What We Cover
History Magazine strives to feature articles that are interesting rather than academic. We prefer that our articles be wrapped around a particular phenomenon, achievement or occasion, rather than around a profile of a "great man" most closely associated with the subject: we'd rather carry an article titled "Early Telephones" than an article titled "Alexander Graham Bell". We like it when people take some item or custom that's now a part of our lives and tell the story of how it came to be that way. We're interested in answering the question "How did we get here?", here being North America at the beginning of the 21st century. These articles are roughly chronological and do not employ first-person narrative.

History Magazine is not a military-focused magazine, but we do include battles, wars and biographies. The battles must have world significance — like Waterloo — and the accounts must keep in mind that many of our readers are interested in what led up to the battle and its impact, not detailed maneuvers of the soldiers. Also the personalities must have had an impact on society. Unrecognized personalities like engineers or inventors who have shaped the world we live in are just some of the people we want to feature.

Our articles generally focus on the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the end of the 1950s; our articles frequently mention earlier or later events by way of prologue or epilogue, but events outside of that timeframe are never our focus.

Poetry
We do not feature poetry as stand-alone pieces. However, queries about well-known poets and writers are welcomed, and short examples of a their work may be considered for illustrative purposes.

Please read a recent issue of History Magazine before submitting articles, to get an idea of the writing style. Details on how to obtain an issue can be found on our website.

Submissions
We prefer advance queries instead of full-length articles (please see the note about queries at the top of this page), as this makes giving directions and suggestions easier. Our preferred article length is 2,000 words. Longer articles will only be accepted by agreement with the Editor. We prefer that articles be presented with suggested section headings already in place. We welcome a list of further reading recommendations, but these are not required for trivia pieces. We do not employ footnotes. All work will be edited to some degree; please do not submit articles if you are not willing to have your work edited. A list of sources used to research your article is not strictly required as part of the submission, but you should keep track of sources and be prepared to submit them on request from the editor.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
While submissions may be sent through regular posted mail, e-mail is the preferred method. Text should be sent as Microsoft Word format (.doc, .docx) or similar (Open Office etc). NOTE: We DO NOT ACCEPT "RTF" (rich text format) text.

PLEASE NOTE:

YOU MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING AT THE END OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT:
- Author biography (about 20 to 30 words (maximum)
- Suggested captions for all photographs or illustrations (see below for image - specifications and image copyright guidelines) and clearly referencing the image name or filename, e.g., "mypicture.jpg")
- Credit/permission where/who each image was obtained from, and if copyright-free (in the public domain)

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT AFTER PUBLICATION
- Author's name
- Telephone number
- Postal address
- E-mail address

Photos/Images/Illustrations
Pictures are a very important component of an article. We encourage sending as many images as you feel would be necessary, but remember: we reserve he right to use only the images we feel will fit the layout and page count that we need for the issue. Regarding copyright, the illustration must be either copyright free or you have obtained written permission from the copyright holder (this can be an individual, or an organization such as a website, museum, archive etc.). Many authors find it difficult to source illustrations, leaving this to us; in this case, we do not pay for the space used by such pictures in the article. We do appreciate authors recommending illustration ideas so we can narrow our picture research.

Image Quality
When scanning or providing images for publication, please be aware that our required minimum picture resolution is 300 dots per inch (DPI) for print purposes. Images with less resolution (e.g., most pics on the Web are 72 dpi or 96 dpi) are NOT acceptable and the submission may be rejected or delayed if we need to source images to complete the layout. If you are sourcing images on the Web, a good indicator of sufficient resolution will be the size of image file in Kilobytes: images in the range of 10 to 100 Kb in size are likely too low in resolution (quality), whereas images in the range of 250 - 300 Kb and above are likely to be of higher resolution. If you are scanning your own images, be sure to set your scanner's resolution at 300 dpi, or if someone else is providing images, be sure they supply them at 300 dpi resolution. All images should be sent in JPEG format.

When sending images via e-mail (preferred method) you may attach multiple images to a single e-mail (the most popular method used by most authors), or send separate e-mails for each image. Regardless, you must indicate in the e-mail SUBJECT FIELD the name of the article and magazine name "History Magazine".

Payments and Rights
Our rate for articles is $0.08 (eight cents) per word; we pay $7 for each photo or image supplied and used in the final layout. Note: No compensation is provided for images supplied and not used in the final layout. Additional payments for extra research of special projects are at the discretion of the publisher. US based authors are paid in American funds; Canadian-based authors are paid in Canadian funds. Authors from other countries are normally paid in US dollars but this is negotiable. Payment is made 60 days after the issue is published (ie: payment for the Oct/Nov issue will be mailed from our office on or around November 15). Unless otherwise agreed, author payments will be for first world serial and electronic rights. We also reserve the right to include a work in future collections or "best of" reprint editions. Authors (unless they are employees of the magazine) always retain copyright of their work.

Article Ideas
While we welcome proposals on any subject, and the possibilities are endless, please send us an outline proposing a length (in words) before submitting any completed articles.

History Magazine assumes no responsibility for lost, stolen or damaged submissions of text, photographs or illustrations, and will not return unsolicited manuscripts. An expression of interest by History Magazine in a potential article is not a commitment to publish.

If you want to write for History Magazine, why not try submitting a trivia piece first? We always want good trivia items of about 450-550 words, and we welcome your proposals on ideas for future trivia items.

Additionally, interesting historical etymologies of particular words and phrases, or descriptions of the origin and evolution of various customs are often suitable subjects for trivia items. If you begin work on a trivia item and find it warrants more than 600 words, please get in touch so we can discuss making it into a longer article.

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