Contribute to Pixel Addict magazine
The below information provides some guidance on writing an article for Pixel Addict magazine.
Submission Format
While we will generally accept most formats for article submissions, we prefer Microsoft Word/open document formats with text only, with images supplied separately. Embedded images and formats make our life harder as we have to extract the text to edit and proofread - and if you submit a fully formatted and laid out PDF, we have to deconstruct it to put it into the magazine, which adds a lot of time and effort for us.
Article length
Pixel Addict articles are approximately 600 words per page, although this can depend on how many images you can provide and how good the image quality is. If you're unsure how long an article should be, please ask. If we give a target word count, please try to ensure you don't exceed it, this helps to avoid us having to cut down or edit your text to fit the planned space.
Writing Style
All articles should be written in British English. If you've not seen content from our magazine before - we work to provide something in the style of the popular classic British computing magazines many of us grew up with. This means a fairly informal friendly conversational style is adopted for most of our articles, with a light layer of humour where appropriate. Academic papers or more formal articles generally aren't compatible with our magazine style.
Images
Articles will usually be supported by images. We ask that you try not to embed these within your submissions and provide them separately, unless there is a very good reason for embedding. Embedded images make editing much more difficult.
Make sure your images are of the highest quality you can provide, low quality images may be removed or replaced to ensure the quality of the magazine is maintained. If you’re scaling up screenshots from classic computers or pixel art, make sure no anti-aliasing or other processing is applied as this will affect the image quality.
Any captions you have for your images can be provided at the bottom of your article along with the image filename as it appears on your submission. We reserve the right to make changes to your captions in the interests of making them fit the layout.
Profile picture
We usually include a picture of our submitters along with the article, so please provide us with a photo of yourself along with your submission. We prefer real photographs rather than avatar images where possible to give a more personal touch.
Copyright
Any content you use in your article should be your own, or you should have the permission to use it. This includes any images you submit - please take any screenshots and photos yourself. We are a small magazine and can ill afford legal disputes over image rights.
Layout
The layout of all pages is determined by our editor, so you only need to provide your copy and images and we will do the rest. You are, of course, welcome to make suggestions if you have a vision for how the article should be laid out, especially if the layout is integral to the article itself. However please remember we try and keep layouts relatively simple for the most part - the more complex the layout, the longer it will take to produce and the less time we can spend on the rest of the magazine.
Boxouts
Boxouts are a great way of breaking your article down visually for the reader, especially if there’s specific subtopics you want to tackle. If you want boxouts in your article, clearly mark them in the copy so we understand your intention. Boxouts are generally better placed at the end of your submission to separate them from the main copy.
Review Scoring
We have a fairly simple review scoring approach - games are judged by
four criteria: Graphics, Sound, Grab Factor and Playability, with each
criterion attracting a percentage score. The final verdict is a straight
average of these four criteria.
Proofreading and Editing
As with all in-house content, your articles will go through multiple proofreading and editing passes before being added to the magazine. Usually we will make changes at our discretion, although we will not intentionally change the meaning or intention of your articles - alterations will be to correct errors or facilitate the flow of the article, and to ensure they meet the standard our readership expects.
In the rare scenario that we need to make a change to the meaning of your article or we have an issue with understanding the content, we will consult you ASAP.
Questions
If you have any questions about submissions, please contact us.