GUIDELINES
for Writers, Artists & Photographers

Thank you for your interest in submitting your work to Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine and KungFuMagazine.com. Much of the magazines' contents are freelance-written. All submissions are reviewed for publication for either media, print magazine or web ‘e-zine’, unless you specify that your work is designated only for one or the other. However, our editorial board may opt to accept any given piece for one specific media only, and not the other. On occasion, unabridged versions of longer print magazine articles are accepted for the e-zine.

In general, we accept more experimental ‘edgy’ submissions for the e-zine. First person narratives such as travel logs, tournament reviews, media reviews such as recent films and articles that are over 2500 words are also directed towards the e-zine. Many authors find the print magazine to be more prestigious, but in fact, a well-written article can find a larger readership on the web since it is free access and does not fall victim to shelf life.

Topics:
Topics should be of interest to advanced, traditional Chinese Martial Arts aficionado as well as the rank beginner of any style. We welcome articles on martial arts history, weapons, training, techniques, philosophy, well-known martial artists, and notable individual experiences. We are not accepting any fiction, poetry, personality profiles, comics or cartoons, or articles for or about children at this time.

Query Letters:
If you have not written your article already, it is advised that you call, write or email to discuss your topic. This will save your time of writing an article on a topic which may not be right for the magazine or has already been covered.

Simultaneous Submissions:
Simultaneous article submissions are not accepted. You may submit simultaneous queries.

Focus:
Rather than generalizing about a topic in a superficial way, narrow your subject, find an interesting angle, and write an in-depth, information-packed piece. For example, instead of trying to fit your style's entire history into an article, you might write about how one incident changed the course of your martial art. Rather than writing about various kicks, for instance, one writer angled a recent story to explain how kicks can set the opponent up for grappling maneuvers. General topics such as "What is martial arts?" have been narrowed to a more specific focus, such as "10 Questions to Determine if You're Learning True Wing Chun".

Point of View:
Most articles should be written in the third person. The second person form is sometimes appropriate for instructional articles. Use the first person only if the focus of the whole article is an incident from your life.

Attribution:
If quotes or information are attributable to other sources, cite them within the story; do not use footnotes or end notes. Do not add "thank you to..." at the end of the article; if another person was an integral part of writing or researching the story, you may share the byline either as "by Jane Smith and John Jones", or "by Jane Smith with John Jones".

Author Information:
Please provide brief information about yourself for "About the Author" section at the end of the article. This could include your martial arts style and rank, education, profession, city of residence, school, and teacher. Contact information is permissible. This is subject to editing. If no material is provided, it will be determined by our editorial board without your consultation.

Foreign Words and Phrases:
Please italicize all foreign words and phrases throughout the text. On the first reference place a concise definition in parenthesis following, such as jian (straight swords), and provide the Chinese characters. All mandarin words should use modern pinyin Romanization. Other dialects such as Cantonese, Hakka, etc., can be preserved in their original spelling along with the Chinese characters. Chinese characters are mandatory.

Capitalize proper names of systems, but not the martial art itself, such as Fut Gar, Bak Mei Pai, White Crane kung fu. Words that appear in the English dictionary such as “kung fu, “tai chi,” “karate” need not be capitalized or italicized. Capitalize names of organizations, ie: United States Kung Fu Association. Do not capitalize the names of weapons such as guandao, gun, qiang.

These rules may be disregarded for organizations and names that have previously established spellings in English, such as Jun Fan Gung Fu, but do not change the spelling within the text of the article, such as “Gung Fu,” instead of “kung fu.”

Photo Quality:
All articles must be accompanied by at least eight photos or illustrations. Photos must be in sharp focus, well-lit, and composed so that the main subject is not too small or cut off. Shoot against a neutral, contrasting background such as wall for techniques shoot. Do not shoot subjects against a background of trees, mirrors, equipment, signs, etc. All photos must be done with a matte finish, no glossiness. Digital photos must be submitted at full size with a minimum of 300 dpi for print.

Letters, News and Promotional articles:
Letters, News and Promotional articles are not contracted or compensated. They are subject to editing.

Captions:
Please provide a separate caption for each photo or illustration, including a separate caption for each photo in a sequence. Clearly identify people present in the shots, and clearly mark the photo order and which captions go with which photos. Photo credit should be included for each photo as well, either "courtesy of ..." or "photo by...".

Physical Guidelines:
Articles should be between 1500 to 2500 words for print. There is no limitation on the word count for web submissions. Insert subheads where appropriate. Please avoid using the subheads “introduction” and “conclusion” within your article. That may be fine for technical or scientific writing, but is inappropriate for a popular newsstand magazine.

Technical Guidelines:
All text submissions must be sent in a format that is readable by Microsoft Word for IBM. All photo submissions must be sent in a format that is readable by Adobe Photoshop for IBM. Both text and photos may be submitted by email, however separate the photos into separate emails, or compress them appropriately. Email submission is highly recommended. If submitting via regular mail, please include a hard copy of the article and the photos. Digital submissions are preferred.

Submit all materials to:
Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine
40748 Encyclopedia Circle
Fremont, CA 94538 USA
Attn: Article Submissions

For additional questions, please contact our editorial board at 510-656-5100 X137 or gene@kungfumagazine.com.