Landmark
Guidelines for contributors
September 2019
We love receiving material to include in Landmark, and try to accommodate as much of it as we can. We do have a few rules though, and some hints and tips on writing a great article.
Landmark is a single, coherent publication. As such we have a few editorial processes which help make sure everything fits together, we have the right tone and mix of content, and what is included is readable for our audience.
We do our best to fit everything in, but sometimes we’re forced to make a decision about what to include and what not to. If we can’t include your article in one month we’ll always see if it can fit in a future issue.
Very rarely, we might decide that an article can’t be included in Landmark. This could be for one of many reasons, and where we make this decision we’ll always do our best to work with you and find ways that an article might be changed so we can accept it.
We always double check everything which is submitted to Landmark to make sure it has correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. Where we spot something obviously wrong, we’ll usually correct it without asking you. We might also reword some things whilst keeping the meaning intact. This isn’t meant as an attack on your abilities or writing style - it’s very easy to write something which makes sense in your head but which doesn’t read well to someone else, accidentally make a typo or even skip an entire word[1].
Sometimes we’ll spot something wrong with an article which we can’t correct by ourselves, such as an unusual spelling of a name or a sentence which is ambiguous. When we run into these we’ll do our best to double check what we change with you, or work with you to produce an updated version.
There are a few things you can do to help keep our editorial team happy by reducing the amount of work they need to do to get your article ready.
The sooner we see your material, the sooner we can work through our own checklists to get your article ready. Submitting earlier also gives us more time to work through any problems we spot with you.
You can find all the submission deadlines for upcoming editions online.
It’s easier for us to work with your text and images if they’re kept separate. Instead of sending us a single Word document with all of the images included, send us a Word document with the text and the images as separate files.
Most of the time we’ll remove whatever formatting you add to your article, and adjust it to fit the look and feel of the rest of Landmark. This is nothing personal, and doesn’t mean that your choice of typeface, colour or anything else is bad or wrong.
If a particular bit of formatting is important then please let us know so that we can figure out the best way to either make sure it’s included, or check that whatever changes we make won’t negatively affect what you submit.
If what you’re writing is on behalf of the Church, you should always follow the Church’s style guide, in particular the section on writing style.
If you’re writing an article on your own behalf you’re free to adopt any style you like. It can help to follow a single style guide for consistency. If you don’t have a preferred style, we recommend reading the Church’s style guide for inspiration.
Our readership is predominantly aged from mid-40s upwards, although there are several readers who fall outside this age bracket. Landmark reaches approximately 350 households a month, almost all within Whitkirk. This includes not just regular churchgoers, but also people generally interested in what is going on in the area.
Landmark has always included a broad selection of content. Although it is first and foremost a Church magazine and has a large section dedicated entirely to Church events and material, we happily publish articles covering almost any subject. Our readership is generally well educated, and we do our best to make sure every issue includes a mix of items which are light-hearted and easily understood, and those which require more thought and provoke a more challenging response.
Whenever you provide any text or artwork, you need to make sure that you have permission to use every part of it. Just because something is available for you to view, download or otherwise copy doesn’t mean you have permission to use it, even if you can’t see a visible copyright notice.
If you’re not sure, let us know and we’ll be able to offer advice. We cannot accept material where we’re not sure if we have the right to use it.
If you need help putting your article together we’ll be happy to offer guidance. Just email landmark-editor@whitkirkchurch.org.uk.
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[1] We’ve done it ourselves plenty of times.