Freelance Submission Guidelines
If you'd like to be part of Nebraska Life Magazine as a writer or photographer, here are some guidelines to get started.
Departments
One of the best ways to contribute to the magazine is by submitting work for a specific department. The departments for which we are always reviewing submissions are as follows:
Traveler. This is our calendar of events. If your town or organization has an event you'd like to promote, let us know so that we can consider it for inclusion.
Kitchens. We are always looking for favorite family recipes to publish. Main courses, desserts, salads, food for special occasions and everyday favorites. We're especially interested in recipes that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Please send us your favorites...and the stories that go with them!
Storyteller. We’re looking for short, first-person accounts of something in your life or in the lives of your family and friends – past or present, funny or serious.
Poetry. When submitting your work by mail, please only send copies. We receive a large volume of written work and photography and would hate to misplace an only copy or something of personal value to you. A self-addressed stamped envelope will enable us to update you on your submission(s), even those being held for future issues of the magazine. Any submissions that we don’t plan to use will be appropriately and discreetly discarded after we’ve communicated that to you.
FEATURE STORIES
This, of course, is the bulk of what we do. We're not a travel magazine, a historical journal or a newspaper-yet we do a little of all those things, and more. We're a general interest Nebraska magazine, writing primarily for Nebraskans (or former Nebraskans). Our goal is to explore our state and paint an accurate picture of our culture and lifestyle with words and photography.
WRITING
Tell us a story! Articles must be entertaining to read. Introduce us to fascinating people, places, events or issues. You care about your subject-make us care about it, too. Articles must also be Nebraska stories. We are not, for example, very interested in stories about former Nebraskans who made good elsewhere.
We especially look for stories about the institutions that have had a profound effect on our state. An institution could be a person, place, object, issue or event. We welcome stories that show a crisis and how a person or community met the challenge. Other possibilities are stories on nature, history, the arts, sports, business and agriculture. We welcome articles of a controversial nature as long as they are balanced and fair.
We also feature photo essays that fit a season or place. We use very little fiction but will consider Nebraska stories that seek to interpret our culture.
We accept both query letters and blind submissions. However, before generating an article specifically for our magazine it would be wise to inquire beforehand. We receive a large volume of material and regrettably must even refuse good submissions.
PHOTOGRAPHY
We're always looking for talented photographers to help us tell visual stories of Nebraska.
We love outstanding nature photography, but our goal as a magazine is to tell the stories of the people of Nebraska. We want to see people at work and play, people as part of a larger scene and people up close and candid enough that we feel we're getting to know them — young and old, beautiful and ugly, city and country, rich and poor and everything in between.
We try to have one photo essay in every issue. For us, a good photo essay is collection of 6-10 outstanding photos on a single subject, accompanied by a brief essay of 1000 words or less. Usually, these feature color photos, but we're open to black-and-white as well. Feel free to suggest topics.
For color photos, we prefer to work with slides or high-res digital files (300 dpi .eps .tif and RAW formats only). If you aren't using a digital camera, it's probably best for us to scan your slides ourselves. Photo information (including description, location identification and credit) must accompany all photo submissions. The most common problems with digital files we receive are small size and poor scans. Remember, we may want to blow up your photo to a full page or more — give us the resolution we need to really show off your work.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Queries and submissions by e-mail or mail are acceptable. Send them to publisher@nebraskalife.com or Nebraska Life Magazine, P.O. Box 819, Norfolk, NE 68702.
If submitting your work by mail, always include a self addressed stamped envelope with your submissions if you would like manuscripts or photos returned.
If you have further questions, contact Adrielle Harvey, at aharvey@nebraskalife.com or 800-777-6159.