(Revised Dec. 2001)
By Roger L. Maier A-14568
Revised by Robin Taylor TY-19724 in April 2007
As of January 2002 (effectively the March 2002 issue), Front Sight buys one-time rights to your material, plus the right to reprint your work in any USPSA publication (such as the Club Program Manual, or Range Officer Course Workbooks). Use always includes a byline unless the piece must be substantially rewritten by the staff. Our current rates are six cents per published word, which is paid on publication. We pay $17 for the first photograph published with the story, $12 for the second, and $9 for the third (and each subsequent) photograph. Covers are the exception, where we pay either $125, or a fraction thereof for multi-photo covers. Each story should be about 1000 to 2000 words in length. Many stories, particularly longer ones without accompanying photographs or illustrations, will be condensed as needed.
As we have a small staff, it is difficult to guarantee that your materials will be returned to you. If you would like to have your material returned, please mark your cover letter clearly that you would like your material returned and include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To ensure proper payment, include your name, USPSA number, address, and phone number on the cover letter accompanying the submission. If you have submitted the article to another publication, please note this in your cover letter.
We prefer to receive articles on either a PC-formatted 3 ½-inch floppy or PC-formatted CD-ROM, accompanied by a double-spaced hard copy. Front Sight can accept ASCII text, WordPerfect, or Word formats in this way, or as attachments to e-mail. We do not accept hand-written submissions. Your byline must include your USPSA number. Include the name and contact information for the photographer if it is different from the writer. For example:
JARRETT DOMINATES AREA 6 CHAMPIONSHIP
By Joe (or Jane) Shooter, A-94959 Photos by Fred Fotographer, L-7647
Todd Jarrett put on a stunning display of efficiency...
Front Sight reserves the right to edit all articles as deemed necessary by the staff. Because of time constraints, it is not possible to let the writers review edited articles.
Front Sight cannot print all the letters received because of space constraints and timeliness. All letters to the editor, except those containing profanity and/or personal attacks, will be considered for publication. In addition, while it is easy to criticize, letters which give possible solutions will be given preference over letters which are largely negative. Front Sight frequently prints letters which result in a flood of responses on the subject. In that case, only the best-written letters which discuss different aspects of the subject will be given space. As this type of letter can engender a punch-counterpunch repartee, we will use the timeliness factor to determine in how many issues the subject will receive space. Please check our publication schedule at the end of this article.
The Front Sight staff realizes that most of the people submitting stories don't have training in journalism, so this section should give writers some ideas about how to write a magazine article.
For any article, we'd appreciate knowing what you have in mind as soon as possible. With a little notice, we can help you refine your "angle" and avoid conflicts with other articles/authors. If we've already assigned coverage of the Area 2 Championships, for example, we could steer you toward an interesting sidebar, creating great detailed coverage -- rather than having one of the two articles go in the trash. (We hate telling people we can't use their work.)
A gun company contacted us looking for who they should talk to about the use of 9X19 at Major power factor. We were able to rattle off a short list of pros that use "Major 9," some with years of experience with the caliber. We do the same thing with hardware and personality articles, suggesting angles and ideas.
Match articles are popular with the competitors because they are reminders of their experiences. Others read them for ideas about how to run a match. They can be tricky to write, however, and require a great deal of time while the match is in progress. In short, more than half the work for a good magazine article gets done during the match, observing events, getting photographs, and talking to people. Unfortunately, most of the stories we receive about championship matches follow the same tired format: "We had a match. The weather was . . . In stage 1 the shooters did this, in stage 2 the shooters did that, etc., by the way the winners were..., thanks to everyone and see you next year."
Please don't do that. Give us the highlights, the memorable anecdotes about the real shooters who paid real match fees to shoot the match. Talk to shooters and write down their most interesting statements. Try to capture the STORY of the match, the "good parts" that you would tell another shooter about if they asked you how the match went. Done well, the writer will be able to convey to the reader the excitement, the sounds, and the flavor of the match without dragging them through a painful discussion of stages 1 through 10. A really good writer is able to make people wish they had been there.
Where possible, reflect your theme in the title, such as "The Gloriously Goofy Area 1 Championships," or "Singin' in the Rain - a tale of the 2001 Louisiana Open." For those who are interested in improving their article writing, we recommend two books printed by the Associated Press. The Word: An Associated Press Guide to Good Newswriting, by Rene J. Cappon, and The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. Because most major newspapers use the AP Stylebook, Front Sight also uses this manual as its standard. (These books are available directly from the Associated Press web site.
We strongly encourage submitting photographs. The number of photos used per article varies according to the quality of the photographs and length of the story. Photographs without accompanying manuscripts are rarely accepted – please check with us beforehand.
Each photo submitted must have a caption including the photographer's name and USPSA number, along with the names of all identifiable people in the picture. An exception is panoramic views in which there are dozens of people; otherwise we avoid photographs with unidentified people. If you can submit a caption explaining why this picture is important to the story, so much the better!
Front Sight can use digital photographs saved in most of the popular formats (.gif, .jpg, .tif, etc.). HOWEVER, Front Sight requires much higher resolution than that typically used on web sites. We require 300 dpi files, preferably sent as .tif files on a PC-formatted CD-ROM. Small, 72 dpi images such as those provided by inexpensive "web cams" are not printable in Front Sight. Likewise, computer printouts of digital images (no matter what the resolution) are not re-printable in Front Sight. If you want to send files by e-mail, please send them as .jpg, and we’ll do the conversion to .tif on our end.
Film Photography
Hard-copy photographs may be either black-and-white or color prints up to 5x7 inches in size; however, it is not necessary to spend the money for prints larger than the standard 3x5 or 4x6. Do not send slides.
It takes six to eight weeks to collect, assemble and print Front Sight. For example, articles for the January/February issue must be received no later than November 10. Articles received after November 15 will be held for the March/April issue. Please keep the following schedule in mind when submitting stories.
January/February --- Nov. 10
March/April --- Jan. 10
May/June --- March 10
July/August --- May 10
September/October --- July 10
November/December --- Sept. 10
Send your material to:
U.S. Practical Shooting Assn.
Front Sight
PO Box 811
Sedro-Woolley WA 98284
FedEx, UPS, or other non-postal shipments may be addressed to our street address at:
702A Metcalf St.
Sedro-Woolley WA 98284
Additionally, you can e-mail manuscripts and .jpg photographs to: frontsight@uspsa.org
Questions? Ideas? Contact the staff at (360) 855-2245 (voice) or (360) 855-0380 (fax).
