WRITING FOR THE CIVIL WAR PHILATELIST (CWP): WHAT AN EDITOR DOES
Wayne L. Youngblood
The Civil War Philatelist is a quarterly publication that exists to entertain and educate its readers through well-illustrated, interesting, and informative features. Its position as the official mouthpiece of the Civil War Philatelic Society (CWPS) renders it an important publication within the hobby.
With this in mind, we serve the needs of anyone studying and collecting the philatelic artifacts of the American Civil War (North or South). Everything we do is subservient to our main purpose of serving the needs of our readers and advertisers.
The editorial content of this magazine, or at least its features, is primarily supplied by CWPS members. While we do accept features from nonmembers, as well as other unsolicited features, we do reserve the right to refuse any manuscript that does not fit our needs.
As a general rule, preparing an article for publication can be considered much as preparing an exhibit. You should set your parameters for the feature before beginning and follow them exactly. The story’s lead should let a reader know some of what he or she should expect to learn from the article without it reading like a science fair abstract or a Wikipedia entry.
But first, let us talk a bit about editing and style.
What Does an Editor Do and What is Style?
An editor’s job is simple: Make everyone’s prose read as if it were professionally written, clarify muddy writing and keep a consistent style that runs throughout the publication, without losing the editorial voices of contributors. Editing is not a matter of simply flowing in text, correcting a few spelling or gross grammar errors and slapping some pictures in to make an article look pretty.
Attractive layout and making everything fit is important, but content must be inviting and readable as well. No contributor is exempt from necessary edits to achieve these goals. Indeed, some authors’ works need more effort than others.
Remember, none of us can be an objective judge of our own writing. The best writing occurs when an author writes, edits, rewrites, re-edits and then fine-tunes his or her thoughts, before submitting the work to an editor for a final polish. Most authors who are not professional writers are not even consistent within their own pieces in terms of style (types of punctuation, word use, expression of dates and more). This is not a criticism; they just do not have trained eyes for inconsistencies that can be distracting to the reader.
Every publication (ours included) should have an adopted style for consistency. There is no “right” or “wrong” style book (and there are many differences between some), but I choose to use an adapted version of the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. This volume, designed specifically for publications and periodicals, is clean, consistent, and easy to use. It applies common sense and is nowhere nearly as ponderous or pretentious as some used by academia. The adaptations, of course, are made for philatelic needs. We will discuss a few specifics a bit later.
Writing is a Craft
First and foremost, it is important to always remember that writing is not fine art. It is a craft. What I mean by this, as I have often expressed, is that good writing never flows unfettered from pen to finished paper. Writing is a communication tool; nothing more, nothing less. When done well, writing – even in its most mundane form – can transport or move the reader. At its worst, poor writing (and poor editing) can even alienate those we seek to please. Getting your material published is not just about informing readers, you must also engage them. It matters little how much information you present if it is not interesting enough to read! A reader should be led gently through an article – not pulled or pushed – with the goal of allowing him or her to take something away in terms of knowledge.
The best writing is the culmination of much hard work, rewriting and reshaping, a finely crafted and polished piece. The final publication of several of these pieces is like a very well-connected patchwork quilt; a quality item assembled with many very different components, but with an underlying unity that gives a feeling of comfort. As editor, it is my job to help a writer communicate his or her ideas more clearly and efficiently. Sometimes this will involve little more than minor tweaks for style or clarity. At other times, the task is much harder and may involve some rewriting. While this does not mean riding roughshod over a writer, it may mean the complete reorganization of existing information or even the addition of a bit more to help the writer communicate his or her idea more effectively.
One mistake frequently made by amateur writers is that their work must not be touched or changed in any way. This, of course, is balderdash. No writer – even the best and most well-known – works without the safety net of a capable editor; one who is not afraid to take a strong hand, if necessary, to help a writer communicate more clearly, while maintaining a writer’s personal style. For me, it is a non-starter if a writer does not want his or her prose touched, and that attitude is usually highly informative of the product I would likely receive if I accepted a work under those circumstances.
So, How Should I Submit Work?
The following are some general guidelines for submitting articles to the Civil War Philatelist. This is not a comprehensive list but should be helpful to answer general questions. I appreciate whatever you can do to make the submission process simpler, but do not worry about the details too much, as the editor can change prose, as needed, to make your piece conform to our style. As a result, these guidelines are not set in stone, but give you an idea what will be done with your manuscript after submission. We will work with you to ensure your article not only adheres to the editorial style we’ve chosen but retains your voice. The following guidelines are preferences. We will always edit quality submissions to meet our editorial style. We do not, however, offer endless proofs and exchanges between author and editor during the process. It is simply not possible.
When preparing an article for publication in CWP, you may wish to start with specific illustration items, since it is usually much easier to write about something specific rather than to play the game of running down material at a later date. The more visually stimulating the material the better.
General:
CWP reserves the right to edit all work accepted for publication. In some cases, this may mean little more than grammatical changes or style; in others it may mean the addition or reorganization of information or even – to some extent – rewriting.
As mentioned, CWP generally follows the Associated Press Stylebook, which was specifically designed for brevity and clarity. This provides for consistency within the pages for our magazine, as well as a consistent style over time.
Please keep sentences and paragraphs fairly short; they are much easier for the reader to follow. If you find a single sentence inching above 20 to 25 words, please begin looking for a way out, otherwise you may have a run-on sentence on your hands.
If appropriate, please feel free to use first-person tense. Articles published in CWP are bylined. Therefore, if it is your opinion, please state it. Please stay away from polite plurals or self-effacing references. This includes the royal “We,” which can be very confusing and offensive to the reader.
