Writer’s Guidelines
[Please carefully read this entire
section before submitting work.]
Writer’s Guidelines and Editorial Themes
We welcome writing from corporate execs, university faculty, housewives and mommies. We recognize that wisdom and profound insight, humor and wit can reside within any of us, no matter the letters following our name or our position in society.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR 1. WNC WOMAN celebrates the wisdom, insight, experience, and know-how of women. We want to read about women doing stuff: building things—whether it is barns, businesses, or better mousetraps; fixing things, whether it is her plumbing, her car, or her life. We want to know what you have done that you never thought you could do. We want to read about you turning around a bad situation. We want to read about things that work: successful alliances formed, dreams manifested, obstacles overcome. We want to read about women who say “Oh yeah? Says who?” to the lies they have been told, the myths about what is and is not possible. We also want some really juicy fiction, poetry that moves us, (we only accept free verse) and essays that get us thinking. We would love to have at least one belly laugh per issue—a dozen if possible.
2. We have a very particular intent with WNC WOMAN. We encourage you to study the magazine to get a better idea what we are looking for.
3. Writers usually must be women living in Western North Carolina. Only rarely do we make exceptions if the topic is of unusual interest. And we typically only write ABOUT women living in Western North Carolina. In our annual June Y Chromosome issue, we invite those with a Y Chromosome to join our ranks!
4. Length of articles: We like depth so we’ll accept pieces up to about 1900 words (and photos or artwork too, in 300dpi); we are interested in short pieces that are pithy (say, 500 words) but generally like from 1000 words up to 1900, rarely more unless the article warrants those words.
5. Looking at some new categories: We are interested in health related articles if they fit the guidelines in #1. We are interested in stories of your experiences with health crises, how you coped, who supported you, etc. Articles that inspire others or impart information that is new are what we like to read. We love reviews of books by regional writers. We recently started a new section called Home Space and would love to read articles about your experiences with remodeling, with buying or selling a home, etc. Our intention here is to exchange thoughts, information and insight on a range of issue of importance to women and their families. If you have an idea for an entirely new category, send us an email at editors@wncwoman.com and we will discuss it with you.
PREPARING YOUR WORK 1. We are looking for excellence in the written word. We encourage a positive tone and active voice. If there are good websites related to your article, do include their URL. We expect you to have carefully edited and proofed your work, and to have run a spell check.
2. Include your bio at the end of your article. Two or three sentences should be sufficient. Please include in your bio whatever contact information you’d like for our readers and put it at the end of your article.
3. Please don’t indent your paragraphs, double space, or do “hard returns” at the end of sentences; all those make our job harder when we place your article into our layout. You don’t need to try to “format” the article in any particular way since that formatting will not transfer to the actual magazine layout.
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK
1. Please send your article via email to submissions@wncwoman.com as an attached Word document or directly in the email.
2. At this time we are not able to pay our writers. We want the rights to print your work and have it online, but otherwise, because we are not paying, we do not assume ownership—it is yours to do with as you will after it is published in WNC WOMAN. If it is later published elsewhere, we simply ask that at the end you say “First published in WNC WOMAN” and the date.
3. Even if we express interest in your work and say we intend to publish it, we never know until the very last minute if it will fit in print in a particular month… it may not fit until several months later; we will let you know once the final version goes to the printer. If you decide not to wait but prefer to submit the article elsewhere, just let us know via email.
4. Please put the word SUBMISSION as the first word in the subject line; this helps us retrieve relevant emails easily.
5. The deadline is the first of the month AT LEAST ONE, PREFERABLY TWO MONTHS in advance. For example, we need to receive an article for the January issue by December 1st, hopefully November 1st. We may possibly take work closer to the publication date, so email to ask if you are working on something but won’t have it by the two-month deadline… but the FINAL deadline is the first of the month prior to publication. We will give priority to those articles submitted earliest, all things being equal.
UPCOMING THEMES
May 2013: Our Mothers, Our Selves. In honor of Mother’s Day, we’d love to hear stories of your mothers, becoming a mother, the role of mothers today (including the dilemmas of single moms working outside the home).
June 2013: Our annual Y-Chromosome issue. This is the month each year we write about men, and accept men’s writing. Whether it’s poetry, fiction, thoughtful articles about relationships, about being men in this changing society, we’d love to hear from the Y-guys.
July 2013: Music! Dance! Theatre! We’ll talk about why WNC is such a haven for the performing arts. A fun look at how to dress to listen to your favorite genre of music! Profiles of some of the movers and shakers in our region.
August 2013: Our Bodies, Our Selves. From the physical to the mental to the emotional, our bodies are basic to our sense of identity. We want to hear about your experiences with healing and personal growth.