This week’s edition of Monday Markets includes a business magazine for executives, as well as two examples of publications with very detailed writers’ guidelines. The more information you have about what the publication is looking for, the better chance you have of having your query or your article accepted.
From the Web Site:
Government Executive, a publication of National Journal Group Inc., is a business magazine serving executives and managers in the federal government. It appears twice a month from April through November, and monthly during the rest of the year. Our 75,000 subscribers are high-ranking civilian and military officials who carry out the laws that define the government’s role in our economy and society.
Government Executive aspires to serve the people who manage these huge agencies and programs much in the way that Fortune, Forbes and Business Week serve private-sector managers.
Editorial goals include:
- Covering news and trends about the organization and management of the executive branch;
- Helping federal executives improve the quality of their agencies’ services by reporting on management innovations;
- Explaining government problems and failures in ways that offer lessons about pitfalls to avoid;
- Creating a greater sense of community along the elite corps of public servants to whom the magazine circulates;
- Educating our non-government readers about the challenges federal officials confront.
Government Executive has twice won the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense, in 1990 and 1995.
TYPES OF ARTICLES WE PUBLISH
Feature Stories
These usually range in length from 1,000 to 2,500 words. Any sidebars must be figured into the total word count. Feature stories fall into these general categories:
Management Issues. These focus on topics of broad interest and include reporting from several agencies. Topics could include downsizing of agencies; reinventing government; recruitment and retention; ensuring that computers succeed in improving productivity; and upgrading training.
Agencies. These stories often focus on one agency with an eye toward finding generally applicable lessons for federal managers. For example, one story assessed the change in NASA’s culture as the agency handed off operation of the space shuttle to a private firm.
Government people. Some articles are organized around certain professions within government. For example, we’ve written about the influence of economists on policy-making, how to make the best use of agency lawyers, and how to recruit and retain a good clerical work force.
Civil Service Issues. These include articles about pay, executive training, ethics, politicization of the civil service and the impact of technology on the workplace.
Guest Columns
Our Viewpoint column provides a forum for members of our readership to share opinions or experiences. Viewpoint columns express opinions on issues relevant to civil servants. These columns are usually about 650 words long.
OUR CONTRIBUTORS
Most of our stories are staff written. We do run occasional freelance pieces, however. Following are some guidelines for different categories of would-be contributors:
Professional journalists. These may be full-time freelance writers or employees of other publications. We look for people who have expertise in civil-service issues or the management of federal agencies.
Current or former federal employees. We publish personal reflections on the problems and opportunities of public service, as well as analytical articles on the causes and solutions of real-life agency problems. However, we often prefer to assign stories suggested by government officials to writers outside of government. We think independent reporting and analysis often lends credibility to an article.
Consultants, corporate executives, public relations representatives. We shy away from articles that seem to be aimed at promoting the fortunes of any individual, product, or program. We almost never publish articles submitted by or on behalf of companies or trade associations.
HOW TO GET AN ASSIGNMENT
We prefer to receive queries about possible assignments in the form of a one- or two-page letter that lays out the subject you want to write about, the angle you will take and the sources you will interview. The letter should also detail any relevant experience you have. If you do send us a completed manuscript, be warned that deadline pressure often prevents us from considering or returning unsolicited manuscripts in a timely manner. We must be notified if you submit a piece to other publications simultaneously and if another print or online publication plans to publish it. Submissions that have appeared in another publication are copyrighted and cannot be published as original material in Government Executive. We do not return unsolicited manuscripts.
From the Web Site:
About ZiNG magazine
ZiNG is the inflight magazine for LIAT, the Caribbean Airline.
Its mission is primarily to entertain passengers while they are on LIAT flights, but it seeks to do so well enough that customers will take it home and share it with friends. ZiNG seeks to convey the excitement of all things Caribbean through vivid writing and inspiring photography, backed up by solid facts, expert advice and the very latest news.
Although LIAT has been flying for more than 50 years, we relaunched the inflight magazine in a completely new format in October 2008. With a new name and format, the current magazine bears no resemblance or relevance to LIAT inflight magazines published prior to this date. Published out of the UK four times a year, ZiNG is a highly-illustrated, full colour glossy of a size 204mm wide x 265mm tall.
A minimum of 25,000 copies of each issue are printed, and the magazine is also promoted online, at www.lime-magazine.com. The print magazine is read by LIATs one million passengers each year, and we believe the add-on readership will be the same number again by the end of 2009.
ZiNG is published on behalf of LIAT, and the airline therefore have authority to veto content and approve all pages. However, we are given a wide editorial remit and have freedom and manage all editorial planning and scheduling ourselves. As such we pride ourselves on our well-informed, objective coverage of the topics and issues that matter to travellers – be they leisure or business – across the Caribbean.
About ZiNG readers
ZiNG is read by passengers on LIAT’s flights between 22 Caribbean countries. About 85% of ZiNG’s readers live and work within the Caribbean, with only about 15% being foreigner leisure travellers. Passengers are travelling on business or for regional leisure travel, and tend to be regular travellers within the Caribbean.
What most of our readers have in common is a love and understanding of the Caribbean – and a desire to find out how to deepen their knowledge, get the very best out of their travels there and feel the sense of pride they feel towards their home. ZiNG needs to reach beyond the seat pocket and reflect the lifestyles they lead and aspire to, creating a connection with every aspect of their lives.
The challenge for us is to produce content that will surprise them, to run features they will not have seen elsewhere, and to present it in a way that connects with their identity.Contributing to ZiNG magazine
ZiNG is produced by a small team and a large proportion of our words and pictures are the work of freelance contributors. Most of these are professionals with whom we have an established relationship.
