Submission Guidelines
Thank you for your interest and cooperation in submitting your original work to Midheaven Magazine. We are excited to provide rich, intelligent, and inclusive content to the Astrological Community. Midheaven Magazine offers a platform for astrologers to share their insights with scholars, peers and students of astrology.
We ask that you follow the guidelines stated on this site when submitting your column, article, poetry, or artwork to be considered for publication.
Working within these guidelines makes it possible to put the publication together with less complication. The guidelines are not here to interfere with the artistic vision of your article, but rather for ease of formatting and congruence with the visual design of the magazine.
Please note that submission does not guarantee publication.
We hope the information below answers all your questions on how to make your submission to Midheaven Magazine. If you have questions after reviewing this material, please contact us at submissions@MidheavenMagazine.com.
How to Submit your Request for Publication
You can submit your work by emailing us or uploading through this site:
Email: submissions@midheavenmagazine.com
To upload through our site, click here: Submission Upload
Submission Deadlines
| Submission Received By | Magazine Edition |
|---|---|
| March 1 | June Summer Solstice |
| September 1 | December Winter Solstice |
Dates are based on the Northern Hemisphere seasons. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere the dates won’t change, but you will be in the opposite Equinox or Solstice season.
Submissions received after an issue deadline will be considered for the following issue. Extensions may only be granted by the Editor and under extenuating circumstances.
Compensation
Compensation for articles, artwork, and editing takes two forms: complementary advertising and profit-sharing.
Each contributor to a magazine issue is invited to submit a complementary business card size advertisement in Midheaven Magazine. The advertisement will appear in the issue of your contribution. The size is limited to 3 1/2 inches wide x 2 inches tall for business card advertisements.
Please supply a 300 dpi print resolution. PDF files are preferred. JPEG or TIFF are acceptable. You must submit by the issue deadline in order to be included in the issue.
If a larger size advertisement is desired, a 15% discount will be offered to all contributing authors, artists, and editors. See all advertising options by visiting our Advertise page.
The profit sharing for an issue takes 50% of profits and distributes them equally among published authors of articles and artwork on a per submission basis.
Payment for published articles is regardless of article length. It is expected that nearly all articles will be of roughly similar length (1,500 – 2,000 words). Longer articles may be broken into a series (for example, a 4,000 word article could span two issues with 2,000 words each). For articles longer than 2,000 words it is recommended that you discuss publishing options with the Editor using the Submissions Email.
The profit-sharing pool will be distributed through PayPal. Contributors will receive an accounting statement of total income and expenses for the issue in which their work appears.
This is a team effort and we want everyone to feel part of the team!
Language
Midheaven Magazine will be published in English. If English is not your first language, please have your written work assessed by an editor that both speaks English and understands astrology. Pieces that require heavy editing will not be accepted.
Review and Editing Process
By submitting your work to be considered for publication in Midheaven Magazine, you agree your work will be edited if accepted.
Articles submitted to Midheaven Magazine will first undergo a double-blind review to assess quality and accuracy of content. The reviewers will not know the identity of the author and the author will not know the identity of the reviewers. Accepted articles will then be edited.
Columns submitted to Midheaven Magazine will not undergo a review process prior to editing.
We will edit for simple grammar, basic word choice, and conformation to the guidelines. Edits made by our team will not change or augment the meaning of your piece.
In evaluating a piece, editors will also list the following:
- Article Strengths
- Article Weaknesses
- Additional editorial comments
- A recommendation of: Publish, Revise and Resubmit, or Do Not Publish
If an article or column requires extensive edits and/or reformatting, it will be returned to you for revision and resubmission based on the editorial recommendations. If the revision is not resubmitted in a timely manner, your piece may be delayed to a future issue.
Publication decisions are made on the basis of the aforementioned criteria and are not arbitrary personal preferences of the Publisher or the Editors.
Audience and Active/Passive Voice
Write for serious and professional astrologers taking an academic tone with allowances for humor and metaphors. Midheaven Magazine has a target audience of astrology professionals, students, and knowledgeable hobbyists.
Liberal use of the active voice is encouraged. We expect a mix of active and passive voice and ask that you take an approach that embraces the active voice to best engage readers. Authors of articles using 100% passive voice may be asked to revise their articles to include the active voice.
