We are not a "news" organisation and have no aspirations toward becoming one at this time. We have no journalists on staff and no press photographers - and we're not organised to cover "events" unless through one of our "usual" contributors. Our remit has always been to provide a platform for contributors, to "spread the word" about their club or society - and that has remained unchanged since the first issue of 1974.
The Advertiser cannot compromise its position as a vehicle to produce revenue from advertising for the common good, so one-off press releases and submissions which would be better served by an advertisement are not usually welcomed. Neither are pieces which trail "town events" long in advance - even those very few and privileged events for which we are usually able to find room.
Competition for space means that restricting coverage for town events to one issue before the event takes place is now our default position. Write-ups from event organisers after the event will similarly be limited to a single issue - and should of course contain news about the triumphant success of the event as a major theme, where possible. They should NOT contain a long list of thanks to event contributors, those who have donated or those who have been kind enough to act as sponsors. Apart from the fact that this kind of submission circuits our advertising policy and is open to be abused as a "reward" mechanism by event organisers - it's also very dull. "Thanks to all who attended, contributed and sponsored the event" works fine...
The Advertiser is very happy to be able to offer "free publishing and distribution" to contributors on behalf of Tetbury Lions – but no club, organisation or event committee should presume the right to space – that materials submitted will be published - or that if they are published, that they will appear in exactly in the form provided. Articles are regularly altered to conform to "House style" and to provide "Continuity within Articles." They are occasionally altered merely to provide a better layout or a better "page fit."
The Advertiser similarly reserves the right to "hold out" or reject articles - and to make alterations without recourse to the provider, as the editor sees fit - although every care is always taken. On the occasions - fortunately rare - that a mistake is made, the editor is happy to publish a clarification or a correction in the next issue.
Unfortunately, the simple fact is that in order to control issue size and to ensure that the magazine remains financially viable, articles quite often must be left out. This is done on a rotational basis if possible, but sometimes simply has to be more arbitrary, as publishing deadline approaches. Articles which aren’t time-critical or of immediate widespread appeal are the first to be considered for publication later in the year.
Limitations:
The Advertiser layout (which remains quite rigid since it allows us to produce the magazine quickly, and therefore more cheaply,) may be too confining in format for particular kinds of content. As in any published material, the only way to guarantee that copy appears exactly as it is submitted is to pay for it! Our “advertorial” rates are the same as those for larger sized semi-display adverts; £66 for a quarter page, £110 for a half page and £198 for a full page. If you’re determined to secure all the words in your content then, or your images, or your layout, you should perhaps consider paying the page rate. Adverts are always very welcome and "advertorial" often gives rise to excellent content, so is very welcome.
Editorial submissions – general form:
Articles accepted for publication are confined to two forms; “shorts” at around 300 words, which are easier to place - and “regular” items, which are around 500 words. Sometimes articles may extend to 600 words if the material absolutely requires and deserves it, but please be aware that this does not happen often. Once again, the editor has the right to amend, cut or indeed “hold out” material, as is necessary to the layout, content and/or appearance of the magazine - and will perform editing actions without consultation, recourse, acknowledgement or explicit permission.
Articles should be provided in Microsoft Word, in spellchecked form and with the word count function used, to ensure that they do not exceed the allocated word count. (There is no need to include the number of words at the foot of the text.)
Editorial pieces should not contain overt references to forthcoming events and their details to circuit the process of buying an advertisement.
This also applies to "Letters to the Editor."
General references to something which will soon be happening are of course permissible in contributor articles, but purely “forthcoming event” pieces will be culled in whole or in part – and certainly amended to remove mention of ticket processing, prices and other specific details calculated to avoid paying for advertising. This rule is sometimes tested by those who submit articles and purchase “accompanying” advertising, in the belief that paying for a piece of a page for an advert allows accompanying editorial to do the same as the advert. Misusing the free forum of the Advertiser in this way is an abuse of pages intended to benefit the entire community – it undermines the confidence and good opinion of advertisers - and it annoys the editor.
Editorial "House Style":
Articles should include:
- Clearly structured and discrete paragraphs. Articles with lots of separate sentences which leap between subjects and make the article difficult to read should be avoided. At worst case during the editing process, sometimes whole paragraphs may need to be omitted; to do so when paragraphs vary with changes of subject or in importance makes it much easier for the editor to accomplish.
- Illustrative photographs when possible – either as attachments or in the text of the Word document. Having a choice of several photographs is always welcomed - although it’s usual that only one or two will be used, for reasons of space. Photographs included may not necessarily be used, or indeed be included positioned as they are in the Word document submitted, but the editor will try hard to place things logically in respect to the “flow” of a piece.
- Items of wider public interest and appeal are what the Advertiser aims to share. Lists of results from a sports team then, for instance, are likely to be of interest only to the sports team and to their immediate friends and families, rather than to a wider readership. Please consider producing a newsletter for your membership, if this is the level of detailed information you would like to share.
