CERT Member e-Magazine Writer’s Guidelines

 

Subject Matter

·     Training, Team Building and Inspiration

o     For CERT (Community Emergency Response Team)

o     For BERT (Business Emergency Response Team)

o     For College CERT

o     Teen CERT

o     Inter-CERT Cooperation

·     Awareness and Preparedness

o     Family

o     Home and Property

o     For Business

o     Activities for Health

o     Community

·     Amateur Radio & Emergency Communications

·     Lessons Learned from Personal Emergency Experiences

·     Survival Techniques (individual and/or family)

·     Survival and Disaster Technologies

·     Book Reviews

·     Do It Yourself Projects

·     Anything that reflects well of CERT or Emergency Volunteerism

 

The Format Of Your Submission

Your Audience

CERT members come from all walks of life and encompass all ages. A friendly and reasonable conversational style is better than sound condescending or sounding like a dry textbook. If the topic is about sharing your own opinion or experience or is social in nature, then it is fine to go on at length to help build a special meaning and back up your points.

Projects or Do It Yourself Articles

The general rules of content presentation should be followed, that is:

§     Introduction and motivation

§     Procedure (building, fabricating)

§     Testing

§     Ideas for future expansion

All acronyms should be written out into their individual words surrounded by parenthesis '( )'.  Don't be shy to include things you tried that didn't work. Our readers will learn as much (maybe even more) from your mistakes as they will from your successes. Also, incorporate subheads so that readers can find their place in the text and so the article is an easier read.  

 

What Your Submission Should Include

(optional) We want to illustrate who volunteer members are. Optionally including your name and profession, hobby or interest we feel is important. Some examples:

John Smith, a Plumber

Jane Smyth, a Dog Lover (or an Animal Lover)

Britney Jones, M.D.

Daniel Garcia, a 10th Grader (or Sophomore in High School) 

 

If you are writing a project or Do It Yourself article, you should provide the reader with the following information:

• Product make and model
• Parts list with manufacturer’s part numbers (if you only know the distributor's part number, you'll need to dig deeper).
• Known sources for obtaining any unusual parts.
• Good directions for fabricating custom parts (complete dimensions, material description, etc.).
• Any special equipment needed for construction or testing

 

Underage authors must have parent’s written and signed authorization that include author's name, phone number and email address (if has one).  

All submissions include:

·     Disk, CD or email (preferable) MUST contain a separate CONTACT.TXT file with the author’s name, address, phone number and email address (if have one).

·     Written or faxed submissions must contain author's name, address, phone number and email address (if possible). Click here to print a cover letter PDF.

·     Let us know what contact info can be given to readers who would like to reach you.

Length

Full-length articles should be 500 words minimum (not including sidebars). The entire article, including sidebars, photos, or other supporting material. Longer or multi-part project articles may be accepted, but MUST be cleared in advance.

 

Rates

The standard rate is $35.00 per standard article. Otherwise, Do It Yourself articles that are well prepared, list all materials and sources may paid at the higher rate of $70 per 1,000 words with a $210 maximum for full-length, well-written articles that require little editing. Payment will usually be made within 60-90 days of publication. Submissions may be rejected for any reason. Articles submitted may be rejected without any reason at all.

Full or partial exchanges of editorial content for advertising space will be entertained, but should be discussed with the publisher before assuming eligibility. If total forecasted payment for a tax year is close to $600 or above, a W-9 will be issued before any more payment is sent.

Barnes & Reed Publications buys one-time rights to publish articles for both foreign and domestic distribution, but reserves the right to distribute reprints on request or as a compilation of past material in print and/or digital formats. We also reserve the right to print or reprint any article at an exclusive Internet site. All material must be guaranteed exclusive to Barnes & Reed Publications, Inc., unless notification has been given prior to acceptance.

Submission Formats

We accept submissions on PC-format 3.5" floppies, CDs, or via email (preferred). Use submissions@certmember.com.  Each article element should be stored as a single file, including text body, parts lists, sidebars, about the author, and graphics. Files should be submitted in MS Word (.doc) or ASCII text. If you wish to include a PDF suggesting an article layout, we'll consider it but make no promise to follow it.

Each submission must include a separate CONTACT.TXT file, containing: your name, address, phone number, email address, title of article, and submission date. We also have a .pdf form available on our website you can use to fill out and submit with your manuscript.

Photographs are strongly encouraged.

§     As prints, they should be 5 x 7 (or larger color prints) that are IN FOCUS

§     As digital files, they should be at least 800x600 in size, though as large as possible is best. JPG, PDF, PSD or TIF format images are fine.

§     Send captions with each photo and label each as "Figure" with a number corresponding to its occurrence in the text. Label all graphics - photos, diagrams, and schematics - as Figure. Do not include directional references to graphics in your article (ex., "in the schematic below"). What is below in your text will probably not be in the layout of the article.

Schematics, PCB layouts, drawings, or other artwork MUST be computer generated. We will NOT redraw artwork. Any computer-generated drawings must be saved as encapsulated postscript (.eps), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), DXF. or bitmap (.bmp) images. Vector-based formats (.eps, .pdf, .dxf) are preferred. Save images as high resolution (300-600 dpi) output. That means a bitmap schematic, 4 x 5 in size, should be at least 1200 x 1500 pixels. Schematics should be in black and white, not color.

Editing

All material accepted for publication may be subject to editing due to space restrictions or for any other reason deemed necessary by the publisher. If your manuscript contains a large amount of misspellings, grammatical errors, or requires extensive editing, it may be rejected or not paid at the full rate.

 

Policy

The information contained in these guidelines outlines the terms and conditions under which we will accept an article for publication and supersedes any different terms, rights, or conditions not previously agreed to in writing by Barnes and Reed Publications, Inc.

CERT Member eMagazine 
1263 Corte Famosa 
San Marcos, CA 92879 
760-536-6248  Voice and Messages

E-Mail: 
editor@certmember.com