Open Ways Writers' Guidelines
Open Ways is published on the quarters and cross-quarters by The Nine
Houses of Gaia, Inc. Please address all correspondence to:
Open Ways, attn: Editor
PO Box 6283
Vancouver, WA 98668
editor@9houses.org
Focus
Open Ways serves as an introduction to and an anchor for Pagan/Wiccan
communities in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest; a forum for the exchange
of scholarly, practical, or experiential information, knowledge,
and wisdom; a tool for instruction and communication; and, a journal
of events, announcements, ideas, poetry, prose, illustration - anything
of benefit or interest to pagans.
Guidelines for All Contributors
We welcome articles up to 3,000 words of a scholarly, historical,
news/event, or how-to nature; letters; poetry; music; rituals for group
or solo-practitioners; personal experience; interviews; and artwork.
Honor plurality and diversity. Address issues of interest to pagans,
wiccans, polytheists, or nature spiritualists. Where appropriate,
include bibliographic references, sidebars, and/or black and white
graphics.
Manuscripts will be accepted in any readable form, however we prefer
typed, double-spaced on white paper. We also accept articles via email
to editor@9houses.org, DOS diskettes in plain ASCII text or most word
processor formats; Macintosh disks are also ok. Because diskettes are
now less than $.50 each, it's not a good use of money to pay postage
to return them.
Manuscripts and letters selected for publication may be edited for
clarity, brevity, accuracy, or editorial consistency.
Always include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you wish your
work returned. Never send your only copy!
The editor reserves the right to accept or reject any manuscript or
work of art submitted for publication.
Art
Black & white line art prints best; but we will also consider
halftones and color work. If you want to send screened work, be aware that
we cannot handle any screen finer than 85 lines. Please send good 8x10
reproductions of your original art - keep the original!
Payment
Payment is in copies only.
Copyright and Permissions
All rights remain the property of the author or artist. Inquiries for
reprint information/permission are forwarded to appropriate parties.
Contributing Columnists
Column writing offers a lot of flexibility as well as a wide-ranging variety
of topics on which to expound. Contributions may be:
- Regular (or less than regular) features with the same by-line, title,
and/or premise.
- Of a subject matter that is by nature practical (how-to), historical,
literary, ethical, philosophical, educational, social, moral, political,
inspirational, magical, or whatever happens to stoke your bellows.
- In a style appropriate for the subject matter, the author's personal
taste, and the editorial guidelines of this publication.
Submit a proposal stating the intention of the column and frequency. Include
the first two or three installments and logo art.
Book Reviews
We welcome and encourage your written book reviews. These do not need to be
scholarly critiques of the material by someone with a lifetime of experience
with the subject matter; often the best, most useful reviews are written by
those with whom the readership can identify. The book you are reviewing
does not need to be a new release; for instance, no one has yet reviewed
Sprial Dance or Drawing Down the Moon for Open Ways. Readers are interested
in your reaction to the book: did you enjoy it? Did it provoke any new
ideas or changes for you? Was it useful?
Contributing Editors
Truly, this is a way for Open Ways to be a community owned resource
as well as a mirror for the wonderful and diverse people, interests,
specialities, experiences, and know-how within our community.
Contributing editorship offers individuals (or partners, families, covens,
etc.) an opportunity to develop and prepare a whole issue of the newsletter,
focusing on a theme, sabbat, scholarly work, or consciousness- raising issue
of particular interest or inspiration to them.
What's to be gained from this concept? Practically everything:
- Aspiring editors get to edit without the stress, responsibility,
or administrative hassles associated with production or long-term editorial
commitment.
- Contributing editors will generally have more lead time with which to
develop, concentrate, and prepare a collection of inter-related articles.
This will improve the consistency, quality, and focus of Open Ways.
- Exposure to multiple interests, desires, points of view, ideals, or
value systems. Open Ways respects and encourages plurality and diversity
within the community.
- The editor won't have to do it all or twist arms to
inspire others. The goal is to promote involvement, not discourage
it.
- Advance preparation of issues managed by contributing editors. This is
standard practice in the publishing world. It's how publications create and
maintain timeliness, dependability, credibility, and quality. It's also how
production windows are created, allowing staff to intercept production or
editorial snags, and to vacation or whatever they need do to be living,
being, human beings.
Submit a proposal, outline, and production schedule for the issue of
interest to you. If possible, include rough drafts of articles and sketches
of artwork.
Artwork
Open Ways encourages submissions of all kinds of artwork: Larger pieces for
the cover, smaller works for illustrations, and even smaller ones to accent
and fill in. We are usually very low on art, and often have to resort to
clipart or some other source outside the Pagan community. Line art (pen)
drawings reproduce the best; other works such as paintings or color drawings
may work okay. All artwork is converted to digital using a 600dpi flatbed
scanner and then evaluated for reproduction quality.
Poetry
We regularly run 1 to 3 pages of poetry per issue, and plan to continue this
as long as we have the poems to do so. Poems should be shorter than
epic, on Pagan/Wiccan topics. Ones that reflect your personal thoughts
and experiences are preferred.
Reporting
Open Ways needs your stories of events, speakers, and public Festivals in
your area to share with our readers. Or maybe you went for a walk in the
woods and had an interesting experience. These are stories you would share
around the circle.
July 26, 2008
webmaster@9houses.org
editor@9houses.org
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