have you covered – from SQL Server to MongoDB to PostgreSQL and everything in-between. Our content is curated to suit a wide range of ability levels: newcomers, hobbyists, professionals and industry veterans alike.
If you have any comments or questions about our content, please leave comments on an article or send an email to editor@simple-talk.com.
The Simple Talk mission
- Provide accurate, straightforward and solution-focused technical content, peer-reviewed and edited to the highest quality.
- Be a free industry service with the same quality of paid-for sites, coupled with the interactivity of the internet.
- Be a highly-interactive hub where feedback is encouraged and acted upon.
- Not be afraid to have an opinion or address the more ‘human’ aspects of an IT professional or hobbyist’s life alongside the drier technical knowledge requirements.
- Have a commitment to the community that extends beyond technical articles to real, tangible support for grassroots activity: from sponsoring and attending conferences and user group events, to championing the community on the Simple Talk podcast.
- Be editorially independent – we are owned by Redgate but Simple Talk is its own unique entity.
- Limited advertising, typically only including non-obtrusive promotion of Redgate tools, events, conferences and other community sites we like, and we try to keep these as relevant as possible.
- We do not accept advertisements, paid guest posts, or any other kind of promotional sponsorship/partnership activity.
Where does Simple Talk’s content come from?
At Simple Talk, we take pride in being a true community hub. Most of our content is produced by volunteer contributors who are chosen carefully and have their work put through rigorous checks before publication, as we strive for the highest quality and accuracy possible. We also pay our contributors for their work.
We’re constantly on the lookout for technology experts who have a strong knowledge of a particular topic, as well as the ability to share their knowledge via the written word, or in a video, podcast, etc. We also work with highly professional and experienced industry names.
How to contribute to Simple Talk
The most important trait we look for in a contributor is technical knowledge of their topic of choice. Prior content creation experience is preferred but not required. Important note: we expect all content to be created by the contributor, not AI-generated or copied from others.
Quality is just one part of how we choose content. We also look for passion, experience and most importantly, expertise and authority.
What topics are we currently seeking content for?
We’re currently looking for content on a broad variety of topics:
- Databases (primarily SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and Oracle)
- AI
- Security and compliance
- Data quality and analytics
- Cloud
- Python, JavaScript and Rust
- CI/CD
- The database/technology industry, career advice, etc
…and what type of content should I create?
We’re always on the lookout for how-to guides/advice articles/tutorials, but also highly value opinion-based and real-life experience content as well. Want to explain why Python is your preferred programming language (or why you should avoid it?) Had an experience in the database community you want to share? Or do you simply want to explain why AI is the best thing since sliced bread? We’d love to hear from you!
We’re also looking for more than just written content! While this makes up the majority of our site’s output right now, we’re also open to submissions for those who create videos, podcasts and more. And, bonus points for those who can write and include their own created video in the content as well.
The Simple Talk content review process
All content goes through our rigorous review process, which includes the following:
- A thorough technical review and edit
- For written content: a copy edit (ensuring correct use of the English language, grammar, sentence structure etc)
- Sometimes, we may ask an author to make revisions before their work is published
- Peer reviews, occasionally enlisting the help of technical reviewers and Redgate staff
The time between submission of a first draft and publication of the content can vary between two weeks and a few months, depending on the extent of revisions required and the amount of content we currently have in the pipeline.
Once a piece of content is ready, we do everything we can to promote the creator’s output!
- Once published, the content will initially feature on the Simple Talk homepage
- Content is included in our regular newsletter with 30,000 subscribers
- We include links to personal sites and social media channels in each contributor’s personal bio page
Express your interest in contributing to Simple Talk
If you’re happy with the above and want to write for Simple Talk, please reach out to editor@simple-talk.com with the following information:
- Specific subject area(s) you are interested in creating content for. Describe the kind of content you’re hoping to write!
- Links to any previous content, whether published or not! We’d love to see examples of your work.
- Any links you can provide to help us see your experience level. Sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Stack Overflow, SQL Server Central, etc. would be great to help get a feel for your current reach.
Please note: due to the volume of applications we receive, we cannot respond to everyone!
Please also note: we expect the content to be original, created by the contributor – not AI-generated or copied from others!
Once you’re a Simple Talk contributor…
- You’ll have the freedom to create as much or as little content as you want, as and when you want. We appreciate our contributors’ time so are happy to allow flexibility. We’ll only set a deadline in some circumstances, and this will be discussed in advance.
- New pitches/ideas are to be sent to editor@simple-talk.com before creation, for review and approval. If approved, we’ll agree the payment amount at the same time. We only pay for content created after this process has taken place.
- For written content, we do not have a set style guide. We want you to write in your own style, and we’ll make any edits afterwards if necessary.
- Written content can be submitted via Microsoft Word (preferably) or Google Docs. Any other format must be agreed upon in advance.
- We will sometimes reach out to a contributor individually (or multiple at once) with a request for content. You do not have to accept these – it won’t reflect poorly on you, or affect future contribution opportunities.