Got a great idea for a story? The writer’s guidelines listed below will help you prepare your manuscript so that it will meet our editorial standards.
Who We Are - Tri-County Woman magazine is a regional women’s interest publications distributed by Tigerlily Communications in Newburgh, New York. It is updated/published every other month (January, March, May, July, September and November).
Our Target Audience - The readers of Tri-County Woman are females 24 to 65+ who live or work in and around Orange, Ulster and Dutchess Counties, New York. They are stay-at-home moms, grandmoms, women with children who work outside of the home and women without children. Because of the demographics, articles and columns with local slants on financial, parenting, health/wellness, relationship and business issues are needed for each issue.
Our Departments - In addition to locally written/slanted features, each issue of Tri-County Woman has features on area women who are doing great things in their communities (“Movers and Shakers”), (“Book Nook”), articles for parents and parent-to-be (“Matriarch’s Manor”) and relationship articles ("You and Your Mate"). Some departments, including “Business Spotlight,” "In This Corner...” (local information of interest as well as product and movie reviews), "Book Nook" (reviews of local authors' books) and “HERStory” (dates of interest to women) are written by our editorial staff.
Our Style - Our magazine tries to give our audience what it wants to know in a clear, concise, unpretentious manner. The best way to get a feel for us is to spend time on the site. We ask that our writers adhere to the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual with the following exceptions:
Acronyms - No matter how common, use only on second reference and after the acronym has been put in parentheses next to the full name at first reference (i.e. “The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) seems to see things a little differently. According to the USDA, the best way to...”).
African-American - Hyphenate and capitalize in all references to people, as such as Irish-American, Mexican-American, etc. Do not use “African-American” and “Black” interchangeably in the same article. Either refer to the group as "African-America" or as "Black" throughout the piece.
Attribution - As with most magazines, use present tense for attribution (see "Tenses" below). Also, avoid "states," "observes," declares," "assesses" or "exclaims." Please, just use "says" each and every time.
Baby-Sit - two words with hyphen
Black - capitalize when referring to people.
Book Information - Provide the author, the title and the publisher in parentheses (i.e. The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (Addison-Wesley)
Bullets - use only in sidebars with periods at the end of each entry.
Cyberspace - one word, no capitals or hyphens
Childcare - one word, no hyphen
Email - no hyphen
Measurements - spell out number of units if under 10 and do not use hyphen. Do not abbreviate units (i.e. four cups, 10 tablespoons, etc.)
Mentioned Items - Detail where they are available and how much they retail for at that particular outlet (i.e. Ross Stick Washable Glue Sticks are available in two-packs from Walmart for about 99¢; Whom Shall I Fear (Atlas Books) is available for $12.95 at the author’s website, www.atlasbooks/marketpplc/00594.htm).
Minority - As the word implies that the group being described is somehow “less than,” use specific terms (i.e. African-American, Hispanics, Latinas, etc.) when referring to a particular group of people. If more than one ethnic group is being refereed to, use the term “people of color.”
Names - use first name only on second reference (i.e. “I know how they feel,” Jane Doe of Newburgh adds. “But,” Jane adds, “it may be time for a change.”)
Telephone Numbers - Separate the prefix from rest of the number with a period (i.e. 569.0363). Only use area codes if the number is from outside of the 845 area code or if it is a 1.800.XXX.XXXX number.
Tenses - Pleases write and quote in the present tense (i.e. “Tri-County Woman Online! is one of the best magazines in the area,” Felicia says. “I really mean that.”).
Travel Information - Hotel Newburgh; 2350 Broadway; Newburgh, NY; 555.5555
Website - one word (lower case, no hyphen)
Web or World Wide Web - capitalize first letters
White - capitalize when referring to people.
Submitting Your Idea or Manuscript - We do not accept any manuscripts via snail mail (although you can send a query letter to us this way). We prefer manuscripts via email. Since cyberspace often does strange things to manuscript formatting, when submitting by email, do not double space, indent or leave two spaces after a period! Also, be sure to separate paragraphs with an extra line. Include your name, complete address, telephone number, fax number (if applicable) email address and word count at the beginning of the article. Don’t forget to include a title/working headline and your byline - which should be placed under your title (the “B” in “by” should be lower case) as well as a one- to two-line bio for the author's note.
Payment Terms and Conditions - Payment for articles - be they written specifically for our publications or published as reprints - will begin at 10¢ (ten cents) per published word for the flash (virtual) magazine and 5¢ (five cents) for the web site. Payment will be made by check with a tear sheets and/or a printout of the webpage within 30 days of month publication. We purchase one-time, non-archival web rights. Articles will only remain on the site until the next issue is published, which will not exceed a period of two months.
How to Contact Us:
Tri-County Woman and Tri-County Woman Online! Magazines
4 Marian Drive
Newburgh, New York 12550
editor@tricountywoman.com
© 2008 Tigerlily Communications
