Writer Submission Proposal Guidelines
Thank you for inquiring about submitting articles to Soul of Virginia. We accept submissions by only email and must follow the below guidelines. Please use the below submission form to submit a written proposal of 250 to 300 words as a preliminary query. The proposal should convince us that we should cover the subject, offer descriptive information on how you, the writer, would treat the subject, and offer us an opportunity to judge your writing ability. Background information and writing credentials are helpful.
Proposals
Type or paste your proposal or attach a [PDF} to an email that includes a cover letter and a proposal.
Email Address:
Confirm Email:
First Name:
Last Name:
Street Address:
Apt. #:
City:
State/Province:
Zip/Postal Code:
Country:
Telephone: e.g. (999) 999-9999
Have you written for Soul of Virginia before? Yes No
Please list some of your publishing credits. You may also include URL's or links (e.g. www.soulofvirginia.com) to your published articles or clips.
Proposal Delivery Instructions
Please email your article/content proposals to: proposal@soulofvirginia.com
Type your specific proposal subject or the title of your manuscript (e.g. The History of the Fountain Pen) on your email “Subject Line” PROPOSAL: article on [...] and the body of your email has the following structure:
Proposal Format
Magazine Subject/Topic/Category
Choose the subject area or department that best fits the article you are proposing. This will assist us in directing your proposal to the appropriate editor. Read Writer’s Guidelines carefully.
Target:
Write your article’s target here. Think about the person who is reading it: what do they know? How well do they know it? What are they curious about?
Aim:
Write your article’s aim here. What is it going to tell the reader? How? Why will the reader know more about the subject after reading this article?
Abstract
Write your article’s abstract here. It should be a summary of the whole article, in just 10-15 lines.
Outline:
-First heading
-Second heading
-Third heading
-Fourth heading
For each heading, please provide 3 to 6 lines that explain what that section of the article will contain.
If the proposal is accepted, you will be given a deadline for handing in the complete article.
Please keep in mind that you won’t be able to hand in your article if it’s not valid and well formatted. Please check that your article follows the template.
You must use a spell checker to check typos and errors in your article before handing it in.
You must read the style guide while writing the article.
You should stick with the article outline however, you can make changes if you think they’re appropriate.
Sending the article
You will receive detailed instructions on how to hand in your article once it’s assigned to you.
Figures
You must include artwork/photos/illustrations with your article.
If you are desperate for figures, you can use stock images from these URLs:
Contact the image’s author if you are not sure about copyright issues.
Please remember that the artwork/photos should be [800 - 1024] x [591 - 1181] pixels wide.
Outcome
We cannot guarantee that we will accept every submitted article. There are three possibile responses:
• The article is accepted after minor or no editing by our editors.
• The article is accepted, but major editing is necessary.
• The article is refused.
There are several reasons why an article might be rejected. We will always try to tell you why an article has been rejected.
Publication and copyright
If your article is published in FSM, you will retain the copyright. We do ask our authors to submit original material, and release the article under a free license.
All of articles are released under a free licence as soon as they are published on our web site and on our magazine.
Which free license will my article be published under?
It’s up to you! the only requirement is that the article is released under a free license. This is what we prefer:
• Articles should be released under a verbatim copying only license, or under a Creative Commons license of your choice.
Also, if you have your own web site or online business and would like to exchange a banner ad (or a PDF ad) with an article, please let us know;we will probably be more than willing to do an exchange.
Please keep in mind that:
• We will edit your article professionally for free
• We will give your article great exposure on our web site
• The magazine is downloaded by tens of thousands people worldwide
