General Editorial policy and style guidelines
When writing a submission for us to consider, please consider the following:
- Universal Media Co publications does not publish advertorial or “people profiles”. Please do not mention personalities, products, commercial services etc in your work. Talk to our advertising team if this is of interest.
- Personalise, where you can, by talking to “you” as you would in a conversation. Try to avoid talking about “we”, “us” and “our”.
- Be mindful of your legal position regarding the laws applying to libel, slander and defamation, as Universal Media Co publications has a disclaimer that reverts to the author.
- Avoid a propagandist or dictatorial style of writing. Aim to help and inform. Having finished your article, readers should be able to take a few steps recommended in the story to create a positive change in behaviour.
- Avoid prosy, lyrical or pseudo-poetic styles of writing.
- Make the reader an offer. What benefit will they gain by getting beyond the headline and first paragraph? Can they relate?
- Write what you know about from personal experience or research. If you are making a technical or health claim or referring to research, please provide full references.
- Provide a brief bio (two or three sentences) describing yourself, your qualifications and your current professional status. You may include brief contact details if you wish.
- Feature articles are generally 2000-2500 words.
- Universal Media Co publications do not print poetry, cartoons or fiction.
- Universal Media Co reserves the right to edit all material accepted for publication.
Research and referencing
When writing a submission for us to consider, please bear in mind the following:
- If you are conducting research on the internet, be discerning about the information you find. Always ensure your sources (online and otherwise) are reputable and accurate.
- Ensure that you consult sources first hand. Please do not cite a second-hand reference without having consulted the original source.
- Be mindful of plagiarism. According to The Macquarie Concise Dictionary, plagiarism is “the appropriation or imitation of another’s ideas and manner of expressing them, as in art, literature, etc, to be passed off as one’s own”. To avoid the risk of plagiarising, acknowledge all your sources with full references and use quotation marks when transcribing material verbatim.
Copyright
A submission must be your own original, unpublished work. If it’s accepted for publication in any of our titles, you will be required to sign a Universal Media Co copyright agreement. Please email enquiries about copyright to our publisher Janice Williams.
Submission notes
Please take the following into account:
- Email your submission as a Word for Windows file.
- Include a bio (120 words or less) with links to your website, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter accounts where relevant along with a headshot or photo of yourself to use if/when we publish your story online.
- Submission of images is not essential but preferred (especially for travel articles). Label all images with a brief descriptive caption and the photographer’s name. Electronic images should be 300dpi JPEGs or TIFFs with a linear size of at least the size they will appear in the magazine.
- We can’t guarantee when your article will be published. Universal Media Co has lengthy colour production lead times and many factors such as editorial balance and advertising volume affect the final story grid for any one issue.
- When your article has been selected for a particular issue, we will send you a contract specifying terms and payment.
- We try to review submissions quarterly. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of articles received, we’re unable to give specific feedback.
- Universal Media Co cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.
- All manuscripts are received as submissions only and cannot be formally accepted until vetted by our editorial review board.