Writers Guidelines

INTRODUCTION
Reunions touch everyone and can be with family, friends, classmates, associates, military buddies, neighbors, survivors and co-workers.

Reunions magazine is reader driven and mainly about the writer’s own reunion planning and attending experience. The magazine’s focus is to provide information and direction for persons who are organizing family, class, military and other reunions. Readers depend on us for practical ideas about planning, organizing and attending reunions, along with good stories.

Read Reunions magazine to discover our tastes. We welcome your queries and submissions; send to [email protected]

Material must address our readers who want to learn the nitty gritty of organizing successful reunions. Provide help, suggestions, smashingly fresh ideas, reunion advice, inspiration and motivation.

Material we accept answers these, among other questions. What’s special about your reunion? Where was it and why? Who was invited and why? How many generations? ages? What was planned and for whom? What made attendees happy and wanting to come back? Do you have photos that depict what you’re writing about?

Ease other reunion organizer’s challenges, answer questions they don’t know how to ask, solve problems before they know about them. Our readers want ideas about getting people engaged, involved, enchanted by the idea of being part of your special group.

Reports and pictures from reunions are our lifeblood. We include material from reports in features and some as stand alone articles.

We highlight and examine ways to be savvy reunion consumers. We point readers to wonderful places to stay and why they’re special. Our readers want products and services that make reunions special. Family reunions want ways to entertain kids, not just swimming pools, theme parks and video games, but active play and exploring, involving all generations, grounding them with family, history, pride, strength, and fun.

Titles Please be creative. Do NOT call your story: Reunion, The Reunion, A Reunion, Our Reunion, My Reunion.

Say it with … humor, expertise, passion, perseverance, creativity, a fresh approach …

Comments We appreciate constructive feedback. If you have a complaint, tell us. If you have praise, tell others – though we don’t mind hearing praise too!

The perfect submission: A report about your reunion plan and reality is a perfect submission accompanied by well focused pictures that tell a story and are 300 dpi or higher.

CONTENT GUIDELINES

Features are written or contributed to mainly by readers and roughly fall into these categories.

How-to articles about organizing reunions usually address single issues of relevance to many reunion groups. Examples include early decisions, how to formulate and follow through with plans, how to work with convention and visitors bureaus, document reunions, plan games, make invitations and newsletters, etc. When convention and visitors bureaus or any reunion venue submits, it should be from the point of view of reunions. Feature/celebrate successful reunions and pictures of reunions you’ve hosted.

Personal stories These articles encourage and inspire others initiating similar reunions. Articles elaborating on the reunion organizing process are preferred. We’re partial to stories of triumph. Many readers have similar stories, so unusual or heartwarming stories with unique aspects, twists or universal insights are more likely to be published. Topics include family, class, military and other reunion stories with humorous or instructive narratives, military buddies returning to the scene, genealogical searches with surprising results, then told at the reunion, or why kids enjoy reunions.

When appropriate, feature articles should include leads, additional sources, names, addresses, emails, websites, publication title, author, publisher, etc. In other words, if you’re writing about something our readers may want, include full contact detail.

Departments
Reviews of reunion books, movies, TV shows, videos or plays about reunions and computer software that will help organize your reunion. Bios must accompany reviews. Send material for review.

RSVP … inviting examples … Share reunion invitations, include original sample (flat), its use, distribution and why it was effective. Or submit invitations to add to our collection online.  JE: LINK collection online TO https://reunionsmag.com/gettingstarted/word_out_invitations.html Also, for Reunions Invite! an upcoming feature at www.reunionsmag.com.

Scrapbook Includes clipped articles (recipes, cartoons, fliers) about reunions. Sources and dates must be identified.

Photos can accompany articles or be independent with a caption. They must be well-focused, tell a reunion story and identify name, address, phone number of owner, names of persons and names and ages of children in the picture (unless it’s a very large group) and a signed publication permission release. Vertical photos are all considered for covers.
We prefer digital photos which MUST be 300 dpi or larger for publication. If you are sending prints, they must accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelopes (SASE) must accompany photos you wish if you want them returned.

Recommended photo size – Please send the highest quality photos you you have, ideally from a digital camera, not a phone. Some photos from phones may be usable, however.

Features
Tell us about exciting or unusual reunions places. Tell us where, how to get there, what’s special, what did they do for your reunion and why you’d go back.
Regular columns highlight single issues or current trends and must educate reunion organizers. Submissions about 1,000 words with universal and timeless appeal.

SPECIFICATIONS
Prefer submissions by email with copy in with Microsoft Word attachments. Send to [email protected] or mail to Reunions magazine, PO Box 11727, Milwaukee WI 53211-0727. Emailed submissions are acknowledged and used much sooner than mailed submissions. Mailed material always takes longer to respond.
Indicate if you have photos and be prepared to submit upon request.

Payment
We are able to pay very little for unassigned work but are generous with extra copies of the issue in which your submission appears.

Email submissions get much faster attention. Replies in up to two years. Possible Up to 12-month delay between acceptance and publication.