- Reference to your own web site or other source of material for clarification should be included, especially if the content is too long, too detailed, too cumbersome or too unwieldy to be captured in the word count allocated.
- a meaningful signature in italics on two lines, separate from the body of the piece, should be included. Readers like to know who wrote the editorial and what position they occupy in the organisation to which the piece refers. The editor will supply a signature to the best of his ability, if one is not provided.
Articles should not include:
- Items liable to make the page layout difficult to accomplish, for instance bullet points, indented text, long lists of “thanks” to individuals or groups, or other strangely punctuated material.
- Tables, large (or small) and references to “the photograph, below” or "above", or "attached," or specific reference to the content of photos. Phrases such as "as the photograph clearly shows" should also be avoided where possible. We cannot guarantee that all photographs or tables will be published...
- Imported graphics, if they are different to the filed “logo” of the organisation, should be excluded. The Advertiser can’t check the origin of third party material and copyright issues can be very difficult for imported designs and images, so they are generally omitted.
- Generally, text submitted should be neutral in format, so large crossheads, material IN CAPITALS bold text, italic text or coloured text should be also be omitted. Please don't include photographs and run text around them; they're not going to appear in the magazine in that form and "unpicking" layout takes time which we'd like to invest elsewhere.
- An overwhelming amount of exclamation marks should be avoided. If material is funny or amusing or shocking, readers will know - so inclusion of multiple exclamation marks should not be necessary…!!!!
- References to the weather or the time of year should be left out, if they can possibly be resisted. Many Advertiser articles tend to begin with weather references or with “Well, here we are in November” introductory sentences. This can become jarring when readers are encountering it often, within our 50-or-so articles of content. Similarly, "as I write this," "by the time you read this," "at the time of writing" and so on, are wonderful sentences to excise, throw away and if possible, stamp upon.
- long items of poetry or verse or third-party text or long quotations should also be avoided, if possible.
Things which it would be nice to never see again, are:
- Double spaces after sentences. All articles must be searched to remove sentences which end with a period and a double space. The Advertiser uses single spaces, always; it would be nice if articles arrived that way.
- It would be a quite tremendous leap forward if dates did not arrive in any other form than “the 12th of September” or times in any other form than “at 6.00 pm.” These elements are one part of what is called “house style” and all dates and times are altered to reflect this format.
- it would be exciting not to see numbers in text. Please present “one hundred and eighty-six people” in that form if you can, rather than the considerably less elegant “186 people.”
- Submissions which reflect Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style,” would be most favoured. It’s a useful guide. More information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style
Many thanks!
The Advertiser cannot compromise its position as a vehicle to produce revenue from advertising for the common good, so one-off press releases and submissions which would be better served by an advertisement are not usually welcomed. Neither are pieces which trail "town events" long in advance - even those very few and privileged events for which we are usually able to find room.
Competition for space means that restricting coverage for town events to one issue before the event takes place is now our default position. Write-ups from event organisers after the event will similarly be limited to a single issue - and should of course contain news about the triumphant success of the event as a major theme, where possible. They should NOT contain a long list of thanks to event contributors, those who have donated or those who have been kind enough to act as sponsors. Apart from the fact that this kind of submission circuits our advertising policy and is open to be abused as a "reward" mechanism by event organisers - it's also very dull. "Thanks to all who attended, contributed and sponsored the event" works fine...
The Advertiser is very happy to be able to offer "free publishing and distribution" to contributors on behalf of Tetbury Lions – but no club, organisation or event committee should presume the right to space – that materials submitted will be published - or that if they are published, that they will appear in exactly in the form provided. Articles are regularly altered to conform to "House style" and to provide "Continuity within Articles." They are occasionally altered merely to provide a better layout or a better "page fit."
The Advertiser similarly reserves the right to "hold out" or reject articles - and to make alterations without recourse to the provider, as the editor sees fit - although every care is always taken. On the occasions - fortunately rare - that a mistake is made, the editor is happy to publish a clarification or a correction in the next issue.
Unfortunately, the simple fact is that in order to control issue size and to ensure that the magazine remains financially viable, articles quite often must be left out. This is done on a rotational basis if possible, but sometimes simply has to be more arbitrary, as publishing deadline approaches. Articles which aren’t time-critical or of immediate widespread appeal are the first to be considered for publication later in the year.
Limitations:
The Advertiser layout (which remains quite rigid since it allows us to produce the magazine quickly, and therefore more cheaply,) may be too confining in format for particular kinds of content. As in any published material, the only way to guarantee that copy appears exactly as it is submitted is to pay for it! Our “advertorial” rates are the same as those for larger sized semi-display adverts; £66 for a quarter page, £110 for a half page and £198 for a full page. If you’re determined to secure all the words in your content then, or your images, or your layout, you should perhaps consider paying the page rate. Adverts are always very welcome and "advertorial" often gives rise to excellent content, so is very welcome.
