Following are guidelines for submitting an article to The Western Planner. 

The guidelines are inclusive rather than exclusive as we encourage planners to assist others by writing about what has been successful for them.  Probably the best first step is to fax or e-mail an abstract of what you are considering writing to The Editor. He will review the abstract, make suggestions, and contact you.

Feature Article Format

 1.      The publication schedule is lengthy.  It might be several months from our initial discussions until an article is published.  We publish as quickly as possible, but can't always publish an article immediately.  We publish feature articles in each issue.  The deadlines are the 10th of February, March, May, June, August, September, November, and December.  We need four weeks prior to each deadline to send the article to the Editorial Board for review.

2.      WP is planners writing for planners, and we don't attempt to rewrite the articles to a canned format with a single style. We prefer the individual style of the author to show through and provide variety and interest to the publication.

3.      One page of text in WP is 750 to 1,000 words, 1,000 without graphics.  One page of single-spaced type roughly equals one column, or half a page.  A good length for a Feature Article is between 1,500 and 2,000 words.  This results in two pages of text and with graphics, etc., ultimately three pages. Graphics help liven up the text and we encourage you to use them whenever possible.

4.      We also request a short author biography and picture.

5.      Please send a computer disk copy or e-mail the text to <wlcplan@trib.com>. Any word processing format is okay, but Word, or other IBM format is preferable.

6.      We send Feature Articles to the Editorial Board review.  The vast majority of the time this results in minor modifications and the Editor makes final editorial decisions.  Any major changes, rare though they are, are reviewed with the Author. It does, however, mean a longer time between submission and publication. 

7.       We return pictures at your request and will send you additional copies of the issue you are published in.

 For the Featured Planner, Planner's Toolbox, Planning Commissioner's Corner, etc.

1.           Use a descriptive title.  People often decide from the title whether to read a column or not.  Explain in the title what the column is about.

2.           Use subheadings to organize the column.

3.           Ideal column length is 750 words with one picture or 900 to 1,000 words with text only.  Even 1,000 words forces us to a smaller font and the smaller font is harder to read and doesn't invite the reader to read the column.

4.           Keep it simple.  If you have more than three ideas to express, consider doing more than one column.

5.           Please send a disk or e-mail the article, preferably in Word, Word-Perfect, or another IBM format.

Please call Steve at 307-266-2524, if you have any questions. 
We appreciate your interest in writing for The Western Planner.