Time and Date Standard
Time: Use the 24 hour clock. It is similar to military time, only include the colon. Examples:
- Midnight = 00:00
- 1:30am = 01:30
- 10:30am = 10:30
- 1:30pm = 13:30
- 5:30pm = 17:30
- 11:59pm = 23:59
Date: Use the day first, followed by month and year: DD MM YYYY. Examples:
- 2 February 2021
- 17 April 2021
- 26 August 2008
- 9 September 1997
- 16 May 1865
- 25 December 2036
Politics and Opinions
We welcome submissions that present neutral and unbiased writing about politics, current events, history, and biographies. However, Midheaven Magazine will reject submissions that reflect political bias and/or opinion statements that are political in nature.
Your submission should be supported by astrological arguments rather than astrology supporting your political argument. The reader should not be able to perceive directly or by insinuation your personal bias on these topics.
Text Formatting
- Do not indent.
- One space only after a period.
- If using quotation marks, cite your reference.
- If there is no reference, do not use quotations.
- If you are using a long quote, do not indent. Rather, open and close with quotation marks in a separate paragraph.
- If you need to emphasize the word, use italics.
- Break your article into sections and label each section with a header.
- Text should be in a single column
- Use bulleted lists unless enumeration is needed for reference to listed items within the text.
- Headings and Subheadings should have a blank line before and no blank line after.
- 12 point Serif font for text.
- 14 point Sans Serif font bold for headings.
- 14 point Sans Serif font bold & italics for subheadings.
- 12 point Sans Serif font for captions.
- Prefixes like note, source, or credit should be bold.
Word Count
We value quality rather than quantity, so all submission lengths are welcome. The typical length of an article or column ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 words.
For articles longer than 2,000 words it is recommended that you discuss publishing options with the Editor-in-Chief using the Submissions Email. The Editor-in-Chief may break longer articles into a series published over 2 or more issues.
Endnotes
Endnotes should be marked by a superscript number in the text and in the list of endnotes at the end of the text. Include an empty line between each endnote.
Astrology in Your Article
- Capitalize all planets, luminaries, fixed stars, zodiac signs, constellations and nodes.
- Capitalize house systems.
- If you abbreviate the angles, capitalize them.
- If the birth time is rectified, specify and state the rectification method.
- When using the charts of public figures or other examples, make sure the time of birth is reliable and state the status using the Rodden Rating System (see below).
Rodden Rating System
AA: Accurate data as recorded by the family or state
A: Accurate data as quoted by the person, kin, friend, or associate
B: Biography or autobiography (give complete publication information)
C: Caution: no source of origin
DD: Dirty Data: 2 or more conflicting quotes that are unqualified
X: Data with no time of birth
XX: Data without a known or confirmed date
Astrology Charts in Your Submission
For uniformity we will construct any needed charts using our Astrological software. Send us a sample including the house system and what needs to be included in the chart.
Place the indication for a chart in the text by including the chart number in brackets like this: [Chart 1 here].
Place the charts on separate pages at the end of the article or as separate files. Please make sure all the needed data is on any chart you send.
Images
High quality graphic images are required, with a minimum 300 dpi resolution. PDF files are preferred. If you do not have the ability to make the file PDF, we will accept jpg, jpeg or tiff.
Do not put images in the text of your work. Instead, indicate the image with an image number in the text like this: [Image 1 here].
All images, tables, and graphs must have a citation. If you created the image, cite yourself. If you are including an image from a copyrighted source, you must include a release for its use.
Artwork and Poetry
Submitted artwork and poetry must be original. If you are submitting artwork, please include a short (50 to 175 word) description of the piece.
Columns
Our goal is to have a broad representation of astrology from as many perspectives as possible. We will publish recurring columns in which the same author writes from a specific astrological perspective. If you have an idea about a column that you would like to put forward, contact us at submissions@midheavenmagazine.com.
Picture and Bio
Please provide a current bio with a recent photo with every submission. The bio should be no more than 100 words.
Copyright
By submitting an article or artwork to Midheaven Magazine, you expressly agree that the submission is exclusive to Midheaven Magazine for 1 year and to assign First North American Serial Rights to Midheaven Magazine upon acceptance. This means only Midheaven Magazine can be first to publish the article, column, poetry, or artwork in a periodical throughout North America. Copyright and all other rights remain with the author or artist.
How to Submit your Request for Publication
You can submit your work by emailing us or uploading through this site:
Email: submissions@midheavenmagazine.com
Upload through our site, click here: Submission Page
