Editorial Guidelines
Author Guidelines
Indiana Alumni Magazine is a bimonthly publication serving the 99,000 dues-paying members of the Indiana University Alumni Association. Its purpose is to keep its readers informed about higher education and about Indiana University in particular, and to keep them in touch with one another. The magazine has been published continuously since 1938. As an author, you may find the following guidelines helpful.
1. Format
All articles should be submitted on both double-spaced hard copy and disk. Although we can translate copy from most word processing programs, we use Microsoft Word in a Macintosh environment. We accept no responsibility for returning manuscripts not accompanied by return postage.
We accept few articles of more than 2,000 words. Although we reserve the right to rechristen your work, please give your story a title. Also include a one- or two-sentence summary/teaser that pulls the reader into your article.
Please include an author biography (one or two sentences) that includes your current employment and any relation you have to IU and the story. We encourage you to suggest appropriate illustrations and photographs for your article.
If a particular angle of your story merits a digression, if you find a section that is primarily a list, if you want to illustrate an author's style by an apt quotation, then consider pulling the information out in a sidebar. Good sidebars can be personality sketches, a chronology or timeline, or an interesting or quirky facet of the story. We particularly welcome sidebars that provide an entry point for the reader: practical, how-to information, for example, definition of terms, or brief quotations by various sources. For alumni profiles, we encourage fact boxes about the graduate and her or his connection to IU.
2. Timetable/Payment
Review of a commissioned article takes an average of two to four weeks. Often we will provide you with reviewers' suggestions for strengthening your story. Once accepted, stories appear at the editor's discretion, based on timeliness, space, and compatibility with other articles in an issue. Payment varies with the assignment; it is made on or before publication of the piece. Ten cents a word is a frequently used measure. Payment and kill fee are outlined in the assignment letter; there is no kill fee for work done on speculation.
3. Style
Indiana Alumni Magazine's style is lively and unique. With a few exceptions, the magazine follows the Associated Press Stylebook. We will edit your story according to this style and according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. Some pointers for new writers:
- Anecdotal lead
Start with a particularly engaging story, an anecdote that will arrest the reader's attention. Continue to use examples and stories throughout your article. - Cohesive sections
Develop your story in several sections, arranged in a logical order. You may wish to use subheads to mark the various sections. - Quotations
Use direct, substantive quotations to provide immediacy and credibility. - A conversational tone
Write in a relaxed, easy manner. Feel free to use contractions and to write in the first or second person. Be concise and scrupulously accurate — our readers are more likely than most to pounce gleefully on errors — and avoid jargon or cliches. Remember that some of our readers are specialists in the area about which you're writing, while for others it is unfamiliar territory. - Multiple sources
Interview at least two or three sources for an article. If you're writing a personality profile, talk to some of the subject's former professors, college classmates, or colleagues. If you're writing about a faculty member, talk to some colleagues or students about the professor, and interview other experts in the field. Look for balance, particularly when dealing with controversial research or activity. We can suggest some sources if you have trouble finding them. - Conclusion
End your story with a memorable story or quotation.
We respect the fact that it is your byline on the article, and our goal throughout the editing process is to work with you to make what's good even better.