If you are referring to quantities, it is best to use “more than.” The word “over” generally refers to a spatial relationship. Please use “more than 100,” not “over 150.”
All abbreviations and acronyms should be spelled out in the first reference with the first abbreviation being used thereafter without periods. American Philatelic Society becomes APS on the second reference, for example.
Although most abbreviations do not have periods, the United States calls for periods. Also, we do not use U.S. as a noun; it is always “… in the United States,” not “… in the U.S.”
Postal administrations and companies are not living entities. Therefore, we refer to a government or company as “it“ rather than “they” or “them.”
A work of art is titled, not entitled; a painting does not have rights. Entitled sounds pretentious and is, simply, wrong.
Runs of numbers or dates generally utilize the last two digits as follows: 1-250, 263-67, 1,265-89 or 1929-87. Catalog numbers, however, are always referred to as a full number even in sequence, such as Scott 5347-5359.
Please avoid using trademark names whenever possible. Use “photocopy,” rather than Xerox, or “tissue,” rather than Kleenex, for example. Whenever possible, avoid the use of quotation marks, exclamation points or italics for emphasis. A written work should not have to rely on graphics to communicate emphasis points. When quoting someone, periods and commas appear inside quotation marks.
Do not use Mr. or Mrs. unless the individual is dead. It is also generally better to omit other courtesy titles unless there is a specific reason they should appear in your article. We are all on equal ground in our hobby; thus Dr. Otto Smith could be appropriate in an article about medicine and medical help during the Civil War, but Dr. Smith is simply Otto Smith, unless there is a real reason for using the title.
General Preparation
1. Please prepare your article in a Microsoft Word file: DOC or DOCX.
2. Submit your completed article, and illustrations, by email, transfer service or flash drive to the CWP article coordinator Frank Crown (fcrownjr@gmail.com) or by U.S. mail to PO Box 278, Capshaw AL 35742.
3. Upon receipt of the article and any illustrations, the CWP article coordinator will acknowledge receipt and review the article and cause peer review to occur, if necessary. The article coordinator will work with the author to finalize the article.
4. After submitting the article to the CWP editor for editing, layout and publication, the article coordinator will notify the author. There is no guarantee how quickly an article may appear, although we try to publish fairly soon.
5. All images should be submitted separately from the manuscript. Please do not embed images in the document, nor should you attempt to format the layout. That is what we do.
A Few Important Tips
American vs. British: We are in the United States. American spelling is preferred, please.
Apostrophes: In year dates, do not use them. Write 1860s, not 1860’s.
Captions: Captions, in numerical order, should be brief, usually one or two sentences at most. Captions should not be within the body of the manuscript, nor should suggested placement. All captions should be preceded with “Figure X.” If the illustrations are not the author’s, please provide an italicized photo credit at the end of the caption, i.e., (Courtesy John Doe, Courtesy Library of Congress, etc).
Dates: Use American style dates: Jan. 1, 2022, (not 1 January 2022). In a sentence, there should be a comma after the year date as well as after the day date, e.g., “Jan. 1, 2022, is the first day of the year.”
Deadlines: Deadline for the receipt of articles, letters, advertising, and news is the first of the month preceding the month of publication (preferably earlier) as shown below. For example, we need everything for a Second Quarter issue by May 1. First quarter – Feb. 1 Second quarter – May 1 Third quarter – Aug. 1 Fourth quarter – Nov. 1.
Embedded Images: Please do not embed any images in Microsoft Word files. Every bit of embedded formatting must be removed, including tables. Bold text, italics and tabs are okay. Send photos and tables as separate, individual files. Simple plain text always works best.
Endnotes: Depending upon the program and the formatting, sometimes the endnote numbering and citations simply vanish into cyberspace during manuscript transmission. To ensure your endnotes are received, it is best to include a PDF version of the manuscript as well as a .DOCX file. A personal email advising that there are or are not endnotes in your submitted article is also helpful. The article coordinator can then check for missing endnotes.
Illustrations: Illustrations are always preferred electronically as scans. Please scan stamps at 600 dpi and 100% of their original size. Scan covers at 300 dpi and 100% of their original size. If large blow-ups are needed for extreme detail, scan at 1,200 dpi at 100%. Preferred formats are tif or jpg. Please do not crop the cover image. Leave that to the editor. Also, please do not scan covers or stamps on album pages, with corner mounts or in any form of pouchette. If you do not have access to a scanner, originals may be sent to the article coordinator who will make scans and return them immediately by the same method as they are sent. Images taken from the internet are typically 72 dpi and are generally unacceptable. Please do not send them without consulting with the article coordinator first.
Transmission: For text and image transmittals greater than 10 MB, we recommend one of the free large file transfer systems such as WeTransfer or FromSmash. It is advisable to send a separate email advising such a transfer has been made to ensure receipt. Alternatively, you may submit via CD or by flash drive or other memory device.
Italics: Italicize book titles, magazine titles, vessel names (i.e., USS Monitor) and foreign words.
Layout: Layout is the job of the editor. Ideally, all images will be labeled by figure number and referred to by that same number in the text (“… as illustrated by the cover shown in Figure 1”). Please do not suggest placement of images nor refer to images in language such as “cover below.” Two to one, it will not be located “below” on the same page. Referring to figure numbers is important to the editor and, ultimately, the reader.. Similarly, please avoid formatting that would place images in specific locations.
We look forward to hearing from you and working with you. Again, these are ideal guidelines. Please do not let them determine whether you will submit an article. We are happy to work with you on your chosen project.