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Writer's Guidelines - Print & Website

Horse Community Journals welcomes articles and article ideas from freelance writers for the print magazine, and for the website and blogs, as well as submissions from Canada’s horse people. Our magazine and website are for all breeds, interests, and disciplines, and cover a wide variety of topics.


Most common article and blog topics are:
•    Training and horsemanship
•    Horse health and care
•    Stable and property management
•    Horse industry opinions and commentary
•    Marketing and current trends
•    National and international events

News, letters, cartoons, and poetry are also accepted. Breed profiles, multi-part articles, columns, tributes, and book reviews are only assigned to our established writers.

In general, we do not publish the following in the print edition, but may consider publication on our website and in blogs if suitable:
•    Fiction
•    Personal essays
•    Tributes to deceased people and horses
•    Previously published articles

The best way to see what sort of content we publish is to read the magazine, which is available at major newsstands across Canada, and on our website: www.HORSEJournals.com.

The majority of our articles are assigned in advance to regular writers. However, we are always looking to expand our stable of talented freelance equestrian journalists. The best way to get your foot in our door is to demonstrate your writing ability by:
(a)    Submitting writing samples and references, and/or
(b)    Offering to write a Guest Blog for our website, on a complimentary basis, for a short period of time (e.g. weekly for four weeks).

Payment:
Payment for writers and photographers, for the print edition and online, must be negotiated with the publisher prior to commencement of work.

General:
1)    We buy First North American Serial Rights to articles for print and website, and ask that writers not re-sell print articles for a 12-month period following publication date. Bloggers may not re-submit blogs to other publications for a 6-month period following publication.
2)    All material accepted for publication is subject to such revisions as are deemed appropriate by our editors.
3)    Manuscripts and photographs will be returned only if requested and only if a stamped self-addressed envelope is provided. The return of unsolicited material is not guaranteed.
4)    Contributors warrant that all materials supplied are free of copyright and they have the legal right to use them.
5)    Poor writing, grammatical errors, misspelled words, incorrect punctuation, and poor quality research will not merit top pay and may be grounds for editors to reject the article outright, or return it for a re-write.
6)    We DO NOT accept multiple submissions of articles (articles offered to more than one publication) except in rare circumstances. Please let us know if an article has been previously published or offered to another magazine when you submit it.
7)    We will allow links in your articles if they are relevant to the topic you are writing about. We ask that you include proper attribution. Linking to your blog or website is also okay if relevant to the topic. Writers may repost blogs on their own website if desired – with a link to our site.
8)    Number and frequency of submissions, deadlines, and other relevant details to be finalized with publisher prior to commencement of work.

How to Submit:
1)    Please submit a synopsis (about 250 words) and outline for review first before sending the article manuscript in full.
2)    Article size is generally 1500-1800 words for a feature or 300-600 words for a short piece or blog. Word counts will be confirmed with the editors prior to submission of the full manuscript.
3)    For digital submissions, articles should be provided either in Word or as a plain text file.
4)    Use one inch margins and double-space, and plain text is preferred. No fancy fonts or formatting please.
5)    If specific photos will be essential to your manuscript, tell us if photos are available to accompany your article.

Submissions may be sent by email to editor@horsejournals.com, or by mail to:

Horse Journals
Attn: Kathy Smith, Editor
10148 Bowerbank Road
Sidney, BC, V8L 3T9

Please include a daytime phone number and email where you can be reached. If mailing, please include a self addressed, stamped envelope if you wish the material to be returned.

Photography: We encourage the submission of photographs corresponding to articles. For digital photos, we prefer high resolution at 300dpi. For hard copy, 4x6” in size. Please include short descriptions of each photograph, including the photographer’s name (or other photo credit), and the name of the horse(s) and person(s) shown if applicable.
   
Please note that we cannot guarantee that all submissions will be published.

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