Contributor Guidelines

It's helpful if you first read a few back issues of Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine to become familiar with our style and audience. We are the magazine of the coast of Maine with a strong focus on boating. We occasionally venture northeast into Nova Scotia or south into the rest of New England, but generally only if there is a strong Maine connection inherent in the story. Our editorial inventory is generally planned well in advance (6 months out). We welcome author inquiries in the form of query letters. Note that we do not generally publish "log style" articles, nor do we publish travel-magazine style pieces. We also accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is helpful if they are typed double-spaced and a self-addressed, stamped envelope is included. Please also provide a copy on a CD, preferably in MSWord. E-mail submissions are also accepted (editor@maineboats.com). Please attach your MSWord document to your e-mail, and ALSO paste the article into the body of the e-mail. Please note your telephone number in your cover letter. While we take all due care with materials, we cannot be responsible for unsolicited contributions. If you wish your materials to be returned, they must be accompanied by an SASE. Whenever possible, all manuscripts should be accompanied by appropriate artwork such as transparencies, high-resolution digital images, or color or black-and-white glossy prints. Please number and identify each image on a brief caption sheet, and provide a printed thumbnail sheet and caption list with any digital images you send, so that we can quickly review your submission. See our Photographer Guidelines for more information. Good sketches are also acceptable. In lieu of actual artwork, suggestions on sources of illustrations are greatly appreciated. If your manuscript involves a destination, please include a photocopy of a map or chart with the places clearly marked on it. Please also enclose a brief autobiographical note. To help us keep track of things, please write your name and contact information on your manuscript and on EACH photograph, slide, and sketch. We prefer that manuscripts submitted to Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine not be sent to other magazines for consideration during the same time period. Please let us know if others are considering the piece so that we don't overlap with another publication. Also, if your manuscript has previously been published in part or in whole, let us know. LENGTH & PAYMENT: Manuscripts submitted for feature consideration should be approximately 2,500-3,500 words in length. Sidebars are encouraged. Departments ("A Letter from Home", "My Boat, My Harbor") are shorter: 800-1,000 words as a general rule. Our rates vary with each individual submission and range from $250 per item for shorter pieces up to $400-500 for feature articles. We buy one-time North American print-only rights and pay upon publication unless other arrangements are made in advance. LEAD TIME: Within about twelve weeks after we receive your query or unsolicited manuscript, we will either accept it for publication or return it to you. Keep in mind that it can take six months to one year for a piece to reach publication. Send materials to: Editor, P.O. Box 566 (courier: 218 South Main St., Suite 300) Rockland, ME 04841 207-594-8622; fax: 207-593-0026 Queries may be sent to the same address or e-mailed to: editor@maineboats.com PHOTOGRAPHER GUIDELINES GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY: We are always on the lookout for photographers with interesting work that depicts life on the Maine coast. Feel free to send us your portfolio or samples of your work. It's helpful if you first look through a few back issues of the magazine to familiarize yourself with the types of photos we use, and be aware that we fill most of our needs by calling for specific shots of specific topics. Please put your name on each slide, photograph, and disc submitted, especially if you'd like it returned. All unsolicited submissions must be accompanied by a SASE. COVERS: Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors is a magazine about pleasure boating and pleasant living on the coast of Maine - this is what we like our covers to say. For covers, we can best handle 35mm or 4"x5" transparencies. If you send digital images, we prefer to receive low-resolution jpegs for initial viewing, but will eventually need high-resolution images (300 dpi at 9"X 11") saved as Tiff or EPS files (see under Digital Images for more information) for images we choose for publication. Vertical shots work best for our covers. Concentrate on good composition and avoid shooting scenes that look cluttered. We need room for cover lines, so plain backgrounds often work well. Cover photographs (especially slides) must be extremely sharp with proper exposure. Strong seasonal shots (except winter) are always welcome; we publish issues in February, April, June, August (Autumn), and November (Winter). Action, but not full-on racing, shots are fine. Avoid shadows, people's backs, large, dark areas, and dark sunrises and sunsets. Try to capture new angles and look for the graphic element within each shot. As a general rule, our covers depict a boat or boats, though that need not be the central focus. DIGITAL IMAGES: To make your digital work easier to review, please include a printed set of thumbnails (b&w is fine) and a caption sheet. Also, please name each file something useful: the file name "jpeg1" is no help to a busy editor. Please don't send large images (larger than 1MB) via e-mail unless we have discussed it first. We prefer to receive low-resolution jpegs for initial viewing, but will eventually need a minimum of 300dpi at 6"x8" (larger for spreads and covers). All high-resolution images should be CMYK process (not RGB), and saved as Tiff or EPS files. RATES & RIGHTS: Our rates range from $100 for spot inside usage to $400 for the main cover photograph. Payment is made upon publication for one-time North American print-only rights. Other rights may be negotiated on a case by case basis. Send materials to: Editor, P.O. Box 566 (courier: 218 South Main St., Suite 300) Rockland, ME 04841 207-594-8622; fax: 207-593-0026 Queries may be sent to the same address or e-mailed to:editor@maineboats.com