Ariadne is not the only fruit.

• Editorial:­ there is some sort of editorial process involving people other than content authors, to filter out irrelevant, biased, poor quality, scandalous or otherwise undesirable material, for either rejection or suggested improvement by the author.
• Write for free:­ there is no financial cost to the author for publishing their work through the EWOC.
• Online: the publication and all of its contents, new and old, are accessible online.
• Complimentary or Chargeless: there is no cost for reading the full content of any article.

• As there is no mandatory income from authors or readers, EWOCs without sponsorship are usually operated by a fully volunteer effort, or by a host institution or library letting staff work on the publication during their office time.
• With many LIS print­-oriented journals, the time from submission of the content to when it appears in public is often between several months and a few years. With EWOCS this time tends to be between a few months and a few weeks, sometimes even less [n5].
• Writing and editorial styles are typically more formal than with social media such as blogs, but less formal than for old school highbrow print journals. For example, the call for submissions for code4lib [12] includes: 
  “Writers should aim for the middle ground between blog posts and articles in traditional refereed journals.”

1. Have you read the publication guidelines? A decent online publication should have, on its website, details of the target audience, types of articles, their length, some other background material and a clear contact point. Reading the guidelines, plus as a few recent articles, should give a notion of whether it’s an ideal place for your writing.
    
2. Why are you writing this? Seriously, why are you? Is it to amplify results, inform the community (and which community?), add to the sum of human knowledge, or let others know the outcome of some research or project or service? Or to add an extra publication to your resume, or to increase your rankings or metrics on some list, or some other reason? Or, like Rey returning Luke’s lightsaber, because it seems the right thing to do? What are your real motivations for writing this piece?
    
3. Are you happy with the editorial process? Some EWOCs, such as the Journal for Radical Librarianship, have detailed information on this process [13] on their website.
    
4. Can you write a good piece on this topic? Perhaps you don’t know. Perhaps have a frank email discussion with the editor, or see what they think of an extended abstract. Or perhaps you think you can’t write a good piece but you actually can [n7]. Again, contact the editor to get an independent opinion. Remember: the editor both needs and wants content. Maybe you can provide it?
    
5. Is this publication safe? Search around to see if there have been any unsavoury or controversial incidents of late. Ask recent authors if the process was fine and dandy, and they are happy with how their content has been handled, edited and appears online.
    
6. Is the publication indexed, scored, ranked and so forth? If this matters to you, then where does the publication get indexed? Does the content within also count towards academic publishing metrics such as h­-indexes and i10­-indexes, or appear in services such as Google Scholar [14]?
    
7. Is the publication diverse enough? Run through the list of authors for the past few issues; are you happy with the range of diversity? Will you writing for this publication help, or hinder, this diversity?
    
8. Are the publication and yourself politically on the same page? Before spending substantial time writing that piece extolling the virtues of neoliberal library funding, you may want to consider whether submission to The Journal of Socialist ­Marxist Librarianship is likely to result in a positive response from comrade editor, or not.
    
9. Who owns your content? There’s own and there’s own. Can the publication, or the owners of the publication, sell or reuse your content? If so, do you get a cut of the profits, or the right of veto? And can you yourself sell or reuse your content?
    
10. Seriously, have you read the guidelines? Yes, we’ve already mentioned it, and yes, there will always be people who will ask a question answered on the publication website, or (worse) spend a lot of time writing ultimately rejected content, because they didn’t read the guidelines.

• Ariadne [16] - this very publication itself. The remit for content, as defined by the current editor, is:
  
  “Articles should be from practitioners involved with libraries, museums or archives, detailing something that they’ve actually done in one of those places that is of interest to people working in the same field elsewhere.”
   
• Chinese Librarianship [8] - this international peer­-reviewed e­-journal:
  
  “…focuses on both the practical and the theoretical aspects of Chinese librarianship.”
   
• code{4}lib Journal [17] - code4Lib is a volunteer­-driven collective of hackers, designers, architects, curators, catalogers, artists and instigators from around the world, who largely work for and with libraries, archives and museums on technology. The mission of their journal is:
  
  “…to foster community and share information among those interested in the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future.”
   
• Communications in Information Literacy [18] - this twice-annual nine year old publication is:
  
  “…devoted to advancing research, theory, and practice in the area of information literacy in higher education.”
   
• D­-Lib [19] - supported by the CNRI [20] and others, the focus of D-­Lib magazine is:
  
  “…on digital library research and development, including new technologies, applications, and contextual social and economic issues.”
   
• In the library with the lead pipe [22] - founded seven years ago and formerly considered a peer-reviewed blog, Lead Pipe was repositioned as a professional journal in 2012. It:
  
  “…publishes articles by authors representing diverse perspectives including educators, administrators, library support staff, technologists, and community members.”
   
• The Journal of Creative Writing Practice [23] - active since 2013, this journal:
  
  “…provides an outlet for librarians and information professionals to describe and encourage greater creativity in library and information center communications, policies, collections, instruction, and other areas of librarianship.”
   
• The Journal of Electronic Publishing [24] - founded a few months before Ariadne, JEP:
  
  “…publishes research and discussion about contemporary publishing practices, and the impact of those practices upon users.”
   
• The Journal of eScience Librarianship [25] - JESLIB, operating since 2012, is an e-journal which:
  
  “…advances the theory and practice of librarianship with a special focus on services related to data­-driven research in the physical, biological, social, and medical sciences, including public health.”
   
• The Journal of Information Literacy [26] - this is the professional journal of the CILIP (UK Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Information Literacy Group. The journal:
  
  “…welcomes contributions that push the boundaries of Information Literacy beyond the educational setting and examine this phenomenon as a continuum between those involved in its development and delivery and those benefiting from its provision.”
   
• The Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication [27] - published by Pacific University (Oregon) libraries, the journal is particularly interested in:
  
  “…the intersection of librarianship and publishing and the resulting role of libraries in both content dissemination and content creation.”
   
• The Journal of Radical Librarianship [28] - the professional journal of the Radical Librarians Collective [29]. The scope of the journal is:
  
  “…any work that contributes to a discourse around critical library and information theory and practice.”
   
• Libres [30] - another LIS e­journal mirrored by UKOLN in the 1990s, Libres has accumulated several decades of history and content. It is:
  
  “…devoted to research and scholarly articles in Library and Information Science. It has a particular focus on research in emerging areas of LIS, synthesis of LIS research areas, and on novel perspectives and conceptions that advance theory and practice.”
   
• The Political Librarian [31] - a new kid on the block, this US­-oriented journal sits at the intersection of local libraries, public policy and tax policy. The journal:
  
  “…does not limit our contributors to just those working in the field of library and information science. We seek submissions from researchers, practitioners, community members, or others dedicated to furthering the discussion, promoting research, and helping to re-envision tax policy and public policy on the extremely local level.”
   

Conclusion

Writing can be fun, satisfying, is useful from a career perspective, and adds to personal fortitude. As a bonus, academic writing altruistically adds to the sum of human knowledge. EWOCs, those online publications with editorial procedures, provide a platform where you can place your writing without having to raid your bank account or project budget (if you have actually have one). The absence of paywalls and charges for the reader - no credit card or university subscription required - should provide a numerically healthy audience for your work. On this happy birthday [n8] we wish you happy writing!

Notes