Substantive Guidelines
The Escapist Magazine is the voice of the gamer generation and that is, in part, due to the strength of our freelance contributors. The many voices, styles and opinions of our writers offer a kaleidoscope that encompasses the videogame landscape and geek culture as a whole.
Five years ago, we began by eschewing the standard hype-preview-review cycle and instead focused on why we play games. While we now offer reviews, along with a lot of other content, The Escapist Magazine continues to push beyond the constraints of normal game journalism by discussing topics and trends that other sources do not consider.
We commission articles that we believe will highlight something new or undiscovered. Our commissioned writers have a defined voice and/or point of view; what is commonly referred to as personality. Articles that are funny or ironic often appear alongside more serious discussions of game theory or business implications. We publish interviews and profiles with game-makers that may escape the mainstream attention, and look back at games that might still be fun even years after its release.
The Escapist Magazine is not just about games. We geeks do not exist in a videogame vacuum, in which our only stimulus is fed through a PC or a console. Our articles fully explore the videogame industry, but we also write about other media such as film, tabletop gaming, and comic books. These media are interconnected, often informing each other through indirect or direct crossover, and The Escapist Magazine strives to offer insight on all forms of our culture.
As for specific types of articles, that is up to you as a contributor. Some of the kinds of pieces that we have published in the past include interviews with industry professionals or other notables, explorations of game elements, profiles of game companies, post-mortems of a favorite game, and comedic discussions on the state of the industry. This is not an exhaustive list; feel free to pitch an idea for an article that you think our audience would like to read and that you can write effectively. Those are the only two restrictions.
Submission Guidelines
SENDING A QUERY
We ask that all potential writers send a query letter proposing your article before sending a complete manuscript by email to editor@escapistmagazine.com.
The Escapist Magazine does not accept unsolicited articles.
Queries can be any length but the more that we know about your proposed article, the more equipped we are to make a decision on whether to run it. Longer is not always better, however. If you can�t summarize your article in a few hundred words, then it might be better to scale down the scope.
When sending in a pitch or query, please pay close attention to the editorial calendar which can be found on the website. This schedule of weekly topics and trends in the gaming industry is the skeleton around which The Escapist Magazine is built. We spend a lot of time crafting the calendar so that it reflects what gamers will want to read about. Sticking to the issue topic is important, but we appreciate originality of thought. Numerous pitches that cover the same banal territory will be quickly overlooked. Please send in pitches that explore the topic of the issue from angles that we may not have even considered without your specific insight and experience.
For articles that don�t fit into a topic on the calendar, you may submit queries for consideration for our Editor�s Choice issues. But you should know that these issues are the most hotly contested by our writers.
Please submit queries on or before the deadline, which is about two months before the issue is going to be published. We cannot promise that your article will be commissioned, but you will receive an email informing you that the pitch has been received, and a second email when it has either been rejected or accepted.
ARTICLES
The subject matter and style of our articles is discussed in more detail in the Substantive Guidelines and Style Guidelines, respectively. The Escapist Magazine adheres to AP Style, with a few exceptions. It is recommended you be familiar with AP Style before submitting to The Escapist Magazine.
When your article is commissioned, you will receive an email that clearly states the date that it is due and how many words you should submit. Please make sure that you submit a draft on time, as it is never a good idea to have us chase after you.
For each issue, we commission four 1,500 word feature articles about the topic assigned in the editorial calendar. We expect articles to be well-written and thoroughly researched. If subjects are interviewed, we expect to be able fact check these sources. If quotes are pulled from other sources, we expect them to be cited. Links are sufficient for most citations, but it is the editor�s discretion as to whether these links will be published. We prefer not to heavily pepper our articles with links as we believe it diminishes the writer�s voice. We also prefer that sources other than Wikipedia be used whenever possible (and it is always possible).
SUBMISSION FORMAT
Articles can be either emailed or sent by mail on a PC compatible disk in any of these formats: Word Document (either .doc Word 1997-2003 or .docx Word 2007 is acceptable), Rich Text (.rtf) or Plain Text (.txt).
All submissions should be single spaced with a space between each paragraph. Please do not indent paragraphs. Include a title and your byline, traditionally a short (2 sentence maximum) biographical description which may include links to blogs or websites. Titles of games and publications should be italicized within the document; there is no need to place asterisks around titles.
