Home Writer’s Guidlines

Writer’s Guidlines

Writers Guidelines
We Only Buy On Spec.

Submit Articles To: Tracye Szilagyi

WE  RARELY COVER EVENTS, so if you’re gonna send THAT to us, please make it interesting. If its clearly overtly promotion we will trash it and we might block you too if we are having a rough day.

PROFILES OF WINEMAKERS/WINERIES are fine and honestly ENCOURAGED as long as its not promotional. We like STORYTELLING.

Article Formats: Articles MUST be submitted via email. You’ll get a response from us 100% of the time.

WE LIKE IMAGES! If we accept an article for publication & we’ll strongly consider the image you send, but its us to us. As is the case with a submitted article, you are granting us the right to use your image.

We’ll always respond with at least a directional indication. But be forewarned, if you hound us, we will probably not reply any more and instead ONLY notify you IF your article has been accepted for publication.

We may edit.  Hey, Its what we do.

General Guidelines

If the first paragraph of your article contains any of the following words/phrases your submission will be rejected immediately:

  • Aficionado
  • Oenophile
  • Sommelier
  • Unctuous
  • Hand-crafted
  • Award-winning
  • Picturesque
  • A curious little wine…
  • Wine lover
  • As a wine educator, I…
  • Nectar of the Gods
  • Rated…
  • Passion, commitment and loyalty
  • Gold medals
  • Academic
  • Stroll through the vineyards
  • My wife and I…
  • Stars in a bottle
  • And if anything sounds remotely like this, “Draped in a February morning’s cool, grey mist, the property echoes with songbirds’ ceaseless calls, punctuated by a woodpecker’s staccato cadence. In the undulating vineyards, workers methodically tend the neatly trellised sea of vines slumbering in midwinter dormancy” we’ll blacklist you from our site. OK, not really. Well…. maybe. It depends on our mood that day.Articles will be immediately dismissed if your “pitch” contains “I can write your style” or the first sentence of your article contains the word “I” more than once as well. You be you. Let us decide if its Wine X material.Keep articles to 1,000 – 1,200 words. If we elect to pay, prices are negotiated per article.

    Do not indent, center or stylize the text. Use single line spacing in paragraphs.

    Text/pictures must reflect the young adult lifestyle.

    Our most important guideline is that what’s written would not fit into the style of any other wine magazine. We’re a consumer magazine, not a trade rag. No profiles of collectors, auction results, coverage of trade events, long-winded, self-absorbed journeys into remote wine regions, etc. Articles should be written with the 25-35 year old in mind.

    We thrive on hip, fun, stylish writing. Conversational, dynamic, reader-friendly. We’re setting new trends and styles. Just about anything goes. ANYTHING.

    Quirky is good, and it’s okay to break grammar rules, use slang, etc. (e.g. ain’t, bubba, rockin’), especially if that’s part of your unique “voice.” Whatever gets your point across.

    Use contractions whenever possible.

    Neologisms (words you invent) are fine, if the context makes the meaning clear.

    With that all said, here are a few sticklers that we insist on. Articles submitted to our office that don’t conform to the guidelines below will not be accepted.

    When naming wine varietals or types, use lower case unless the name is the name of a place; then use capitals. (Ex: merlot, pinot noir, but Chianti, Champagne.)

    Paragraphs: use line breaks; and again, don’t indent!

    Use of spaces: one space (not two) after period or colon.

    Use of numbers: spell out numbers from one to nine; use numerals for 10 and above.

    No capital after colon: use lower case (except for proper names).

    No serial comma: in a list of three or more elements, omit the comma before the final one (e.g. “We ate toast, pancakes, fruit and ham”) UNLESS the last element in the series contains “and” or “or” (e.g. “We ate toast, pancakes, fruit, and ham and eggs”).

    Punctuation with quotation marks: commas and periods go inside, semicolons and colons go outside, question marks and exclamation points can do either, depending on context.

    Recipes:

    * T = tablespoon
    * t = teaspoon
    * lb. = pound
    * cup = cup
    * oz. = ounce
    * spell out “degrees Fahrenheit”

    Thank you.
Wine X