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First of
all— we DO NOT guarantee payment on any column submissions.
We DO NOT accept UNSOLICITED submissions under any
circumstances. You MUST send a query letter prior to
submitting ANY work. If we decide to contact you, you will
then be instructed as to what comes next in terms of
potential publication. If you DO NOT hear from us via fax,
e-mail or telephone within a REASONABLE period of time—
WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR WORK. If we are
interested and we do contact you— and if the column is purchased
by one of our syndicators, then you will be paid accordingly,
however, there are also absolutely no guarantees that your work will
be purchased or published for that matter.
If your work is chosen by us to print, here are the
guidelines you should adhere to— All columns
being submitted to UPBEAT Entertainment News Online
for editorial consideration should be between 500 and 700 words, in most cases
"more" being preferred over less. Column submissions under
500 words
(unless otherwise specified or planned in advance) will not be considered for publication— We are looking for much more than just off-the-cuff commentary. We want work that is original and imaginative, not to mention
well structured. It is easiest for us if it is submitted in a program format like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works. If
for some reason, you do not own a working copy of either
program please cut and paste your text into the e-mail. Giving your column a final "once over" with the spell checker is also greatly appreciated.
In the subject line of the e-mail, you must clearly
note which column— as well as the topic that you are writing about. Please
be sure to put your name and e-mail address on the upper left corner of the document
along with the topic name, title suggestion and approximate word count in upper right corner of the document.
While we often publish columns of timely and topical interest, but we also prefer submissions that have a general, timeless appeal. We want to offer well thought out opinions that fit into the categories listed on
our site.
We are not in the process of creating any new columns. If you
do indeed have a valid suggestion for a column, we will take it into consideration, but as a general rule, unless you see
something listed on the site, that suits the subject
matter, we will probably not publish it. We will not be creating new columns to fit or
accommodate your specific style. With this in mind, we offer
our writers a number of columns which lend themselves to a multitude of topics that all writers and would-be essayists can easily draw upon.
Do not send several randomly attached files or
samples of your work along to us via e-mail hoping that we
will somehow be able to sort through them all and match them up with their appropriate
columns— it's relatively comparative to placing us into a 1000 gallon fish tank filled with
millions of multi-colored marbles and asking us to assort them all into specific categories... while using only chopsticks.
We do not have the time nor the resources to take on such
a ridiculous task. One column per e-mail please.
We require that all writers submit a brief editorial
list (prior to submission) containing up to 10 areas of
specific column interest or potential review topics. This
is so that we may continue to avoid any/all duplicate reviews.
Prior to submission, please familiarize yourself with
all of the columns currently listed on the site, this includes the overall
technique, style and format. If you have any questions or
concerns, feel free to contact us.
We do not accept or post negative reviews on any subject, our policy is quite simply, "If you do not like something, don't review it." We do not accept political or religious opinion columns... or anything that would be considered too edgy or controversial. We are a lighthearted entertainment news publication. We consider ourselves to be fun and wacky. We do not cover anything that would cause anyone to become emotional or violent, or worse yet, both. Think fun. Think lighthearted.
Please be sure to credit any/all outside sources of
information. Formal bibliographic notation is not necessary, but a book or article's general publication information,
or a link so that readers can find it, is preferred. All writers must
also include a brief (5 to 6 lines) biographical statement, which might
illustrate a rather funny experience or tradition, their occupation, their current projects, their likes and dislikes, or whatever else they want
the readers to know about them.
As a writer, you will retain copyright to all your work, with the exception of all UPBEAT
Entertainment News Online graphics, column names and/or logos. We do request 30 to 60 day exclusive use of your submission. If
your work has been previously published elsewhere, please indicate where and when. We also retain the right to edit your
submission to fit the UPBEAT Entertainment News Online
format. If you plan on including a copy of your article on your own personal web page, without the intent to distribute the column elsewhere, you must send a written request for permission to reprint the article with all of the UPBEAT
Entertainment News Online graphics and logos included. You must also include a prominent link back to the UPBEAT
Entertainment News Online web site.
If you are submitting a review column (music,
television or web-related) or a sports column or a
television, film or music profile, you must include an e-mail suggesting
any/all links to the appropriate photos. All column submissions must be submitted to us on a
weekly basis via e-mail on Sundays by 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, no later, no exceptions.
The UPBEAT
Entertainment News Online column style guide requires all
titles to be in single quotes ' as opposed to the standard
double quotes "— a single space is to be used
between each sentence as opposed to two spaces. Also— if
you plan on using a dash please use two dashes — as
opposed to just one dash— We prefer that any/all weekly
column submissions follow our style guide.
Contrary to popular belief, here at UPBEAT
Entertainment News Online we do not "hand out"
assignments to any of our writers. We feel that it would
stifle their inherent creativity, therefore we encourage
each and every one of our writers to submit to more than
one column during the course of their tenure at UPBEAT.
If you decide that you would like to become an UPBEAT
Entertainment News Online staff writer, we will need to
review various samples of your work and contact you if an
open position becomes available. If you are currently a
staff writer listed in our UPBEAT Writer Profiles section,
you must submit a minimum of at least 1 column or article per month
to retain your Writer Profile on the web site.
Once again, to reiterate our policy, WE
DO NOT GUARANTEE PAYMENT OF ANY
KIND, NOR DO WE TAKE UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS OF ANY KIND
WITHOUT QUERY LETTERS.
Some Useful Links—
The Writer's Guild of America
http://www.writersguild.org/
US Copyright Office
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
Copyright Clearance Center
http://www.copyright.com/
The publishers of UPBEAT Entertainment News Syndicate
publish material in good faith as editorial news or paid
advertisements and make no claims or endorsements for any
products services or procedures which appear in any of our
syndicated columns nor do the publishers accept legal
liability in response to any claims made against or
litigation involved with any/all material written in these
columns. Articles and opinions expressed are those of the
author and not necessarily the views/opinions of the
publishers. Reproduction of UPBEAT Entertainment News
Syndicate in whole or in part without expressed written
permission by the publishers is strictly prohibited.
UPBEAT Entertainment News Syndicate cannot be held
responsible for any unsolicited material.
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