One of the first things every aspiring writer learns about are writer guidelines. They know that every magazine publisher, book publisher, and newspaper publisher has them and make them available to any freelance writer for a SASE (Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope.) Today, of course they also know that these same guidelines are free to download from the publisher’s web site. They know that these guidelines give them all the information that they need to submit an effective query letter or completed manuscript, whichever the publisher prefers. The problem is that the language used in these guidelines can be confusing to the neophyte. This article will answer all the questions you ever had about that jargon but were afraid to ask. Writer guidelines contain 22 terms that are crucial to your understanding of the publisher’s requirements and I will concentrate on those areas.
The first piece of esoterica is the term “submitting on speculation” or “on spec". When you are first starting out you will be doing a lot of “submitting on speculation.” What “on spec” means is that you are submitting a completed manuscript to a magazine editor for consideration without any guarantee that the editor will purchase it. Many small magazines and most online sites work “on spec” with all their authors no matter how experienced they are and no matter how reliable they have proven them selves to be. There’s nothing wrong with “submitting on speculation” as long as the publisher accepts “on spec” manuscripts. The writer guidelines tell you whether they do or don’t accept unrequested manuscripts. If the guidelines states that they don’t accept manuscripts “on spec,” don’t send them. They will not only go straight in the wastepaper basket; they will make you look very unprofessional.
“Query only.” A query is nothing more than a sales pitch in letter. The editor is asking you to write a letter pitching your article or story idea. With a query letter, you have two objectives, to sell the editor on your article/story idea and on the fact that you are the best writer to write it. Try to keep a query to one page in length and keep it professional. Don’t be stuffy but don’t write it like you and the editor have been life-long friends. Once you have developed a relationship with an editor, you can write friendly letters too but the friendship-type letters should still be kept separate from the business of query letters.
“Query with Published Clips.” What are “clips?” clips are examples of your published work. Don’t send samples of everything that you’ve published if you have any to send at all. Two or three will suffice unless the editor asks for more. Use MLA (Modern Language Association) bibliography format to provide the information on where these samples appeared in print. If you need help using MLA Bibliography Format go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html, this is an excellent reference site and it’s free. If you don’t have any clips to send, that doesn’t mean you can’t submit "on spec" if that publication accepts "on spec" manuscripts. If you send them a great manuscript, they won’t care that you didn’t have any published clips to send. If you don’t have any published clips look for publications that state that they work with new and/or unpublished writers. They’re your best bet.
“Tearsheets/Cuttings.” Tearsheets and Cuttings are just two other terms used for published clips. They’re sample pages taken from the actual published article or short story. Most publications send the author one or two copies of the publication that their piece appeared in. You need to hang on to them to make photocopies of the pages, and submit the copies. Copies are perfectly acceptable as long as the copies show the name of the publication, page number, date, etc. it’s still a good idea to do the MLA Format bibliography within the body of your query letter.
Some publications require sidebars while other publications make sidebars optional but pay extra for acceptable sidebars. What are “Sidebars?” “Sidebars” are that boxed-in text that appears at the side of the page that contains extra information on the subject covered in the main text. We’ve all seen those boxes of text even if we didn’t know what they were called. If you submit a sidebar, place it at the end of the main manuscript under the subheading “Sidebar.” Editors have e very specific ideas of how these sidebars should relate to the articles they accompany and the best way for the writer to discover that relationship is to read back issues of that publication.
“Fillers.” Often when we study a publication’s writer’s guidelines, we find that they accept fillers. What are fillers? Often a publisher ends up with left over space at the end of an article and they use very short pieces called “Fillers” to fill that space. Fillers can be on anything that meets the needs of the publication readership. Writing and submitting filler material is a good way for a beginner to get his or her name before an editor and to show the quality of the material they are capable of producing.
“Bylines and Kill Fees.” Bylines is a pretty common term and most writers, even rank beginner, knows that it refers to his or her name appearing beneath the title of the article when it’s published. “Kill Fees,” on the other hand, may not be familiar. Most reputable publications pay the author a percentage of what they promised the author upon publication if they decide not to publish it after they accept it for publication. That is a “Kill Fee,” the percentage being specified by the editor at the time the piece is accepted.
“Simultaneous Submissions” is where you submit a piece to more than one publication at the same time. Many publications allow simultaneous submissions but be professional about it and let each editor know that it’s a simultaneous submission and, when it’s accepted for publication by one, do notify the others that it has been accepted. If you don’t tell the others that you have sold it you may sell it to several others but I can almost guarantee that you will never sell another piece to any of them. One thing every editor hates is to have the same piece appear at the same time in competing publications. Many publications don’t accept simultaneous submissions and they make that crystal clear in their guidelines.
“Pay on Publication” vs “Pay on Acceptance.” Two more terms that are fairly clear. I prefer publications that “Pay on Acceptance” because I know that a check is in the mail as soon as I get a letter from the editor telling me that he or she wants to publish my piece. “Pay on Publication,” on the other hand, means that I may have to wait several months before I see a check in my mailbox or a direct deposit to my account. Some publications offer their regular contributors a direct deposit option but that’s not something you will find in the guidelines.
Some publications request an author bio that can be printed with the article. Bios are common requests when submitting to professional publications. Keep this brief but include all pertinent facts about your education, professional achievements, awards, professional licenses, etc.
“Editorial Lead Time.” Editorial lead-time applies mostly to seasonal submissions and refers to how far in advance of the publication date that the editor needs the finished manuscript. Editorial lead-time may apply to other material as well and it’s extremely important that the writer keeps this in mind when working with an editor. Editorial lead-time is one of the few things that are pretty much set in concrete.
What rights the publishers are buying are probably one of the most confusing parts of a set of writer’s guidelines. They are listed in the guidelines this way:
- All Rights-the publishers is buying all rights to the material and the writer can never sell that material again to anyone without infringing upon the publications copyright.
- First Rights-the publisher wants to be the first to publish the material in a specific publication.
- First Worldwide Rights- the publisher is buying the rights to be the first to publish the material online.
- Electronic Rights-the publisher is buying the right to publish the material using any electronic media-online, CD-ROM, etc.
- First North American Serial Rights-the publisher wants to be the first to publish the material on the North American continent. In this case, it’s perfectly ok to sell it simultaneously to a publisher in Europe as long as that publisher doesn’t ask for First Worldwide Serial Rights.
- Second (Reprint) Rights-these rights give a publication the rights to reprint an article that has already appeared elsewhere.
- One Time Rights- with one time rights the publication isn’t asking to be the first one to publish the material, they just want the rights to print it one time.
- Exclusive Rights-the publication is buying exclusive rights to the material for a specified period of time, usually a period of six months to a year.
- Non-Exclusive Rights-with non-exclusive rights once published the author is free to sell it to anyone else that wants to buy it.
- Archive Rights-archive rights mostly apply to online sites and gives the site the right to keep the material in their archives for retrieval for as long as they like.
- Work For Hire-with work for hire, the publisher owns all the right to the material because it was work they hired you and paid you to write. With work for hire, you retain no rights to the material nor do you receive a byline when it’s printed.
Ok, these are your guidelines for understanding writer’s guidelines; keep them handy and refer to them as often as needed.