Editorial submissions – general form:
Articles accepted for publication are confined to two forms; “shorts” at around 300 words, which are easier to place - and “regular” items, which are around 500 words. Sometimes articles may extend to 600 words if the material absolutely requires and deserves it, but please be aware that this does not happen often. Once again, the editor has the right to amend, cut or indeed “hold out” material, as is necessary to the layout, content and/or appearance of the magazine - and will perform editing actions without consultation, recourse, acknowledgement or explicit permission.
Articles should be provided in Microsoft Word, in spellchecked form and with the word count function used, to ensure that they do not exceed the allocated word count. (There is no need to include the number of words at the foot of the text.)
Editorial pieces should not contain overt references to forthcoming events and their details to circuit the process of buying an advertisement.
This also applies to "Letters to the Editor."
General references to something which will soon be happening are of course permissible in contributor articles, but purely “forthcoming event” pieces will be culled in whole or in part – and certainly amended to remove mention of ticket processing, prices and other specific details calculated to avoid paying for advertising. This rule is sometimes tested by those who submit articles and purchase “accompanying” advertising, in the belief that paying for a piece of a page for an advert allows accompanying editorial to do the same as the advert. Misusing the free forum of the Advertiser in this way is an abuse of pages intended to benefit the entire community – it undermines the confidence and good opinion of advertisers - and it annoys the editor.
Editorial "House Style":
Articles should include:
- Clearly structured and discrete paragraphs. Articles with lots of separate sentences which leap between subjects and make the article difficult to read should be avoided. At worst case during the editing process, sometimes whole paragraphs may need to be omitted; to do so when paragraphs vary with changes of subject or in importance makes it much easier for the editor to accomplish.
- Illustrative photographs when possible – either as attachments or in the text of the Word document. Having a choice of several photographs is always welcomed - although it’s usual that only one or two will be used, for reasons of space. Photographs included may not necessarily be used, or indeed be included positioned as they are in the Word document submitted, but the editor will try hard to place things logically in respect to the “flow” of a piece.
- Items of wider public interest and appeal are what the Advertiser aims to share. Lists of results from a sports team then, for instance, are likely to be of interest only to the sports team and to their immediate friends and families, rather than to a wider readership. Please consider producing a newsletter for your membership, if this is the level of detailed information you would like to share.
- Reference to your own web site or other source of material for clarification should be included, especially if the content is too long, too detailed, too cumbersome or too unwieldy to be captured in the word count allocated.
- a meaningful signature in italics on two lines, separate from the body of the piece, should be included. Readers like to know who wrote the editorial and what position they occupy in the organisation to which the piece refers. The editor will supply a signature to the best of his ability, if one is not provided.
Articles should not include:
- Items liable to make the page layout difficult to accomplish, for instance bullet points, indented text, long lists of “thanks” to individuals or groups, or other strangely punctuated material.
- Tables, large (or small) and references to “the photograph, below” or "above", or "attached," or specific reference to the content of photos. Phrases such as "as the photograph clearly shows" should also be avoided where possible. We cannot guarantee that all photographs or tables will be published...
- Imported graphics, if they are different to the filed “logo” of the organisation, should be excluded. The Advertiser can’t check the origin of third party material and copyright issues can be very difficult for imported designs and images, so they are generally omitted.
- Generally, text submitted should be neutral in format, so large crossheads, material IN CAPITALS bold text, italic text or coloured text should be also be omitted. Please don't include photographs and run text around them; they're not going to appear in the magazine in that form and "unpicking" layout takes time which we'd like to invest elsewhere.
- An overwhelming amount of exclamation marks should be avoided. If material is funny or amusing or shocking, readers will know - so inclusion of multiple exclamation marks should not be necessary…!!!!
- References to the weather or the time of year should be left out, if they can possibly be resisted. Many Advertiser articles tend to begin with weather references or with “Well, here we are in November” introductory sentences. This can become jarring when readers are encountering it often, within our 50-or-so articles of content. Similarly, "as I write this," "by the time you read this," "at the time of writing" and so on, are wonderful sentences to excise, throw away and if possible, stamp upon.
- long items of poetry or verse or third-party text or long quotations should also be avoided, if possible.
Things which it would be nice to never see again, are:
- Double spaces after sentences. All articles must be searched to remove sentences which end with a period and a double space. The Advertiser uses single spaces, always; it would be nice if articles arrived that way.
- It would be a quite tremendous leap forward if dates did not arrive in any other form than “the 12th of September” or times in any other form than “at 6.00 pm.” These elements are one part of what is called “house style” and all dates and times are altered to reflect this format.
- it would be exciting not to see numbers in text. Please present “one hundred and eighty-six people” in that form if you can, rather than the considerably less elegant “186 people.”
- Submissions which reflect Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style,” would be most favoured. It’s a useful guide. More information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style
Many thanks!