Vision: A Resource for Writers
Lazette Gifford, Editor
Vision@sff.net

Guidelines

e will happily consider writing-related manuscripts from either unpublished or published writers. 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, 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  for as long as I can keep them there, as a reference for 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 edit it to our standards. If we feel that it need massive rewrites, we won’t accept it.

If you have any questions, or wish to query about an article, email  Lazette Gifford.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Holly Lisle and Lazette Gifford
Publishers, Vision


Expanded Submission Guidelines:

Articles must be at least 500 words with 2000 words as the 'soft' top.  I'm willing to go over that count 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, Verdana or Arial, 12pt.

Double space your manuscript.

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), this program 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 and publishers for all books mentioned or reviewed.  Do this by adding the title, author, publisher  and ISBN# at the bottom of the file.  The same is true for articles -- be certain to cite them. 

An additional note to Word users: You should turn off the 'smart quotes' option in Word which can be found under Tools-AutoCorrect and then the tabs AutoFormat while you type AND Autoformat.  Also uncheck the symbol replacement for --.  While Smart Quotes look really neat on the screen, they sometimes translate to funny little squares that cannot be taken out with the 'find-replace' feature, but have to be hunted down by hand.  If you are submitting anything electronically, you will very likely hear back from the editor on these.  And remember -- a lot of print publishers are now asking for electronic copy for their end as well.

We've been receiving very good articles, and I hope that all of you look at the list of upcoming issues at the bottom of this page  and choose something you feel comfortable with writing about.

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: 

Fantasy

Horror

Poetry

Romance  

Science Fiction

Suspense & Mystery

Young Adult & Children

Young Writer's Scene

And we are always interested in articles about the act and art of writing.

Upcoming Themes for Vision in 2003:

For the coming year we are going to go through the steps in creating a story. These steps should apply to both short stories and novels.

Please remember that these cover only the theme section of the issue.  The editors at Vision are always looking for material on all aspects of writing, including how writer's live and work, as well as material on writing for specific genres.

March/April -- World building (Deadline, February 1, 2003)

  • What background material do you create for your story, and how do you use it?

May/June -- Plotting & Outlining (Deadline, April 1, 2003)

  • What do you do to layout your story line?

July/August -- Putting it all together (Deadline, June 1, 2003)

  • From the first line to The End -- what do you do go about actually creating the story?

September/October -- Revising (Deadline, August 1, 2003)

  • How do you work through revisions, and when do you know to stop?

November/December -- Submissions and Rejections (Deadline, October 1, 2003)

  • Preparing cover letters, queries, short story submissions -- and what to do when you get those inevitable rejections.

 

Thank you!

Lazette Gifford
Managing Editor

Questions?  Queries?  Submissions?  Email me!