Contributor Guidelines
Thank you for your interest in submitting an article or story to the PrimeLife Times publication! Our goal is to inform, engage, and positively impact our readers through each monthly edition. We welcome contributor submissions under the following broad categories:
-Lifestyles
-News and Views
-People and Places
-Wellness, Health, and Fitness
-Money Matters
Unless you are submitting a human-interest article, your submission should be on a topic related to your business, service, specialty, or area of expertise—though not just a description (advertisement) of your business. Use the following guidelines when writing and submitting items for consideration:
1. Submit your article by email in an M.S. Word file, Times New Roman, 14-pt type size, with the following leading (rhymes with bedding): 0 pt before line, 10 pt after line. Spacing multiple, at 1.15. These settings are found in M.S. Word’s Paragraph ribbon at the top of the screen.
2. Submitted article length is optimal at 500 words, unless you have prior approval for a markedly longer submission. Most articles accepted are between 500 and 700 words.
3. If possible, include a high-resolution photo of the article’s author to put in your byline, if space permits. We prefer color pictures, though high-quality black and white photos are acceptable. Pictures should not be submitted within Word files, but as separate files.
4. Articles are due by the fourth of the month prior to the month in which the article will be published (i.e., articles for the November issue are due by October 4).
5. Email articles to Editor-in-chief Nick Brzozowski at nick@primelifetimes.com.
6. List your full name, title, place of employment (if applicable to the article), address, phone number, and email address at the end of the article submitted. This information (except for address and phone number, which we don’t publish) is for us to create a byline to accompany your article, to give you proper credit, and to give our readers a follow-up opportunity with you.
7. The editor reserves the right to edit all material submitted for publication, including contributor bylines. We do not change factual content, but we do factcheck. Our editing conforms the writing to our style and corrects errors of grammar, punctuation, and usage. We also reserve the right to shorten articles that are, in our estimation, too long.
8. Keep your readers in mind; talk to them through your written words. Write in a conversational tone.
9. Remember the tagline of the paper (Informative. Engaging. Positive.) and gear your article accordingly. For this reason, we will not publish articles that might be offensive to our audience. Examples include those that are explicitly sexual, politically divisive, or overly concentrated on alcohol or substances to name a few.
10. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Choose simple over complex phrases. Avoid words you don’t need.
11. Put action into your verbs and prefer active over passive voice.
12. Use descriptive terms your readers can visualize.
13. Write to express, not to impress.
14. Content submitted to the PrimeLife Times remains the intellectual property of the author.
15. The publisher and editor do not accept responsibility or liability for statements made by authors.
16. The publishing standard is smart (curly, not straight) quotation marks and apostrophes. Straight quotation marks and apostrophes can be used for inches and feet and for minutes and seconds of longitude and latitude.
PrimeLife Times
P.O. Box 550
Fisher, IL 61843
Nick Brzozowski, Editor in Chief
Email: nick@primelifetimes.com