COPY SHOULD BE SENT TO editor@austinwomanmagazine.com
ART/PHOTOS SHOULD BE SENT TO austinwoman@gmail.com
CALENDAR ITEMS SHOULD BE SENT TO calendar@austinwomanmagazine.com
austinwoman welcomes the submissions of freelance writers, photographers and contributors to the magazine. The best way to learn what goes into the magazine is to read the magazine, so we encourage you to pick it up at the over 640 locations where it is distributed. However, the majority of our stories are pre-assigned. If you would like to pitch a story idea to the magazine, please send your very brief but informative pitch via email (including story idea/subject, a two-to-three line description and the section/issue where you see it fitting in the magazine) to editor@austinwomanmagazine.com.
We welcome stories (not previously covered in the magazine) about Austin women who have accomplished interesting, inspiring and real or unusual things in their professional and/or personal lives; who provide an interesting service or charity; as well as subjects that interest women in Austin, whether it's travel, fitness, books, self-improvement, parenting, finance, health, relationships, the arts, design, gardening, entertaining, food, wine, sports, music, you name it! If Austin women do it or want it, we're interested.
Focus should be on the woman founder/owner of a business or service; and/or the professional or individual who created or partakes of it. Stories are placed according to both month and theme of issue and if there is a timely hook to the story, we do our best to promote the special event, anniversary or milestone that it may concur with.
Cover stories are in-depth, life story profiles covering the entire woman's history, career and both personal and professional lives, usually 2,500 words in length with cover photos shot by the magazine and up to 25 supporting photos supplied and almost always pre-assigned. The rest of our stories run an average of 1,000 words and we request that you supply at least one photo or piece of artwork (logo, etc.) for every 250 words (i.e., four photos per story). Special feature sections, book reviews, shopping guides and news items can run anywhere between 250 to 750 words.
We will let you know as soon as possible if a pitch or story may fit within our editorial schedule, then assign a writer and/or work with you to collect the appropriate research and follow-up information, or if we may keep it on file for future issues.
Writers fees are subject to both the writers level of experience, research involved and word count. Submissions are due by or before the first of the month of the month prior to slated (or proposed) issue date. NO EXCEPTIONS. If a story arrives late, we cannot guarantee publication. Payment is made upon publication (usually within 15 days of receipt of invoice) and invoices (along with tax ID and/or SSN#) should be submitted along with story.
ALL WRITER AND CONTRIBUTOR SUBMISSIONS MUST ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING:
First, we will only accept emailed Microsoft Word documents (preferably 2004 and above) and please include the following information at the tope of every copy document which should be emailed to editor@austinwomanmagazine.com using the story slug in the subject line of your email:
| SLUG: | AWMONTHYEAR.SECTION.TITLE.WRITER'S INITIALS (please abbreviate month, year, title and section, for example: AWJAN06.COVER.WEDDINGTON.DHL). We will try to confirm the story slug with you upon story assignment. |
| SECTION: | Cover or Profile or Travel or Just Passing Through, etc. Please refer to the latest issue of the magazine, since these section titles will be changed and updated periodically. |
| TITLE: | Please write at least one, alternates are always welcome. |
| DECK: | Please write at least one, alternates are always welcome. |
| STORY BY: | Your name. |
| PHOTOS BY: | If photographer is credited. |
| WC: | Word count. |
| ART: | Here is where you list number of JPGs, TIFFs or photos-to-be-scanned must be documented: how many, where sent and what format, etc. |
| CAPTION + CREDIT INFO: | Please number images and list accordingly here with your copy so there is no lost information. Caption info is much harder to keep track of when it arrives in the body of an email. So we'd prefer you include ALL information on your Word document submission of the copy first. |
| PHOTO NOTE: | Photos MUST be 300 dpi (you can check this in photo programs by choosing image size/document size and verifying that it says 300 pixels or dots per inch). If you do not have a photo program, the best way to judge this is to open the photo in your preview program and at 100% it should be AT LEAST a 3" X 5" photo. Please send photos in CMYK format to austinwoman@gmail.com. (Please note: photos should not be sent to the editor email address. |
| austinwoman magazine |
| Kim Worley |
| Production Manager |
| 1213 West 49th Street |
| Austin, Texas 78756 |
| BODY: | Actual piece is included here and formatted according to the following austinwoman style rules: |
| Arial 11 point font (or similar) and 1.5 line spacing | |
| Indent paragraphs with tab button | |
| Italics must be highlighted in yellow -- lease do not use actual italics (works of art, films, published works, publications, TV shows, etc. must be italicized; consult the AP or New York Times style books if you are unsure) | |
| Bolded items must be highlighted in green (again, do not use actual bold type) | |
| Numbers 1-9 are spelled out (one - nine), except for ages, measurements and percentages (use % with the number, i.e., 10%) numbers 10 and above are numerical (i.e., 46) | |
| Dates are as follows: (i.e., abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec., but not March, April, May, June or July) | |
| Phone numbers are European style: (i.e., 512.328.2421) | |
| States are in postal code: (i.e., TX, except when referring to the state itself and not alongside a city, as in "she moved to Texas") | |
| U.S. when used as an adjective, but spell out (United States) when a noun | |
| Times are indicated like this: 4 p.m. | |
| For a dash, use an "em dash" (alt + hyphen on most keyboards) | |
| Ellipses include a space before and after (word ... word) | |
| Use two spaces after every colon | |
| Use just one space after the end of a sentence (after a period) | |
| "website" and "email" are preferred | |
| austinwoman is always lowercase, bolded and italicized; in the Q+A, both austinwoman and the interviewee's name are bolded and spelled out in the first mention (i.e., Melinda Garvey); then become aw and the subject's initials as such: MG (both bolded but only publications name should be italicized) | |
| Please spell-check, fact-check and double-check both your work and the website and contact/address information for all submissions. We hold the writers accountable for any mistakes or corrections that we cannot catch, due to our production schedule and size. | |
| Use last names to refer to subjects after initial introduction of full name (Melinda Garvey said ... ; Garvey said, etc.) | |
| Include all contact information for subject of piece for info box (name, address, phone number, email address, website, dates of event, etc.) | |
| Past tense is preferable to present tense, unless a straight Q+A |
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us directly and thanks in advance for your submissions and your attention to detail! Adhering to these guidelines greatly speeds along our production process and allows us to create a great magazine each month.
Thank you for your support and contributions to austinwoman! We look forward to working with you for many years to come.
| Kim Worley |
| Production Manager |
| kim@austinwomanmagazine.com |
| Mary Anne Connolly |
| Editor |
| editor@austinwomanmagazine.com |
