Submission Guidelines

Andrew Niekamp — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:58:15 +0000

ABOUT TEXAS CEO

Editorial Mission: The editorial mission of Texas CEO Magazine is to invigorate business statewide by sharing relevant content, and fostering a community of Texas business leaders.

Readership: Texas CEO Magazine readers are business owners, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and aspiring CEOs who want to assimilate useful information quickly. They want to stay current on issues that affect their business environment, companies and workforce. They want to know about trends and events that present opportunities to expand their business and network of peers.

EDITORIAL SUBMISSION

A semi-monthly publication, each issue of Texas CEO tackles a specific c-level topic, such as healthcare or corporate culture, by offering smart, general interest stories that affect those in the corner office and those that aspire to be there.

We’re looking for factual articles that are relevant to different industries and focus on such areas as leadership, organizational change, strategy, operations, marketing, finance, managing people, biz development, etc.

Controversy, whistle blowing, unknown relevant facts, and business/consumer issues are welcome, too. We want to be informed, surprised, shocked and entertained, but most of all, we want knowledge.

The editorial content in Texas CEO is broken down into two types of articles–Feature and
Department.
Feature Articles:

Usually between 1500 to 2000 words in length, Feature articles are assigned by the Texas CEO editorial staff.
Word counts are flexible because quality counts more. Remember: lean and clean.
If you have an idea for a Feature article you think we might be interested in publishing, please send us a concise outline of approx. 500 words (not a finished story) that indicates the logic and flow of the article.
Feature idea proposals may be submitted to jason@texasceomagazine.com
Please do not submit a Feature article proposal without familiarizing yourself with the magazine and the editorial calendar.
Texas CEO plans Cover and Feature stories 60 to 90 days in advance.

Department Articles:

Between 700 to 900 words in length, Department articles are either penned by CEO’s, category experts, or department heads.
Word counts are flexible because quality counts more. Remember: lean and clean.
Designed to incite dialogue among all top level executives, every issue of Texas CEO will feature Department articles in the following areas:
- People Matters: Articles on working with the people who are working for you
- From the CMO: Insights, tips, strategies, and stories to strengthen a company’s brand and marketing department
- From the CFO: Articles with advice on how to insure the financial integrity of a company
- Generation Integration: Insight to help business leaders successfully integrate multiple generations in the workplace
- Biz Dev: Explores new ideas on building and growing revenue through strategy and leadership
- Corporate Responsibility: How to give back locally or globally and be a good corporate citizen
- Governance: Best practices between the corner office and the company’s board
- General Counsel: From M&A, to IP to litigation – how to work best with legal counsel to grow your business
- In Closing: Opinion, Open Letters, and Futurist pieces
The content of Department articles should not be from a generalized business perspective, but rather, should have a strong viewpoint that speaks to the CEO from a specific department head within a company. For example, if you’re writing a “People Matters” article, make sure you ask yourself, “Is this something an HR director is likely to share with their CEO and fellow HR colleagues?” If the answer is no, then the topic maybe too broad.
If you have an idea for a Department article, please send us a concise outline of about 250 words indicating the central message of the article, how it can be applied
in business today, and a brief description of the highlights and flow of the piece.
Department article proposals may be submitted to jason@texasceomagazine.com
Please do not submit a Department article proposal without familiarizing yourself with past Department articles and the editorial calendar.
Department articles are usually planned 2 months in advance, but we encourage you to submit compelling Department articles at any time.

Writer’s Credit:

By-lines are given to all freelanced articles. Please submit a brief bio (no more than 40 words) that includes a company website, along with a hi-resolution (minimum 300 dpi) head shot for possible reproduction in the “Contributors” section.
Author bios are welcome for articles contributed by industry experts who would like professional recognition and/or to share contact information with readers. Bio content should not exceed 20 words. Author bios appear in italics at the end of each expert- contributed article.

Photos and Renderings:

We encourage you to submit photos and renderings that help tell the story. Read the checklist for submitting photos, renderings, charts and diagrams below.
If you have photo ideas for your article but aren’t equipped to shoot high-quality photos, we may arrange to have a photographer take the shots.
If you have illustrations that require scanning or ideas for illustrations and charts to accompany your article, we may arrange for scanning or assign an illustrator.

STYLE GUIDELINES FOR WRITERS

Tone:

We invite concise, lean, relevant, quick-read writing.
Get us into the subject quickly. Give us information we can use to build business, skills, networks, and marketplace awareness.
While you work, keep in mind the kind of reader Texas CEO Magazine serves. A straightforward, conversational style of writing will get more attention than literary prose.
Write to inform, not reminisce.
Our readers want you to write like you speak – sort of. Delete words and phrases that are not relevant or crucial to your message. Be bold. Less is often more.
Humor is always welcome, where it’s welcome. Remember, truth yields the best humor – naturally.

Style:

Use The Associated Press Stylebook for accuracy, clarity and consistency. It answers questions about acronyms, abbreviations, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, numerals, and includes Internet, business and media law guidelines.
On first reference to a person, give his or her full name. On succeeding references, refer to the person as Mr. or Ms.
Please use M.D. or Ph.D. or proper higher education degrees at the end of a name, rather than the Dr. moniker at the beginning of a name.
On first reference to a company, organization or agency, give the full legal name.
Spell out states names except in mailing addresses.

EDITORIAL PROCESS

Fact checking:

We do not have a research department at Texas CEO, and as a contributor, you’re responsible for fact checking. However, we may contact sources to verify information and we require the following documentation with all stories:
- Primary sources – people who give you information. List your contact’s name, phone number, and e-mail if available.
- Secondary sources – newspapers, magazines, books and Web sites. List each source title, author, date of publication, page number (if from a book) and publication name. If you used information from the Web, list each source URL. If you used information from legal or court documents, scan and attach them to your e-mail submission or mail photocopies to Texas CEO – see contact info below.
- While this may seem like overkill to some, this policy is designed to protect Texas CEO Magazine, you and your sources. Thanks for your cooperation.

Texas CEO Editing Policy:

We edit to suit style, content and readership.
If we make substantial edits, we’ll e-mail a review copy to you. Please respond with comments by the dates indicated in the e-mail.
Changes in layout and magazine length may necessitate other changes in the story. Late in the deadline cycle, the writer may not see a final edited copy of the work before it goes to print.