For interviews, please list contact information for the interviewee(s).
REVISIONS
The Escapist Magazine is proud to present the most heavily edited and reviewed content in the field of online videogame journalism. We strive for our feature articles to be as concisely written as possible without sacrificing the voice of our talented freelance writers.
When your draft is submitted on or before the due date, you will receive an email confirming it was received and that everything is in good order. Your article will then go through a rigorous editing, proofing and fact-checking process before being returned to you, usually a week or two before publication. The editor of your article may request that changes or revisions be made, and will give you a date by which you will need to submit another draft. It�s rare that a second revision pass will be necessary, but it is not unheard of. The editor will make edits or word changes until he is satisfied with the article.
Your article will then be published on Tuesday morning in accordance with the editorial calendar. Feel free to promote your article by linking through Twitter, Facebook or your blog or website. We encourage our writers to create a forum account at www.escapistmagazine.com, and to positively respond to the comments of our readers. Healthy debate is a good thing for the gaming industry and our audience enjoys engaging with our writers.
PAYMENT
An invoice and writer�s agreement must be submitted for all articles accepted for publication. Payment will be made 30-60 days from the date that the article appears. Rate is $0.25 cents per word based on edited word count, research and style, and is for first-time publishing rights. Invoices must include the date, your name, address, contact information, article title, print date and amount due.
KILL FEE
In the unlikely event that we must decline to publish a commissioned article, a one-time kill fee of 25% of the agreed upon fee may be invoiced.
Editorial Calendar:
Issue 301: The Broke Gamer
Gaming is an expensive hobby, but the savvy cost-conscious gamer can still flourish.
Publish Date: 4/12/2011
Pitch Deadline: 3/1/2011
Content Deadline: 3/22/2011
Issue 302: The Nintendo Issue
What would gaming be without the behemoth that started out making cards?
Publish Date: 4/19/2011
Pitch Deadline: 3/8/2011
Content Deadline: 3/29/2011
Issue 303: Rise From Your Grave
Examining entertainment's obsession with zombies.
Publish Date: 4/26/2011
Pitch Deadline: 3/15/2011
Content Deadline: 4/5/2011
Issue 304: Better Than Before
How slapping a 2 (or higher!) on a game's title changes everything.
Publish Date: 5/3/2011
Pitch Deadline: 3/22/2011
Content Deadline: 4/12/2011
Issue 305: State of the Industry
Hey, gaming industry, how've you been lately?
Publish Date: 5/10/2011
Pitch Deadline: 3/29/2011
Content Deadline: 4/19/2011
Issue 306: The House of Mouse
Epic Mickey was just the latest salvo in Disney's neverending campaign to win your heart.
Publish Date: 5/17/2011
Pitch Deadline: 4/5/2011
Content Deadline: 4/26/2011
Issue 307: DIY
Be it with a saw, a sewing machine, or a hot glue gun, these are the people who create greatness from gaming's castoffs.
Publish Date: 5/24/2011
Pitch Deadline: 4/12/2011
Content Deadline: 5/3/2011
Issue 308: Making Morality Matter
Will morality in games ever reach beyond choices like "save the puppy" or "eat the baby"?
Publish Date: 5/31/2011
Pitch Deadline: 4/19/2011
Content Deadline: 5/10/2011
Issue 309: The Nostalgia Issue
For all those things that we remember fondly, whether we should or not.
Publish Date: 6/7/2011
Pitch Deadline: 4/26/2011
Content Deadline: 5/17/2011
Issue 310: Best Of
A selection of the year's best articles so far.
Publish Date: 6/14/2011
Pitch Deadline: 5/3/2011
Content Deadline: 5/24/2011
Issue 311: Gamers as Creators
LittleBigPlanet, mods, and the indies - players often make the best designers.
Publish Date: 6/21/2011
Pitch Deadline: 5/10/2011
Content Deadline: 5/31/2011
Issue 312: Connecting the Dots for Fun and Profit
Exploring how other forms of entertainment, like comics, novels, and cartoons, are connecting with games.
Publish Date: 6/28/2011
Pitch Deadline: 5/17/2011
Content Deadline: 6/7/2011
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