Writer's Guide

All articles must be reviewed and accepted for publication by the off our backs collective. Sometimes we return an article for revisions. Sometimes, sadly, we reject an article. To make sure your article is accepted for publication, follow these guidelines.

Content

• Make sure your article is relevant to a feminist audience.
• Make sure your facts are correct.
• Spell everyone’s name correctly.
• Write in an interesting and concise way (papers originally written for an academic purpose may need to be revised with a more general audience in mind).
• Do not include personal attacks on individuals.
• Let us know if you are submitting your article to other publications at the same time as oob. (By the way, this is frowned on by publishers in general. You should send your article to one publication at a time.).
• For more information on specific kinds of articles, read on.

Categories of Articles

news
News articles–especially about activism and international events–are oob’s mainstay. If you are doing original reporting, please provide names and phone numbers (when possible) of the sources, and, if available, photographs of the subject. We also use clips from newspapers, ‘zines, and the Web (include name of newspaper and date).

interviews
An easy way to get a lot of information. Please transcribe the interview (type it up on a computer) and edit it for clarity.

commentary
Analysis and commentary on current events and trends (local, national, and international) should be about 8 to 10 double-spaced typed pages or less (about 2000 words). Please send photos if appropriate.

reviews
Reviews of books, movies, and music are always welcome. Include an informative summary and/or analysis of the work. Personal comments about your reaction are also appropriate. Normally should not exceed one oob page in length.

conference reports
Conferences and music festivals relating to women are excellent to cover. Try to include details and photographs if possible (taken with the participants’ permission).

Length

One page in oob is about 500 words. A news article must be one page or less. Commentary or feature type articles such as a comprehensive analysis of a topic or coverage of a conference, may be up to 4 or 5 oob pages.

Format

You can send your article as an attachment by email (not in the body of the email message itself) or on a 31/2-inch floppy disk accompanied by a printout. Preferred formats are Microsoft Word,WordPerfect, RTF, or Plain Text. Our goal here is not to have to re-type your article word for word. However, if you do not have access to computers, we will accept typewritten, and, if need be, neatly handwritten articles. Please do not fax your article.

Email your article to offourbacks@cs.com

or

Mail your printout and diskette to off our backs, 2337B 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA

Topics

Need some ideas to get you started? See our Calls for Manuscripts for special issues, or try these topics:

article submission ideas activism women and computers international news women and aging issues sexual minority youth commentary on something in mainstream media lesbian issues young feminist activism ‘zines women and work women in union organizing women and economics alternative women’s and feminist music women film makers feminist art feminist relationships and dating book reviews movie reviews women in sports other topics relating to women, feminism, activism

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Contact us at oob@offourbacks.org