Here at the Scriptorium we welcome submissions for several of our departments. If you send us well-written material, we offer you a resource box where you can advertise yourself, your services or product. We welcome reprints, and we'll also try to provide you with feedback if you submit something we can't use.

Read our guidelines below, and then if you'd like to know more, bounce an idea off us, or send us a submission, do it all by e-mailing submit@thescriptorium.net with "Submissions" in the subject line. We'll be sure to respond!

editor's & contributor's guidelines

This document briefly describes the departments we provide here in the Scriptorium, what we're looking for by way of content for them, how we present it, and other general submission rules and tips.

departments

creativity
In this department we look for ideas for freewriting prompts and word puzzles. If you aren't sure what freewriting is, check out our creativity page. Idea prompts should be short and fairly specific. See some examples here.

on writing
This is a real grab-bag department; articles, personal essays, author interviews and just about anything else of a writing slant could end up here. Length requirement starts at about 500 words. Relevant hot links may be included (please provide the full URL and see general submission guidelines below for how to format them in your document).

links
Every issue we try to add to our growing library of writing-related links with 3-5 suggestions. Linked sites should fall within one of the listed categories (or you could suggest a new one), be easy to navigate, and provide information of use or interest to writers. We list the URL of the site and a brief description of what visitors will find there.

software
We also try to suggest useful or interesting software programs for writers. This department is added to sporadically, as new software comes to our attention. It is not necessarily updated every issue. Software we suggest should be easily downloaded, installed, and run without bugs or crashes. We include a description of the program and its uses, the size of the download file, limitations if the download is a demo, and the cost to register.

reading
Most issues contain one or two book reviews. At least one of the reviews is of a book pertaining to writing or of interest to writers. Other books may be in any genre or publishing format, although even here we try to have some relevance to writing or writers (for example, in our October issue we review a children's e-book. We also interviewed the author for our on writing department, and the e-book format tied in to an article on e-publishing in our September issue). Reviews can run up to 1000 words. Please include title and author information, ISBN number, cover price (if available), and purchasing information in the case of e-books.

articles
We like to suggest up to five articles on writing per issue. Feel free to suggest your own! Articles may be online or in the print media. These articles should be well-written and provide content on any aspect of writing or the writing life. Articles we suggest should be attributed to a specific author (anonymous articles are often the result of plagiarism). We include the URL of online articles and publication information of print articles, and a brief description of the article's content, sometimes also citing relevant information about the author's credentials.

toolbox
Do you have a writing tool you love and want to share with others, or a question for our quick q&a's? Send it along!

glossary
Additions to the glossary of writing terms are always welcome. Be sure the definition is not simply copied from another source, however.

general submission guidelines

Submissions for any of these departments should be embedded in the body of or attached to an e-mail in plain text, .rtf, Lotus WordPro or AmiPro, WordPerfect or MS Word formats (and preferably in Courier, Arial or Times New Roman font), and sent to submit@thescriptorium.net. Be sure to include your name and return e-mail address, and the department to which you are submitting.

If you want to insert a hot link in your file, place the URL before the word or phrase you want to make active, enclosed in ( ) or <>, and indicate the end of the active words with an empty ( ) or <>. Example: "(http://www.thescriptorium.net) The Scriptorium ( )" This format makes it easy for us to identify your links and change them into HTML.

Spell check before you submit! We won't reject a submission out of hand just because of a typo or two, but spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors damage your credibility.

We will do our best to respond to all submissions within one month.

home | editorial | on writing | creativity | reading | toolbox | articles | software | young writers | links
news | workshops | downloads | shops | archives | submissions | advertise

The Scriptorium E-Zine for Writers
ISSN 1492-949X
Editor and Publisher: Sherry D. Ramsey, sherry@thescriptorium.net
Associate Editor: Julie A. Serroul, julie@thescriptorium.net
Columnist: Sue Fagalde Lick, suelick@casco.net
Site Design: Sherry D. Ramsey

All material copyright Sherry D. Ramsey unless otherwise noted.
Visit Sherry's author site
Please report any viewing/navigation difficulties

---