 Naval
History Author Guidelines
Submissions
Article Length
Payment
Photo Submissions
Past Articles
Tips for Naval History Writers
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After passing an initial screening by the editors and publisher,
article manuscripts are evaluated by members of the Editorial
Board, who also set the rate of payment for accepted articles.
With all submissions, please supply your home and office
phone numbers, your return address, your Social Security number,
and a short biography.
Mail
Mail inquiries, manuscripts for Naval History,
and "In Contact" items (letters to the editor) to:
Editor-in-Chief
Naval History
U.S. Naval Institute
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402-5034
If possible, include an IBM-compatible diskette.
Email
Email inquiries and manuscripts for Naval History
to:
articlesubmissions@navalinstitute.org
Email "In Contact" submissions to:
commentanddiscussion@navalinstitute.org
Fax
Fax submissions of "In Contact" items to:
410-295-1049.
To qualify as an article in Naval History, a manuscript
must have fewer than 3,000 words.
Payment is upon publication. The rate of payment varies from
$60 to $150 per estimated published page (1,000 words).
Book reviews ($75 per review) and pictorials ($250-$500)
are commissioned and, although queries are welcome, unsolicited
reviews are discouraged. The rate of payment for anecdotes
is $25 each.
Review past Naval History articles by browsing the
current table of contents
or the table of contents
archive, or by searching our article
archive.
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Tips for Naval History
Writers
By Fred L. Schultz, Editor-in-Chief
Freelance writers looking to be published in Naval History
face a formidable obstacle—a huge bank of already accepted
manuscripts. Professionals will appreciate that publications
usually buy more manuscripts than they can possibly use, because
it is always better for an editor to have too much material
from which to choose than not enough. Hence, the competition
is stiff for getting your manuscript accepted in the first
place and equally so in having it published.
That said, a good story will invariably make it into the
magazine more quickly than a "for the record" reminiscence
of life at sea. This is not to say that we are uninterested
in well-documented facts. We are simply looking for an engaging
narrative to accompany them.
Queries are always the best bet before an author assembles
a story. We may already have related material in the bank,
the topic may have been recently exhausted, or it may simply
not be right for this publication. Because of the amount of
mail we receive, the query should grab the editor's attention
from the start. Give away the best part of the story in the
first paragraph of the query. Then delineate your qualifications
for writing such a piece. And have a thick skin, because a
favorable response from the editor will likely elicit only
a form letter agreeing to see the manuscript on speculation,
with no commitment on the publisher's part. Completed manuscripts
are always welcome and are evaluated in the same manner as
all others.
Be patient after submitting the piece. Most magazines deal
with hundreds of authors at a time, so sympathize with the
editors making the decisions. Editors at Naval History
would like nothing more than to accommodate and publish all
their authors expeditiously. Unfortunately, it is simply an
impossible goal. Be patient.
Sample clips hardly ever sway an editorial decision, but
they do give further indication of the query writer's ability.
Evidence that the author has been published before, while
not necessarily a qualification for writing naval history,
does play a part in the equation.
Most editors likely will agree that freelancers should refrain
from telephone queries, on both interest in a topic or the
status of a manuscript under evaluation or already purchased.
If all authors called editors with such questions, not much
evaluating—or publishing, for that matter—would
get done.
The best way to "break into" Naval History
is first to identify a good story, with one or several of
the following: drama, action, humor, irony, emotion. Then
give your best shot in the lead paragraph, generally without
giving away—unlike the query—the upshot of the story.
The author-editor team has only seconds to draw the reader
into the story. The opening needs to be sufficiently provocative
or attractive as to leave the reader wanting more. Save the
vital statistics of the characters or other arcane details
for later in your story. In other words, do not begin with
"He was born on New Year's day . . .," unless of
course that is the focus of the piece.
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