Edible Indy Writer's Guidelines
Writer's guidelines are just that—a guide … and they’re in place to help streamline the submission process, not to mention the editing process. We’re lucky to have all of our talented writers and are especially fond of the ones who consistently follow our publication’s guidelines. And if we’re fond of you because one, you write engaging content and two, you follow directions, then you’re likely to continue to get assignments from us. So here you go … if you have any questions refer to the Associated Press Style Manual or drop us a line.
WRITER'S GUIDELINES
Font size: 10 pt.
Font style: Gill Sans (if you don’t have Gill Sans, use Arial)
Margins: Narrow
Format: Word document
The top of each piece should contain:
Department: Where the story fits in the magazine
Dek: Dek describes in greater detail the headline
Headline: Headline is the main title
Byline: By [your name]
Articles over 300 words should include at least one subhead. Articles at 500 or more, two subheads with clearly marked sidebar and or pullout quotes when requested.
No bolded, underlined or italicized text UNLESS it is a title—then please adhere to the AP.
Everything should be single spaced with one space after a period ending a sentence.
No bullets. (Yea, yea, we have them here, but we don’t like them in print.)
Each direct quote begins a new paragraph.
Use quotation marks for quotes … not for emphasis.
Write with an active voice, not passive.
Do not use serial (Oxford) commas, i.e. bread, milk and cookies not bread, milk, and cookies
All phone numbers should be written in the following format: 317.317.3173 (not dashes).
And please, don’t use an exclamation point unless it’s truly an exclamatory sentence.
As for hyperlinks, if you’re submitting an article for print, there is no such thing as a hyperlink—reference the website address. If this is for our website, underline hyperlinks DO NOT change the font color. Also, be sure to use anchoring text, not “click here.”
And it goes without saying (but we’re going to say it anyway) ALWAYS spell-check content, including all names of individuals, businesses and locations. If you’re not sure on something, reference the AP guide.
Be sure to include a two to three sentence bio and the end of of the article. See other
edible Indy issues for an example.
When providing a sidebar, pull quote, or other information use brackets, i.e. [sidebar] [pullquote] to inform us that it should be included, but not placed in the text of the article.
RECIPES
Title: Give the recipe a name. Doesn’t have to be fancy (“Rhubarb Pie”will do) but creativity doesn’t hurt (“Grandma Mildred’s Lip-Smackin’Rhubarb Pie” is better).
Headnote: Not required, but sometimes a sentence or two of context can be helpful. Maybe the story of how this recipe came to be, or a favorite source for the key ingredient, or a suggestion of when or with what to serve it. Keep this short and put it right under the title.
Yield: Could be “Serves 6”or “Makes 3 dozen”or whatever, but put it next.
Ingredients: Please list the ingredients in the ORDER they are called for in the instructions. Place each ingredient on its own line. SPELL OUT measures: teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, pound and avoid unnecessary extra words; “½ a cup of oil” would be better as “½ cup oil”.
Prep instructions: Use numerals for all numbers, even though our style for non-recipe text often dictates spelling them out. Recipes are different. DO NOT number the steps. Start a new paragraph at logical breaks in the action, but not necessarily after every step. Again, avoid unnecessary extra words; “Preheat the oven”would be better as “Preheat oven.” Instructions for plating, garnishing and serving should go at the end.
Degrees: When using degrees, use the symbol for degrees and F, i.e. 350°F (can find through “insert”and “symbol”or on a Mac °is Opt+Shift+8).
Triple-check your facts. Nothing is more irritating than ruining a dish because the recipe said “¾ cup”when it meant “3–4 cups” or when the cook’s handwritten “2 Tbs”gets translated “2 teaspoons” rather than “2 tablespoons.” Also, ensure ALL ingredients in the ingredient list are in the recipe description.
At the end include a recipe author bio similar to the contributor’s bio mentioned above.
PHOTOS and GRAPHICS
If you are asked to collect photos for your article, they must be in “hi-res” format. Photos
should be submitted in the following sizes or submitted in the format straight from the camera download.
Photo guidelines:
300+ dpi
Minimum of 1000KB or 1MB
2736 x 3648 for a 9.12 x 12.16 page (full page)
1536 x 2048 for a 5.12 x 6.827 page (half page)
Send raw or non-cropped photos if possible
WE NEVER ACCEPT CELL PHONE PHOTOS
All photos should have a credit line included and if possible, provide at the bottom of the article
submission captions for the photos included.
Contributors submitting content to edible Indy shall follow these guidelines. Any content not following these guidelines will be returned to the contributor and asked to be edited. These guidelines are necessary for consistency with all freelance contributors. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in loss of compensation.
COMPENSATION
Any agreed upon compensation request should be included with final draft of article via invoice. All invoices are paid five days after issue drop date and not prior.
Edible Indy
PO Box 155
Zionsville, IN 46077
EdibleIndy.com
317.489.9194
info@edibleindy.com
# # #
10.11.2016
