SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

[petronia]

I am making this a public post and will be linking it from the community userinfo.

The major point to remember is that I will be doing a select-all on the file you send me and dumping it into the LJ online update form (or Semagic). Hence your submission must be ready to post to Livejournal.

This implies the following:

• Word (.doc), rich text (.rtf) or plain text file (.txt). Please no HTML files.
• Skip a line between each paragraph; there's no need to put
  or
  tags. Please make sure there are no "hard" line breaks in your text files. (Alternately, someone tell me how to get rid of hard line breaks without deleting them by hand one by one. ^^;)
• Use or tags for italic, and or tags for bold. Yes, that means typing them directly into the text.
• Use plain (straight) quotes in lieu of "smart" (curly) quotes in Word.
  To turn off "smart" quotes in Office 97-2003:
  
  1. Go to Tools > Autocorrect Options > AutoFormat (and AutoFormat As You Type)
  2. Uncheck the Replace as you type: "Straight quotes" with "smart quotes" box.
  
  To turn off "smart" quotes in Office 2007: see this page.
  This will not remove any "smart" quotes that are already in the file. If you don't want to change your settings permanently, you can turn off "smart" quotes temporarily and run a find and replace on your existing file to change smart quotes and apostrophes to straight.
  1. Turn off "smart" quotes.
  2. In the existing file, select a "smart" quote and do Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard.
  3. Open the Find/Replace dialogue.
  4. Paste the "smart" quote into the Find field, and type a straight quote into the Replace With field. Click Replace all.
  5. Do this four times: for the open quotation mark, the close quotation mark, the open single quote, and the close single quote (i.e. apostrophe).
  In either case, YOU MUST REMOVE ALL "SMART" QUOTES, SINGLE QUOTES, AND APOSTROPHES FROM YOUR STORY FILE BEFORE SUBMITTING.
  
• If you use ellipses in Word, try to make sure they're not "smart" ellipses: those don't show up either. (To get rid of "smart" ellipses for good, go to Tools > Autocorrect Options, look for the ellipse in the Replace ___ With ___ table, then delete that line or change it.)

If you're not sure, dump your story in a private LJ post, check it in Firefox and Explorer, and fix any weird symbols or line break issues you see.

• Make sure the file includes the title of the story, the name under which you wish it to be published, and your lj username (so the Editor at least can keep track of who you are XD). This last is not obligatory if you don't have an LJ or wish to remain entirely anonymous.
• The FILE name should be: your penname (your lj username) - title of your story.doc (or rtf/txt)
• Email the submission as an attachment to: shousetsubangbang@gmail.com
• Alternately, use Google Docs to submit the story. After uploading the document, click on the link to open it, then click the Collaborate tab. Invite shousetsubangbang@gmail.com as a collaborator. This will allow me to view and work with the document.

A note regarding pennames: if you choose a pseudonym that you would like to appear in Japanese on the cover, please include the actual kanji/hiragana/katakana in your email or at the beginning of your story file. Or, if you can't type in Japanese, specify something like "Yamada as in 'mountain' and 'field', and Hanako in hiragana." Or, if you don't know how it's written, ask me to pick for you and I will. XD Basically if you don't specify I will have to email you back and ask anyway, because there are on average 15,497 ways of writing a given Japanese name, some of which are puns.

Submission guidelines for cover art and illustrations:

• Because I do a fair amount of graphic design work on the cover, the original cover artwork should be submitted about a week ahead of the final deadline for the stories - unless I'm also writing the cover story, in which case I need to receive it well in advance. XD These dates are flexible, and I will always contact the cover artist to work out the schedule on a one-to-one basis.
• Because story illustrations are not essential (i.e. I don't need to have them in hand in order to edit and upload the webzine), the submission deadline for them is more flexible. I would prefer to receive them before the issue actually goes up, but that's about it. ^^;
• The easiest way to submit an illustration for your story is to upload the image file onto your own server and include the
  tag in your story submission file. If you do not have your own server, email the image file to me as an attachment. If emailing separately from the story file, specify the name of the story in the email header; please specify also where in the story the image should be placed (ex. "just after the third section, before the author's notes").
• Note that I have plenty of server space, so don't hesitate to send me pictures. I would much prefer to have the illustrations on my own server than on unstable free webspace of some kind.
• Please keep illustrations under 600x800 in size, so people viewing at lower screen resolutions won't have to scroll horizontally to read the story.

Thanks!