Writer's Guidelines

Guidelines for freelance submissions

CONTENTS

Rural Missouri’s guidelines for freelance submissions

Rural Missouri is the official monthly publication of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. Pieces we are primarily interested in are: Missouri history, unique personalities, interesting places to visit and stories which demonstrate quality of life in rural Missouri. We publish only stories with a Missouri tie. All stories should have strong human interest. With only 12 issues per year, we are highly selective in the articles we choose to publish.

We are also interested in trend stories which cover a rural topic in a journalistic, well-balanced approach including interviews with key people involved. Topics for trend stories include rural health care, education, transportation, new technologies, environment, etc. Trend stories should be timely and of a statewide and rural nature. We also prefer that stories have a good shelf life.

Rural Missouri does not publish poetry or fiction, nor do we have space for monthly columns from freelance writers. We also rarely publish reminiscence stories or stories written in first person.

We strongly encourage you to study back issues of our publication to gain an idea of what we publish. For examples of past stories, see our archives. Writing in a similar style or format as our staff could make or break your story getting chosen for publication.

Fees are competitive but vary widely. Payment upon acceptance.

General Guidelines

Rural Missouri is a photography-oriented publication. We are interested in stories which can be illustrated with strong photographs or artwork.

We are particularly interested in authors with well-developed ideas for illustrating their stories or who are able to shoot pictures themselves. Snap shots do not qualify as good photographs for the magazine. In most cases, a Rural Missouri staff member will shoot pictures to accompany a story.

Rural Missouri publishes relatively short stories. Required length of a feature story is 1,000 words to maximum of 1,100 words. We will not attempt to edit a long story to fit the publication. Also, please keep in mind that we refer to the AP Stylebook when writing for our magazine.

We look for articles which exhibit clear, concise writing. As a writer, we want you to paint a picture and draw us into that person’s life, their world, a historic moment in time or specific place. Make us feel like we’ve known the story subject forever or that we’ve been to the place you describe. For history pieces, give us attribution for the story you’re telling — give us sources. Who says what facts you share are true? Give us good attributable quotes. The readers (and our editors!) want to know. And remember, history pieces, no matter what the topic, can be colorful and have personality, too.

Please keep in mind that when we buy a story, we expect you to be your own fact checker. After an article is published is NOT the time we want to find out you misspelled a name, quoted a statistic incorrectly or changed the date of a war. Your reputation, and ours, is on the line. So please check your facts!

We strongly suggest sending a well-written, detailed query letter before submitting a story. We may have already covered the topic, may currently be working on a story of the same nature or the topic may not fit our publication. In your contact letter, describe in as much detail as possible what the story is about, why it would interest a rural Missourian and what ideas you may have for illustrating the story. Also include brief information about yourself, particularly your writing experience. Sending a sample of your previous published work with your query would be helpful, too, so we can learn your writing style.

All mailed story submissions or query letters should be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Stories submitted without a self-addressed stamped envelope with appropriate postage will not be returned. You may also submit stories via e-mail as .doc or .rtf documents.

Submissions are considered on speculation with no obligation to purchase.

Do not send original photographs or artwork. Instead send photocopies or a description of possible illustrations. If a historical article is submitted, please include a list of research sources. And once again, artwork is a key to making a story attractive to an editor, and that is particularly true for history pieces.

Rural Missouri buys first Missouri publication rights to a story, at a price to be determined on a case by case basis. The editors on staff will be the final judges of whether art submitted with a story is usable or not. Rural Missouri editors also reserve the right to edit stories which have been accepted for publication.

Please allow six to eight weeks for reply on freelance submissions.

Address all query letters or submissions to:

Heather Berry, associate editor
Rural Missouri
P O Box 1645
Jefferson City, MO 65102

Updated: March 2008

Rural Missouri is published by
The Association of Missouri
Electric Cooperatives