Writing for
P A R A C H U T I N G ' S N E W S M A G A Z I N E
Editorial Format
Skydiving is a newsmagazine. Its purpose is to deliver timely, useful and interesting information about the equipment, techniques, events, people and places of parachuting. We want the magazine to inform and entertain its thousands of subscribers around the world.
Audience
Our scope is national (although we have more than 1,000 foreign subscribers), so submissions to Skydiving should interest most jumpers in the country. (And skydivers across the country DO want to know what's going on in your area.)
Skydiving's average reader is a 31-year-old skydiver with 300 jumps from small airplanes. But the actual audience spans the entire spectrum of jumpers, from first-jump students to veterans with thousands of skydives.
Some readers are riggers with a keen interest in the technical aspects of parachutes, while others are weekend "fun jumpers" who want information to help them make travel plans and equipment purchases.
About Events
Articles about events are especially time-sensitive, so yours must be submitted quickly. Concentrate on the significant aspects of the event you're covering. It isn't necessary to include a day-by-day account of the action this usually isn't very interesting to those readers who weren't there. Significant events include aerial accomplishments, the unveiling of new equipment, or the demonstration of new or useful techniques. (For instance, Skydiving likes to report on new competition events that our readers can try at their drop zones.) Be sure to include the names of the top people that made the event the success it was. If you write about a meet, include the first and last names of the winners. (If teams are involved, get the names of the individual members of the winning team.) One or two photographs add spice to any article on an event. JPG or TIF files of a resolution of about 200 or more dpi are all that's needed.
How-To Articles
Skydivers are always looking for ways to improve their skills, so we welcome how-to articles, whether they're aimed at novices or experts.
How-to articles can cover a wide variety of subjects: RW, CRW, BASE, style, accuracy, rigging, basic parachuting, meet and drop zone management, safety, flying jump aircraft, photography, night jumps, water jumps . . . the list is practically endless.
Such articles can have a narrow focus. One could, for instance, write a fine article on a good way to make a 4-way exit from a Cessna 182.
Equipment Articles
We welcome contributions about equipment. Even short, quick look articles about new products are appropriate for Skydiving. If you intend to write a review about a skydiving product, be prepared to tell our readers both the good and the bad. (Put yourself in the reader's shoes. What would you want to read?)
About Places
If you know of a drop zone that other jumpers would like to visit, write an article describing its features and tell them why you liked it and what they can expect to find if they visit it.
Something to Avoid
Skydiving's readers are already sport parachutists, so we avoid first-person articles that recount the author's experiences on his first jump. (This doesn't mean we'd reject a student's article that illustrates an important point about safety or instruction methods.) And because of Skydiving's news orientation, we usually don't publish poetry, fiction or inside jokes. Good cartoons, however, are always welcome.
Style
Your writing should be clean, concise and direct. Use the shortest words and sentences to state each point. Every story--whether it's long or short--should be logically organized into an introduction, body and conclusion. Be informative but informal. (Inexperienced writers will find it useful to imagine they are writing a letter to a distant friend who is relatively new to parachuting.)
Avoid excessive use of jargon; it can make your writing confusing to novice jumpers or those who live overseas. Since using some jargon is unavoidable, define such words at the outset. Present both sides of an issue. If something argues against your point, say so, and explain why you're still convinced your view is correct. Support your information with facts and examples. Remember your writing will be read by experts in parachuting.
Policies and Procedures
Multiple Submissions
Please tell us if your article has been previously published or is under consideration to be published elsewhere. Skydiving doesn't expect to be the only recipient of a contribution, but knowing it may appear elsewhere is important.
Check With Us
Although we welcome unannounced contributions, it is better if you contact us before starting work on a longer article. Another writer may already be working on a similar article.
Manuscripts
Grammar, spelling and punctuation are important. But remember, you are not being graded. Concentrate more on organization, logic, focus and relevance. We can help with the rest.
Length
Use the space you need to cover your subject. We welcome short "blurbs" that are only a couple of paragraphs long as well as longer in-depth features.
Manuscripts
Longer articles are best submitted as Microsoft Word files (DOC), although other Windows-compatible formats are often usable, and straight email works well for shorter pieces. The files should be simple without a lot of formatting and without imbedded illustrations.
Such files may be conveniently emailed as attached files to sue@skydivingmagazine.com or submitted on a CD or IBM diskette.
We will also accept contributions put on paper by anything from a word processor to the author's own pen.
Submissions should include a short biographical sketch about your background, parachuting experience, and any relevant qualifications. (This does not mean you have to be an expert with a dozen ratings to write for Skydiving.) Be sure to include your name, address, email address, and a daytime telephone number where we can reach you.
Photographs and Illustrations
Digital photographs are preferred, as either TIF or JPEG formats. (Formats to avoid include PSD and CPT.) They should have a resolution of 200 to 300 dpi.
We can use photographic prints--both black and white and color--and transparencies. (Photographs printed on paper using inkjet printers often don't reproduce well. It's better to supply digital files.)
Be sure to include the name of the photographer or artist, and include captions if appropriate.
If you haven't seen our photographer's guidelines, click here.
Illustrations should be clean line art done with a vector-based drawing program (Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw are two of many examples) or drawn in black ink.
Digital image files may be emailed or FTPed to Skydiving, or mailed on CD. Use multiple emails to send multiple files (rather than sending one email that has a bunch of files attached to it). Click here to see information on FTPing files.
Rejections
Just as a Ford part won't fit into a Chevy, some good pieces won't fit Skydiving's format. If your first attempt gets turned down, we'll tell you why and hope you'll try again. Usually we'll return an article with some suggestions and ask you to resubmit. It means you're halfway to getting published in Skydiving. Sometimes we'll condense an article and publish it that way. Parachuting changes constantly and quickly, so some pieces go out of date before they can be used. That's why it's important to keep timeliness in mind when you're writing.
Payment
Skydiving pays after publication for articles it prints, and that payment is in exchange for all rights. Payment is typically based on the flat rate of $1 per column inch (including illustrations or photographs). We occasionally pay at higher--or lower--rates. Skydiving usually does not pay for commercial editorial contributions such as news releases or meet announcements.
Nor does Skydiving usually pay for articles (or photographs) that are under consideration by other magazines or have been published previously. This is not a hard-and-fast policy, however, and the author should discuss the matter with Skydiving's editor when the article is submitted.
Contributors are welcome to contact Skydiving about its payment policies before submitting an article.
Summary
We hope this short guide will encourage you to begin writing regularly for Skydiving. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, we'd certainly like to hear them. Skydiving's address is 1725 Lexington Ave., DeLand, FL 32724. Our telephone number is (386) 736-4793 or 736-9779, 9 am to 5 pm Eastern time. Our fax number is (386) 736-9786.
Click here to return to Skydiving's home page.
Or here to leave a message to Skydiving's editor.
