If you are interested in submitting editorial, you must read this entire page. Please note that you must follow these guidelines for every piece of editorial that is submitted to our office. Failure to do so will prevent us from using your editorial.

Thank you for your interest in writing for Indy's Child Parenting Magazine. This information is offered to help you in the process of submitting editorial.

Indy's Child Parenting Magazine has been Indiana's number one Parenting Magazine since 1984, and it has been successfully reaching the mom market (along with fathers, educators & professionals) on a monthly basis. We are one of the first parenting publications in the nation, and we strive to be a trusted and reliable resource for years to come. We are different from most other publications in that we are heavily content-driven. While many publications focus heavily on short editorial with a great deal of imagery, we provide over 60% editorial, which includes heavy feature stories that are over 1000 words per article, as well as consistent monthly columns.

CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

Most Indy's Child Parenting Magazine articles are purchased from freelance writers. In a typical issue, readers will find a variety of regular columns: Rave Reviews, Publisher's Note, Women's Health, Cinematters, Museum Note, Local Profiles, Mayor’s column and more. We also run between five to six feature articles and six-10 shorter articles every month. These articles range from 800-1,500 words on topics pertaining to Indiana parents and family articles in general. Features consistently require in-depth research and interviews with sources in Indiana (or Cincinnati, Ohio for our sister publication).

Because we reach parents in over eight counties, we prefer that feature stories use sources within the Central Indiana area (unless articles are based on travel or non-local topics). Assignments to writers in the area will almost always be done by writers living in the area; however, we do use a variety of articles from outside writers.

While we welcome submissions of material published outside of Indiana, articles submitted to Indy's Child Parenting Magazine are not to be submitted for use to other publications within Indiana, and we will not purchase articles from writers who are published by other local competitors.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Articles must be submitted by the first of the month THREE MONTHS prior to the month you are interested in submitting editorial. i.e. If you are submitting editorial for our JUNE issue, the editorial is required in our office no later than MARCH 1. Any items submitted after this deadline will not be considered.

2. All articles must be sent via E-mail to editorial@indyschild.com. Please do NOT send your editorial to editor@indyschild.com or any other personnel. Do not send your editorial repetitively. Once is sufficient.

3. We DO NOT accept queries, but we welcome your suggestions. Only full manuscripts will be considered.

4. You will not receive a reply once you submit your editorial. We receive over 300 requests per day and it is absolutely impossible to reply to all individuals. If your editorial will be used, our accountant or editor will contact you. Please do not follow up on editorial pieces sent. Because of the sheer volume, we cannot address every submission.

5. Indy's Child Parenting Magazine pays between $150-$300 for first publication rights to an article and is based on quality, length and content. We will ask that you sign the contact below authorizing that your work is your own and agreeing that you will not submit your work to any other publications or competitors in Indiana. Writers are paid $30-$50 for reprints of articles published elsewhere. These fees include the rights to use your article for both Indy's Child Parenting Magazine and All About Kids Parenting Magazine in Cincinnati, OH, as for use on both IndysChild.com and AAKMagazine.com.

6. Editorial in first person is discouraged as we prefer third person articles. Poems and short stories are also discouraged. We prefer that articles and stories are in-depth and specific to a particular topic.

7. Please submit your manuscripts with the following. If these are not included this may cause delays in payment and usage: Invoice for your editorial piece, author byline for the end of the editorial piece, photos for the article if they apply, photo of the author for use on our Web site, author’s name, phone number, email address and mailing address. Please note that we will not return any work or photos submitted.

8. We reserve the right to edit your work if it does not comply with company policies or in the event of grammatical errors.

9. When submitting your editorial via email, your SUBJECT LINE must include the following information. If you fail to follow these instructions this may result in loss of your submission. MANUSCRIPT: "TOPIC OF YOUR ARTICLE"

OTHER INFORMATION

Please feel free, as a writer or a parent, to CLICK HERE to send us your editorial ideas. Also, please keep in mind that we cannot contact every writer in response to their submissions. We will do our best to inform you at least two months in advance if we are planning to use your editorial. If you notice we have used your editorial piece and we have inadvertently forgotten to notify you, please contact our accountant immediately at accountant@indyschild.com or at 317-722-8500 Ext. 103. As long as all editorial includes an invoice, however, you should be paid within the month that your piece is used.

If you wish to be sent a copy of your work, you must send a 10x12 manila envelope with $2.00 in postage to:

Indy's Child Parenting Magazine
C/O COPY REQUEST
1901 Broad Ripple Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46220

Thank you for taking the time to review our Editorial Guidelines.