GUIDELINES
FOR WRITERS
Thank you for you interest in writing for the Permaculture
Activist, the world's longest running journal on
permaculture and related subjects. The following
guidelines will help you prepare and submit materials
for publication consideration.
Deadlines
& Publication Schedule
We
publish 4 issues per year. Deadlines for ads and article
submissions are:
March
1
June 1
September
1
December
1
Magazines
are mailed to subscribers and news stands about 6
weeks after deadline:
May
August
November
February
Upcoming
Themes & Submission Deadlines:
#88,
Earth Skills & Nature Awareness Mar 1, 2013
#89,
Practicing Democracy, Jun 1, 2013
#90,
Appropriate Technology, Sept 1, 2013
Please
read guidelines below before submitting material.
Thank you.
SUBMITTING WRITTEN MATERIALS
The
Activist accepts feature articles; book, video, and film reviews;
reports on conferences, convergences, and gatherings of interest;
brief news items, "From the Regions"; "Movement Musings"; letters
to the editor, and other materials.
- Feature
articles should be 1,500-3,000 words
in length and on topics of the widest possible interest that address
the theme of the particular issue (Upcoming
themes and deadlines for future issues are published in each
issue). We want experienced permaculturists to write about what
they know but if you write about your site, project, course, etc.,
it must be of general interest and application, not simply to
promote yourself or your work. Whenever possible, cite examples
from other projects or permaculturists with which you are familiar
and give practical details so that readers not only understand
your project but can cull and use information and techniques you
have used and perfected.
Important
questions to consider and answer in your article include: How
did you do it? What was the design process? Who participated?
How long did it take? At what stage is the project? What was learned
from successes and mistakes? How does the project embody specific
permaculture ethics and principles? What are the plans for the
future?
- Reviews
of books, video, or film should be from 500 to 1,200 words
in length.
- "From
the Regions" items are brief reports about news and happenings
of interest in the writer's area and may be submitted as news
releases or short features of between 800 and 1,000 words.
These items need not relate directly to the theme of an issue.
Items that relate to date-specific events, courses, etc., should
be submitted as calendar or events listings.
- Reports
on convergences, conferences, and gatherings of interest may be
submitted as features or as items for "From the Regions" if they
reflect a regional focus. These items need not relate directly
to the theme of an issue.
- "Movement
Musings" are akin to editorials or they may report on
aspects of permaculture education, organization, or social and
political impacts. They should reflect the writer's views and
experiences on topics of interest in permaculture (1,000-1,500
words). These items do not need to relate directly to
the theme of an issue.
Submission of
materials to the Activist is not a guarantee of publication. We
use many criteria to select items to publish including, but not
limited to: relevance to the issue's theme, general interest to
readers, good writing and clear communication of the subject, balance
of subjects and geographic focus or origin of articles in each issue,
use of photos and illustrations, and other considerations. We read
all submissions received by deadline but may decline to publish
any item or may hold a story for publication in a future issue.
We will notify writers of our decision in advance of publication.
We cannot be responsible to return unsolicited items.
ADVANCE
NOTICE OF YOUR SUBMISSION
If you wish to submit an article, it is very important that you
let us know what you are thinking before the deadline. A short e-mail
or phone call outlining your story idea is sufficient and helps
us plan the content of an issue in advance. We may ask you to include
a specific focus in your article. Advising us of your intentions
and ideas in advance will enhance your chances of being published.
Write to editor@permacultureactivist.net.
DEADLINES
The Permaculture Activist is a quarterly published in February,
May, August and November. Deadline for submitting materials
is the first of the month two months prior to publication (e.g.
December 1 is the deadline for February, March 1 for May, June 1
for August, and September 1 for November).
Materials submitted after deadlines will not be considered for publication
in the upcoming issue.
WRITING
STYLE
If you have questions about style, grammar, punctuation, etc. please
consult The Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press).
We really appreciate writers' submitting materials in the style
of the magazine.
EDITING
YOUR WORK
We reserve the right to edit all materials submitted for content,
grammar, punctuation, length, clarity, and accuracy. We may ask
writers to fact check and provide additional documentation and references
of factual material included in their work. If substantial edits
are made, we will make every effort to send the writer the edited
version in advance of publication for comments or may ask the writer
to revise or re-write. We will not contact writers regarding edits
for grammar, style, or punctuation.
PHOTOS
AND GRAPHICS
If you are submitting photos, they should be in digital format at
150 dpi, no smaller than 5"x7" format, no larger than 8"x10", and
saved as .tif or .jpg files. All photos must be accompanied by captions
identifying the subject of the photo, location, and all people pictured.
If you have hard copy photos or slides you wish to submit, please
make arrangements with the editor well in advance. Graphics should
be as simple as possible with clear, bold lines, good contrast,
and as little screening as possible. We prefer to receive graphics
as .tif files.
PERMISSIONS
Writers are solely responsible for obtaining permissions for copyrighted
or protected materials they submit to the Activist. This includes
quotes, lyrics, excerpts from others' works, releases from people
in photos, original and protected artwork, etc. You must obtain
all necessary permissions before you submit your materials and submission
of them to the Activist constitutes the writer's guarantee that
all permissions have been granted. Writers are responsible for supplying
the Activist with all credits for use of others' work (e.g. "photo
courtesy of _______" or "excerpt used with permission of the author").
Upon publication,
the Permaculture Activist owns first North American publishing rights
to your materials unless other arrangements have been made with
us in writing in advance. This means that if you wish to have your
material published elsewhere, you must request permission from the
Activist (which we almost always grant) and your materials
when published elsewhere must include the credit "Originally published
in the Permaculture Activist." Materials republished online must
include a link to the Permaculture Activist.
While we prefer
to publish original, previously unpublished work, we do consider
materials that have been published elsewhere, but you must disclose
this upon submission of your work and have secured permission for
republication in the Activist.
OTHER
QUESTIONS
Please feel free to contact us if you have other questions or thoughts
at
Many
thanks for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you.