Vision: A Resource for Writers
|
GuidelinesExpanded
Guidelines We will happily consider manuscripts from either unpublished or published writers – we prefer to be queried (all queries and manuscript submissions are handled by e-mail). We are interested in all facets of writing, from first- person experience articles to genre-specific how-to’s and informational articles about your area of specialization – whether it be history or science or nursing or long-distance running – and how and where your specialty can be used correctly by writers. Write something that will help other writers write better, and we’ll be interested in taking a look. We are a non-paying market with a 100% volunteer staff. In return for your work, you get as many copies of the e-zine as you care to download, and our sincere thanks. Your work will make a nice tear-sheet to present when selling other work, but it doesn’t count as a professional market because we can’t afford to pay. On the other hand, the e-zine is also free. We use only non-exclusive serial rights; what this means is that you can sell your piece elsewhere before, during, or after you have placed it with us. However – and this is very important for you to keep in mind – if you place a piece with us that has not been published elsewhere, we will be using your First Serial Rights, which means they will not be available for sale elsewhere. Reprint rights are harder to sell. And back issues will be available from the site (though not from e-zine newsstands) for as long as I can keep them there, as a reference to new people coming into the site. We strive to maintain professional standards – manuscripts must be professionally formatted, as free from spelling and grammatical errors as you can make them, and in what you perceive to be final draft form. We will not welcome massive rewrites of a piece after we have accepted it – when we accept it, we consider it pretty close to finished and will only request such edits as will finish it to our standards. If we feel that it need massive rewrites, we won’t accept it. For feature articles, query Lazette Gifford. For genre- or area-specific articles, query the relevant editor. All e-mail addresses are in the masthead. We look forward to hearing from you. Holly
Lisle and Lazette Gifford Expanded Submission Guidelines:Articles
must be at least 500 words, and longer is much better if your subject will
handle it. 2000 words is the 'soft'
top, and I'm willing to go over it if the article needs it. Check
your spelling and grammar! Also, if
you are from a country that does not use US spelling conventions, let me know in
the email. That will stop me from
making several 'corrections' before I realize they aren't mistakes. Place
your Title AND YOUR NAME at the top of the document.
I hate having to go search through emails, checking attachments, to
figure whose article I'm actually looking reading. Use
one of these fonts: Courier, Courier New, Times New Roman or Arial, 12pt. Double
space Do
not indent I
would like submissions to be made in either Word Doc files, or .rtf files, and
as attachments to the email. (I believe that WordPerfect allows .rtf saves,
doesn't it?) If you use Works, a
regular file will do, although (at least in the 4.5 version I have), it also
allows for an .rtf file save. A
plain text copy (.txt) can be sent, but be certain to mark any italics like
this: *before and after the section in italics*, and bold likes this: _before
and after anything in bold._ If you
cannot do attachments, use the body of the letter as the last resort. Indicate
book titles with italics. And yes,
that means if you are doing a Word doc or rtf that you can use actual italics
and not an underline to indicate italics. (This is not common submission
procedure, but it's far easier for me since I can cut and paste to my wysiwyg
web page editor.) Do
not use an underline for emphasis. Underline
on websites indicates a link, and people often send emails to say the link is
not working. Use italics or bold. NO
HTML code except for links, and those written in this fashion:
http://www.whatever.com/this.htm Provide
the ISBN #s for all books reviewed. Also, if you mention a specific book,
and especially if you quote from it, add the title, author and ISBN# at the
bottom of the file. The same is true for articles -- be certain to cite them.
We've
been receiving some very good articles, and I hope that all of you look at the list
of upcoming issues and choose something you feel comfortable with.
If you find something you'd like to submit to, make note of which issue
it is and let me know what kind of article you would like to write. We
are also still looking for general genre-related articles.
If you would like to write an article on how to research romantic
settings, the proper use of codes in spy thrillers, etc., let us know.
The Genres we like to cover in each issue are:
And we are always interested in articles about the act and art of writing. Upcoming Themes for Vision:Here you will find ideas on what we'd like to see for each of the upcoming themes. These are not definitive! They're just what we came up with while brainstorming, ideas that we hope will spur your own ideas. We want to see what you come up with; if you want to take something straight from the list, that's great. If the lightbulb goes on and you think of the perfect article for the issue, that's even better. And if you want to write an article that doesn't fit any of our themes, but is about writing, write that, too. Along with the theme articles, we ALWAYS need articles about all aspects of writing. This is our list of themes and our ideas for what might go in them: Art
In Fiction; Art AS Fiction
|