If you’re a writer looking for encouragement and help with your writing, you’re in the right place. For my newsletter this month, I offer guidance on following writer’s guidelines.
Following Publisher’s Guidelines
I learned in my first submissions for publication that writer’s guidelines were steps to be followed, not a choice. Here I will share some of my experience with submissions to newspapers and magazines and guiding principles for you.
My first piece was meant as information, then classified as opinion, yet I was glad my article was published. I celebrated that, coast to coast, people were reading my words.
For the weekly newspaper opinion editorial, the instructions were clear — opinion and no more than 200 words. Opinions expressed clearly and respectfully are a good thing. In late 2002, I applied and was accepted as a member of the 2003 Community Editorial Board for our local newspaper. That came with deadlines.
For a magazine, it might be writing to a theme each month, as I did in my first submission to a women’s denominational magazine. I remember a kind editor pointing to the monthly themes and saying to write to them. When I followed her instructions, that was the beginning of a good relationship with the editors until the award-winning magazine ceased publication in 2008.
Of course, I’ve also sent out many submissions to which I received a no. Some were form letters, one came as a postcard. In yet another the editor had written notes on the side of my manuscript (at the time responses were mailed back in an envelope enclosed with the submission). Many publications I never heard from at all. I suppose their mailboxes got rather full of hopeful writers’ submissions.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Study the publication you want to write for. (Perhaps you have expertise in that area.) Samples online work too for checking what they publish. Check how your work matches what is produced. Read for tone, information and audience.
- Always follow submission guidelines. Print out the requirements if that helps, and check off each item on the list.
- Allow yourself time to research and write, set the piece aside to review and make changes as necessary. Here’s where a critique group is valuable.
- Submit your best polished writing.
- Send on time to your editor, especially for assignment or a themed magazine.
Resources: for magazines Writer’s Guidelines