If you are interested in joining our pool of contributors we would encourage you to study the magazine carefully to ensure that your ideas and approach are appropriate for our particular publication.
Copies of the magazine can be viewed on the website: www.lime-magazine.comFeatures: content, style and tone
Your work must be:
• bright, original, vivid, evocative and clich?-free
• accurate, authentic, informative, authoritative and independent-minded
It should communicate:
• a sense of adventure
• a curiosity about, and respect for, political, cultural, social and environmental concerns
• a powerful impression of your personal experiences – preferably things you have done, rather than just things you have seen
It should include:
• a compelling hook and a dynamic argument or plot which keeps our readers reading right to the end
• fresh information that our readers are unlikely to find elsewhere, or:
• an original approach to, or angle on, a better-known subject
Wherever relevant and feasible, you should introduce readers to people you have encountered – experts, locals, fellow travellers. Include revealing quotes which add weight or colour to your subject.
From the Web Site:
GoNOMAD is always looking for talented, dedicated travel writers, photographers and researchers to join our team.
We welcome queries and articles from professional travel writers and travelers with a strong writing style and something unique to share with our audience. We pay for articles that are high quality, informative and provide useful guidance for a future traveler.
TIP! If you have a website, add a link to GoNOMAD’s writer’s guidelines or to a story on GoNOMAD that you like. If you query us and show us a link you’ve put up, we’ll move you to the top of the list.Add GoNOMAD’s writer’s guidelines and your story link to Facebook and other social networks to help us pass the word. We love a good Twitter as much as the next guy! Help promote us as we publish your travel writing.
And the list is long, so bear with us if it takes a while to see your story published. Writers who contribut to GoNOMAD have also been published in the Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post and hundreds of other prestigious titles…but they love being on GoNOMAD because it’s so accessible and easy to find on the web.
TIP! We are currently trying to fill in gaps in our story library. We want additional features about the following places the most. An article set in one of these destinations will move you to the top of the list.
Countries: Angola, Benin, Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Maldives. Lebanon, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia.
States Delaware, Indiana, Mississippi, No. Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, DC, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Idaho.
We also encourage you to be creative: Send us a audio recording (mp3) and photos to go with it; send us a photo gallery and travelogue about an exciting trip; shoot a one-minute video that we can place next to your story, develop a new theme about our kind of travel. We’re open to ideas and can work with you to create a great looking feature story. We can also include your
email so that readers can contact you with their feedback, and are happy to include links to personal websites and mention any books or publications you’ve written for.TIP! Subscribe to GoNOMAD’s monthly newsletter (see link at left) to keep up with what we’re publishing and so you’ll know what we’re all about.
Please read these Writers’ Guidelines carefully before submitting. If you have any further questions, please
e-mail the editor. PLEASE DO NOT CALL WITH QUESTIONS. Really.GoNOMAD CURRENTLY ACCEPTS FREELANCE ARTICLES FOR OUR FEATURES DEPARTMENTS
TIP! Make it easy for us…SEND EVERYTHING IN ONE EMAIL!! Don’t make us try to find what we need in three different emails, instead give us an easy to use package: a link to your photos, your article and your headshot, bio, email and blog links.
FEATURE ARTICLESFeature articles must cover a unique aspect of the cultural or natural environments of our featured destinations. We like up-to-date destination guides about fascinating places. But we’ve also published stories about a single New York neighborhood, or a place you can visit in New Orleans that takes you back in time. A short visit isn’t going to give you enough knowledge to write a guidebook, so instead of trying to cover it all, pick a really interesting feature, or aspect, and run with that.
Start with where you live…if you can write a good guide to your neck of the woods, that is the perfect start. Read the site, pick up the style in which we present our ideas, and follow suit. DETAILS ARE IMPORTANT!TIP! Specifics are very important. Don’t generalize, give us the names, addresses, phone numbers, prices and websites. Give us the details we’ll need if we want to go there.
Stories should be anywhere from 800 to 2,000 words long. but most of the stories we use are best at about 1400 words. Try to stay focused on the main theme, but don’t hesitate to include interesting asides. The only limitation should be the reader’s interest.
Specifically, we are accepting queries and articles that fit within the following departments:
- Journeys
A first-person account of a unique journey.- Features about an aspect of a place or an experience that you can share which provides a special insight into a place, a community or a country.
- Destination guides to your favorite region/city.
TIP! Read this article with travel writing tips from three travel editors!
- Go Local
Know of a way to get really close to the local culture or environment of a destination? Tell us about learning, volunteer or other alternative travel opportunities that really engage you with local culture. With sidebar contact.Destinations
Tell us about a specific destination, including travel details sidebar (lodgings, getting there, tours or activities, restaurants, markets, arts, health and safety, etc.) Follow the format of some of the articles on the site. WE CURRENTLY ARE SEEKING MORE STORIES ABOUT WOMEN”S TRAVEL, FAMILY TRAVEL, and features about great travel experiences. We are not as interested in long descriptions of your trip, but of a highlighted event, place or lodging that would really make some else’s trip better had they known about it.Below is a description of what we regularly publish:
DESTINATION MINI-GUIDES
Destination Mini-Guides are shorter guides to a specific, singular destination. Essentially, extended bullet-lists, they include the following info with of course, many photos to show and tell what is worth knowing about for the place you are writing about:
- Destination
- Why Go?
- When to Go
- Getting there and around
- Best Attraction
- Best Unusual Attraction
- Best Activity or Tour
- Best Alternative
- Best Lodgings
- Best Eats
- Best Shopping (if appropriate)
- Note (anything else important)