New Guidelines Posted

[Ed]

Actually, they're just an update of the old guidelines, written so as to be clear and easy-to-follow for everyone, including new authors.

http://www.constant-content.com/about/w ... elines.htm

If you have questions about these guidelines, any changes that you see, or if you think they're great, please let us know.

Ed

[BarryDavidson]

You may also want to add a little tidbit about grammar, punctuation, and clarity being used to determine accepted articles. I know it seems tedious. It should be a given, but you can't teach every ducky in the pond to swim without showing them the water first.

[Ed]

I'm continually trying to weigh what should be a "given" against what may not be. You make a good point, so let me chew on it a little while. I'm trying to keep the guidelines as slim as possible so writers don't give up halfway through while still retaining all important points.

[BarryDavidson]

That huge "Articles MUST", and "We Do NOT Consider" sure did catch my attention.

I have a 22'' wide screen monitor so I keep the text size pretty small in my browser. Other than the actual lines appearing small to me, unless someone sets their resolution to higher than 1280x1024 with the test size set to smaller or smallest, it should be okay.

It reads easy to someone who has a bit of online experience, as well as some writing experience. At least you don't require double spacing between lines, title and author name as a header, and the page number displayed on each page. I almost forgot a cover letter, complete synopsis, and short author bio.

Compared to the submission guidelines of most publishers, it's pretty (expletive deleted) simple here. Even if we do place a semicolon or comma in the wrong place from time to time.

[Ed]

By the way, the guidelines for formatting are serious. The fonts in which author submit run the gamut from unreadable to almost readable if they aren't submitted in Times New Roman. Your word processor's default font isn't always ideal. Please abide by the formatting guidelines.

[Celeste Stewart]

Ed,
Can you put something in there about the file type (.doc versus .docx)? I can't count how many times I've answered questions related to that in the forums and imagine it will only get worse as more people start to use Word 2007/2008.

BTW, I like the big headings. They grab your attention and imply that these are serious rules that MUST be followed.

[Ed]

On the submission form, we indicate what files types articles should be submitted in. Since this has been added, the occurrence of docx files has been reduced. I rarely even get wps files now.

[Celeste Stewart]

Ah, thanks! Didn't notice that on the submission form.