Anyone up for writing a good howto and getting published?

I'm going to write a howto on using Inkscape to create a file that is then finally submitted to the Open Clip Art Library. Each howto can get you $300.00, so why not?

Jon

-------- Forwarded Message --------

From: Tux Editor <ed@...851...> To: Ryan Paul <gaerdin@...400...>, Ryan Paul <segphault@...856...>, John Knight <knight.john.a@...400...>, John Knight <knightsy_j@...899...>, Xavier Spriet <xavier@...900...>, Xavier Spriet <xavier@...901...>, Kevin Brandes <blargity@...400...>, Michael J. Hammel <mjhammel@...902...>, Daniel Jackson <dejackson@...903...>, Shane <shaneoneal@...904...>, Randall Wood <rsw22@...729...>, Shannon Baker <sbaker@...905...>, Sean Carruthers <sean@...906...>, Matthew Downs <mwdowns@...400...>, Philip W. Raymond <tvphilip@...210...>, Allen Mercer <allenmmercer@...907...>, James Roettger <roettger@...400...>, Josh <josh@...908...>, joshuo@...909... <joshuo@...909...>, Karen Hall <karen@...910...>, Keith McElroy (home) <keithdmcelroy@...911...>, Lew Pitcher <lpitcher@...456...>, Phil Barnett <philb@...912...>, Rod Davenport <rod.davenport@...400...>, Brander, Roy <Roy.Brander@...913...>, Scott Nesbitt <scott@...914...>, Sudipta Chatterjee <sudipta_cht@...829...>, Tony Godfrey <tonygodfrey@...782...>, Aaron Peters <acpkendo@...36...>, Bill Kendrick <nbs@...915...>, Blessen Cherian <blessen@...916...>, Dave Neary <dneary@...8...>, David Thorarinsson <dabbi@...917...>, Dirk Elmendorf <dirk@...918...>, Eric Goebelbecker <egoebelbecker@...400...>, Gar Nelson <Gar.Nelson@...919...>, Jay Hamilton <JayHam@...920...>, Jes Hall <jes.hall@...921...>, jmak <jozmak@...400...>, John Hebert <johnahebert@...36...>, Jon Phillips <jon@...235...>, Michael <mogmios@...922...>, Michael Lim <michael@...923...>, Melissa Hardenbrook <pip@...915...> Subject: Calling for Tux articles! Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 16:35:23 -0500

Folks,

You are getting this letter because you have either written for Tux Magazine, or we have gotten the idea that you have expressed an interest in writing for Tux magazine. Some of you are old-timers already, but it might be useful to read through the whole email anyway.

This has been a bad month for me - I was sick 2 weeks, full-time single dad, sob story, etc., etc.,

The bottom line is that I'm behind schedule looking for articles for the September issue. If you have any original articles or article ideas you could turn around quickly, please write to me and let me know asap. If you have an article ready, it is important that the article has NOT already been published elsewhere. We get a lot of requests to re-publish something already published somewhere else, and I'm afraid we do not do that, not even if the article was published in a different language.

I don't expect many (or perhaps any) of you to have an article ready. So I will follow up soon with a list of article ideas that are up for grabs. If anything in the list appeals to you and you think you are up to the task, then let me know asap. I will need these articles as soon as possible.

I will continue to send you ideas, and in the future the short deadline problem shouldn't exist (at least it should be rare). Hopefully, we can get a nice backlog of articles piled up by getting submissions from many of you, which will make it unnecessary to go into "emergency mode" like this month. ;)

Okay -- for the newbies -- please read the brief guidelines for writing for Tux below, and have a look at the sample assignment letter we will send you if we accept an article pitch (or if you agree to write an article in my suggestions list).

Thank you all for expressing an interest in Tux! It's great to have a long list of potential authors we can draw upon!

-Nicholas Petreley

---

Here are some quick guidelines for writing for Tux:

Keep it simple.

Tux is for desktop users, many of which are newbies or Windows converts. Most of them use KDE, but we don't ignore GNOME entirely. If there is a way to do something point-and-click, then that's how to write it. Avoid the command line like the plague. Avoid hexadecimal numbers, etc., like the plague. Point-and-click is how to do it.

Our readers are, for the most part, totally uninterested in open source issues, free software philosophy, programming, server issues, how something works under the covers, etc. They want to know what to click and when in order to do a certain task. In other words, if they want to remove red-eye from their photos, they want to use the easiest program for doing that, and they just want to know what buttons to click, which menu selections to make, how to select an area of the photo, etc.

As for hardware, they want to know what works and what doesn't work. And if they already have something that doesn't work, they want to know if there is an easy way to make it work. When I say "easy way", I mean they REALLY, REALLY don't want to compile anything to make their hardware work!

WRITING STYLE TIPS:

Avoid Passive voice. Use active voice.

BAD:

"Color settings can be changed by..."

BETTER:

"You can change color settings by..."

BEST:

"Here is how to change the color settings. First, click on X..."

If your article has screenshots (and most of them should), then here's how to handle them in the text. Refer to them in the text so that the reader knows which picture to look for when reading that part of the article. Then place a marker in the appropriate spot within the text, identifying your screenshot file, and the caption that should go with it.

Example:

....article text.... The Konqueror window should now look something like what you see in Figure 4.

....possibly a bit more article text, but not enough to lose the context....

[insert konq_example.jpg] Figure 4. Caption: Konqueror Split Windows

....more article text...

For those who haven't seen it yet, I've included a sample assignment letter below. Note that we prefer PLAIN TEXT articles. In a pinch, we can convert from almost any word processor format, but whatever you do, please!!

DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE AS HTML!

Okie dokie -- now here's the sample assignment letter.

---

Dear ____________,

Your article "___________" has been accepted for possible publication in TUX magazine. We expect your article will cover the following: gadgets for use with Linux, and that it be kept around 1,000 or more words.

In the following portion of the assignment letter, please be careful to use the correct email addresses specified. It is easy to confuse them because the email addresses are similar -- ed@...924... and editor@...925... These are two different editors, however.

The deadline for the final version of your article is ________. The final version of your article must be sent to editor@...852... Keep in mind that we do not accept multiple drafts of articles, and therefore, we expect a complete and final version on or before the deadline.

If your article is published, we pay $300 for "how-to" articles and $100 for reviews. If your article falls into another category, we will negotiate a payment.

All writing is done on speculation. If TUX magazine decides to use the work, we will purchase first rights and compilation rights to the article. However, we are under no obligation to publish the work. If the article is selected for publication, your payment will be $________.

Your article will be copyedited according to TUX style, and English grammar and spelling, though we ask that you carefully review the materials you submitted for accuracy and completeness. We expect that you submit your article in text-only format and that any figures, tables, listings and sidebars be sent as separate files; provide titles or captions for all figures, tables, listings and sidebars, and indicate in the text where such items should be placed.

Please insert the titles/captions and references to figures, etc., within the text itself at the appropriate places. Place them on separate lines from the article text. For example:

.....article text....

[insert configuration.jpg] Caption: The configuration dialog

.....article text....

Please send a photo of yourself, a brief bio, and your mailing address along with your article.

Once your article is submitted, it will be in the publication queue and therefore cannot be submitted elsewhere unless 1) TUX magazine formally rejects the article, or 2) the author notifies TUX magazine of his/her intent and TUX magazine agrees to release the article at that time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send email to editor@...851..., and please cc ed@...852...