Pick the right door
Two tracks, kept separate
Most publications blur these, which is exactly why readers stop trusting them. We keep them visibly apart, and the separation is the reason a Curio byline is worth having.
Editorial contribution
Free, competitiveYou pitch. We commission, we edit, and editorial control stays with us. Links are editorial and follow normally. We accept a small fraction of pitches.
Standard editorial links
Sponsored placement
Paid, labelledYou buy a clearly-labelled placement to promote a brand or product. It is marked as sponsored on the page and every outbound link carries rel="sponsored".
rel="sponsored" on all outbound links
Non-negotiable
The standard every piece meets
- 1
Every factual claim carries a source
Fees, limits, dates, and figures need a primary source, linked, with the date you checked it. Vendor marketing pages are acceptable as a source for that vendor's own claims, provided you attribute them as such.
- 2
Say what you could not verify
If a number is widely repeated but you could not confirm it at the source, say so in the piece rather than repeating it with confidence. Every review we publish carries a section doing exactly this.
- 3
Disclose any interest, at the top
Holdings, advisory roles, employment, or a commercial relationship with anything you cover goes in a disclosure line before the reader reaches your argument. Not in a footer.
- 4
No financial advice, ever
Crypto is a YMYL subject. No price targets, no "guaranteed" returns, no recommendation to buy a specific asset. Explain mechanisms and let readers decide.
- 5
Write for a reader, not a crawler
No keyword stuffing, no padding to hit a word count, no headings that exist to hold a phrase. If a section is not earning its place, cut it.
- 6
Original work only
Nothing published elsewhere, nothing spun from another article, nothing generated wholesale and submitted unedited. We check.
Link policy
How we handle links
Stated plainly so nobody has to guess, and so buyers know what they are and are not getting before money changes hands.
- Sponsored and paid placements: every outbound link carries rel="sponsored". This is not negotiable and it applies to the whole piece, not just the obvious CTA.
- Affiliate links in editorial: carry rel="sponsored" and are disclosed on the page itself.
- Contributor bio links: one relevant link is normal and follows editorially.
- Link insertions into existing published articles: we do not sell these, at any price.
- Link exchanges and reciprocal schemes: declined without exception.
If you are buying placement primarily for search value, read that list again carefully, and read Google's own spam policies on link schemes too. We would rather lose the sale than misrepresent what a sponsored link on this site does.
Next step
Where to go from here
Pitch editorial
Pick the closest section and send one idea.
Buy a placement
Labelled, sponsored, and honest about what it is.
Guest post FAQs
What is the difference between a guest post and a sponsored post here?
Editorial control and payment direction. A guest post is commissioned by us because we think readers want it, and we keep control of the edit. A sponsored post is bought by you to promote something, is labelled as sponsored, and carries rel="sponsored" links throughout. Both are legitimate; conflating them is not. See our advertise page for sponsored terms.
Why do you put rel="sponsored" on paid links?
Because Google's spam policies require paid links to be disclosed to search engines, and because we would rather run a publication that survives a manual review than one that does not. Anyone selling you paid links without rel="sponsored" is putting your money and their domain at risk.
Can I pay to have my link added to an existing article?
No. We do not sell link insertions into published editorial at any price. If you want placement, buy a labelled sponsored piece.
Do you accept AI-generated submissions?
We accept work where a human with genuine subject knowledge is accountable for every claim in it. Use whatever tools you like to draft, but if the piece contains fabricated sources or figures nobody checked, it is rejected and that is usually the end of the relationship.
What happens during the edit?
Expect at least one round on clarity, structure and sourcing. We may tighten prose and ask for sources on unsupported claims. We will not change your conclusion or put words in your mouth. If we cannot get a piece to standard, we tell you rather than publishing something weak.
How long does a piece stay live?
Indefinitely, subject to accuracy. We update or annotate pieces whose figures go stale rather than quietly deleting them. If something we published turns out to be wrong, we correct it visibly.
Do you pay contributors?
It depends on the commission and we discuss terms once a pitch is accepted. Sponsored placements run the other way: you pay us, and the piece is labelled accordingly.
How do I pitch?
Pick the section closest to your idea and use the form there: crypto, blockchain, NFTs explained, or Web3. One idea per pitch, with the angle and why it matters now.