Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a magazine editor. You’ve just finished reading a submission that’s perfect for next month’s online issue.
You start to notify the submitting writer, but discover you can’t.
The writer failed to put her contact information in her article.
Oh, but there’s the writer’s email to refer to, you might be thinking.
Nope, because you’ve recently started keeping your inbox at zero.
Whether you write books, short stories, flash fiction, or articles for magazines, it’s vital you follow the publisher’s/editor’s guidelines.
But there is one thing often not mentioned in guidelines that is essential. Perhaps it’s because editors take this part for granted, that writers would do this without thinking. But as I recently learned, many writers don’t.
What Is the Often Missing Element?
That element is your contact information.
Yes, seems obvious, but with a recent project I’m editing, 10 out of 30 authors failed to put their info in their article. (Some didn’t even put their name in the article.) That meant I had to dig through an email inbox to find the author’s original submission email. And no editor has time to go trolling through emails.
(I’d love to keep my inbox at zero; I just haven’t yet developed the habit.)
In a book proposal you have a title page that contains your contact info. Not so with articles or short stories.
Therefore, think of your article like a term paper for school. Put your title one third of the way down the page and after it, your name and contact info. If you’re uncomfortable with that, put it at the end of your article—not in the header or footer (unless the guidelines say to).
Many submissions are attached to emails, and that email might very well get deleted once the editor downloads and saves your article. If the editor likes your story, but keeps her inbox at zero, then you’re out of luck. Without your name and contact info in the article, the editor now has no way to contact you.
Writing for anthologies and magazines is one of the best ways to gain publishing credits, earn money on a regular basis, and hone the craft of writing. Don’t scuttle your chances by failing to put your name and contact info on your submission.