CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Being a contributing writer for CSM can be rewarding and fun. The best part however is, you do not have to have a degree in journalism, be an investigative journalist, or have prior magazine writing experience. In order to be one of our writers you will need to have writing skills [of course] and a passion for nonprofit organizations, community service and know how to tell a good factual based story.

There are three ways to participate as a contributor to CSM:

1. Geographical assignments - As you should be able to see from the geographic map, the United States is broken down into [8] regions each having 5-7 assigned states. When we receive story information in a particular state we will assign the story to one of our contributing writers in the area.
2. Self-submission - Submissions for stories can be submitted by the contributing writer. The process of story submission must follow the protocol outlined below.
   
   If you are interested in being a contributing writer for CSM please complete the following information and provide a writing sample:
   
   
3. Photographer - Photos are essential to visualizing the service that is being provided in our communities. Photographers can be independent or the contributing writer can submit photos as well. All photos must be taken and submitted from a digital camera.

Compensation:

We know the next question: Are contributing writers compensated for their works? Absolutely! And the best part is, you keep the rights to your work. Note: Compensation is negotiated per assignment.

Photo submissions will have a separate compensation scale, therefore contributing writers that submit the story as well as acceptable, clear usable photos will be compensated for the story + the photos.

General Writing Guidelines:

Crystal Spirit Publishing, Inc., assumes first North American print and electronic rights to written materials and works for hire; it assumes exclusive rights for six months from date of publication. You retain other rights, with certain exceptions. Review your writer’s contract for details.

Reprints and Clips

We are mostly concerned with exclusive print and Web rights for at least six months. After that, you can resell the article (as submitted, not as edited).

*Please note: If we have substantially edited, added to or otherwise altered the article and you still wish to use the piece as a clip (or otherwise represent it as your independent work), please ask us first. Editors typically do not like receiving clips that are not substantively representative of a writer’s own quality and style, and we don’t wish to encourage that practice. When in doubt, contact us with questions.

Resources/Sources

• All articles are to be original stories. Once assigned, the responsibility of the writer is to visit the organization, conduct interviews and develop the story. A photographer will be assigned to take pictures. The stories should focus upon the objective of the organization, its successes and failures, best practices and the like. The reader should feel touched by the story and learn from the organization's trials and growth.
  
• Editing is inevitable therefore we require that an early draft or outline of the work be submitted before the final copy is due, so that we can redirect or make suggestions before you get too far into it. When the story is assigned a guidance outline is provided detailing the scope and function of the organization and what we are specifically seeking within the story. However, it is the writer’s responsibility to be creative and add to the story to make it interesting and fun.

Deadlines

We have one major rule for our writers…

GET IT TO US ON TIME….PERIOD!!!

Changes/Approvals

As previously stated; editing is inevitable, therefore, we may necessary ask you to make changes and resubmit your works. We may also do additional copy changes on your resubmission. If we’ve asked you to make substantive changes and don’t see them adequately handled in your rewrite (and particularly if we don’t have time to send the piece back to you again) we may have to fix the piece ourselves.

Our goal is not to deconstruct your work. Rather our goal is to retain your original structure, content and tone while still producing the type of story that was initially envisioned.

We reserve the right to make sweeping changes if we see them as necessary. And sometimes we do. Please don’t take changes personally. That’s part of the editing process.

Absolute NO NO'S

Everyone has their own writing style and all literary works are not the same (especially the type of stories that we are seeking), but I would like for you to refrain from the following:

1. Negativity: The objective for the articles is to be positive, upbeat, and informative. We are celebrating the good work that is being done not exemplifying negativity. The stories should not include anything negative, however, if negative statements are crucial to the story, we ask that you submit the rationale for inclusion with your notes.
2. Rambling Structure: No one wants to read, read, read and feel lost or confused. Rambling will do this to a reader and ultimately they will lose interest.

   Remember: “Introduction, body, conclusion” is only as boring as the writing therein! Avoid abrupt or arbitrary “and another thing” transitions. Remember, this is a newly developed story therefore figuring out what the reader really needs to know and is likely to be curious about should be as simple as the story based on how your interview and site visit develops

3. Bad endings or clichéd endings: Endings can be challenging, however, it is really important that you end on a strong, compelling note, ideally one that ties your story together, or speaks for its basic premise.

Review

You will generally have an opportunity to review an article at least once before it goes to print. During this review, we ask that you do your final round of fact checking, confirm quotes (particularly tweaked quotes), triple-check name and company spellings, book titles, Web addresses, etc. We also want to make sure you are happy with the piece overall. If you aren’t, please let us know so we can work it out.

Bylines and Bios

All articles get bylined. If you feel strongly about being bylined (or not being bylined) for a particular piece, particularly one that has been heavily edited, please let us know.