Readers are invited to submit articles on a broad variety of topics relating to reading and reading education. Since Reading Today is mailed to all members of the International Reading Association, the newspaper tries to address the needs and interests of an audience involved in education at all levels from pre-K through adult education in 100 countries throughout the world. Therefore, our interests are fairly wide-ranging.

General-interest articles appearing in Reading Today range from interviews with children’s book authors to descriptions of innovative reading programs to coverage of important reading-related conferences. Anything that might help or interest reading professionals is a potential story.

Story ideas. We welcome story ideas from readers. Perhaps you know of an interesting reading program going on elsewhere in your community or an issue that everyone is talking about (such as staffing, assessment, funding cuts, or censorship). In some cases, it would be easier for us to write about these topics than for you, since we can link the information to similar information we have gathered from other places. We have 80,000 readers in 100 countries. Therefore, we have 80,000 potential sets of eyes and ears to help us home in on issues that concern all of our members.

Interaction. Talk to us. We’re here to help you. It’s often a good idea to e-mail us with a brief outline of your proposed idea. Then we can consider the best way for you to approach the article before you actually begin to write it. Professional writers and editors do this all the time, because there are many different ways to attack a piece of writing. Writing is far from an exact science; it takes a lot of judgment and compromises. If we all work on it together at an early stage, it saves everyone time and effort. And, after all, this is what we’re paid to do. So let us help you.

Readership. Remember that our readers are reading professionals like you. Sometimes people who deal with children all day forget that adults can handle trickier vocabulary and ideas than kids can. Just assume that your readers are sophisticated, intelligent professionals and express yourself accordingly.

Format. In today’s busy world, many readers like their information to come in bite-sized chunks. For instance, articles that provide lists (10 brief tips for doing something) or bulleted items are relatively easy to digest. Of course, the traditional essay style would work better to tell a story or explain a complex concept. No one approach is right for everything.

Length. Remember, this is a newspaper, not a journal. The shorter the article, the greater the chance there is that we can use it. Articles of more than 1,000-1,500 words are rarely used; about 500–800 words is much better. We reserve the right to edit articles to fit the space available.

Style. Once again, keep in mind that newspaper style is quite different from the style of educational journals. Aim for a style that is conversational and light. (Pretend you’re describing something to a friend orally or in a letter.) But don’t make it too breezy. If your subject matter isn’t intrinsically interesting or useful, no amount of “spicing it up” will do any good. A straightforward, no-nonsense approach almost always works best. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Try to use active verbs rather than passive ones.

The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White, is a little book packed with invaluable advice for writers of expository prose. The Associated Press Stylebook provides information on hyphens, abbreviations, and other nettlesome small points. These books will help anyone who ever needs to write.

Please note that Reading Today almost never includes a list of references with an article. If you must cite a reference, work it into the text.

A final word on style: remember that almost any subject can be fascinating if you make people really see it. Do this by subtracting, not adding. Don’t add words or ideas you don’t need. Find the most concise ways to say what you’re saying and ruthlessly cut away everything else.

Leads. For news articles, try using the five Ws approach: including the who, what, when, where, and why in the lead paragraph. For feature articles, try to write a lead that captures the human interest of the piece in a way that will entice readers. (Ask yourself what struck you the most when you first encountered the situation you’re describing. That’s often a good starting point.)

If you’re unsure about how to proceed, especially if you’re new to this type of writing, take a close look at any high-quality newspaper. It will contain scores of articles that you can model your piece on. And you should certainly analyze at least a few issues of Reading Today. This will show what our style is, and will help you figure out where your article might fit in and how to shape it accordingly.

Photos. Photos make an excellent accompaniment to an article. E-mail attachments generally work well. Black and white or color prints also are acceptable. Please include either a rough caption or subject identification as appropriate. Except in special cases, we do not require photographers to provide model release forms. In general, try to make the picture tell the story. An image of two or three people actually doing what’s described in the story is usually vastly superior to a group shot of 30 people standing in rows. Get close enough so that the image almost fills the viewfinder—this simple trick will greatly improve your photos.

Reading Today does not pay for most photos. We do, however, occasionally use photos by professional photographers. In those cases, unless otherwise negotiated with the photographer, IRA buys one-time publishing rights for US$100 per photo.

Editing. Even after you’ve gone through your article and made it as good as you can, we will still edit it here. That doesn’t mean that the piece is badly written; it simply reflects our attempt to make sure that every article that appears in Reading Today is concise and stylistically consistent. We edit and re-edit our own articles with this in mind.

Also, we often have to edit articles to make them fit the space available. Newspapers, much more than journals, run on extremely tight space constraints. A 500-word article may sound just wonderful, but that doesn’t help if we only have space for 450 words. Because much of this editing can’t be done until late in the process (as we are paging the newspaper), we generally do not send copies of the edited articles for author approval unless we have made extensive changes or have added information.

Deadlines. Reading Today is published during the first week of even-numbered months, and our deadline for receiving articles is about six weeks prior to publication (April 15 for the June/July issue, for instance). There is some leeway in those dates to accommodate coverage of late-breaking news, but it is important to get material to us as early as possible. It’s surprising how often we receive an article in mid-September that the author wants published in the October/November issue (which is already paged and ready to go to the printer at that point).

Acceptance and Rejection. The acceptance rate for Reading Today is probably a little higher than for most journals, but we can’t accept everything that is submitted. Rejection doesn’t necessarily mean that an article is badly written—it could mean that we recently ran a similar article or that we don’t think the piece is focused properly for IRA’s unique audience. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide critiques on rejected manuscripts, but we would encourage writers not to give up after one rejection. We quite often have accepted later articles from writers whose work we once rejected. Even professional writers get rejected sometimes, so don’t take it too hard.

Please also bear in mind that Reading Today contains up to 100 articles per issue, and as many as 10 of these may have been submitted by outside writers or columnists. Unless an article is especially timely, it may not be used for up to a year after it is accepted. Please be patient.

Remuneration. Most articles come to us as submissions from our members or from educators in the field who have specific ideas or information they wish to share with other educators through our publication. We pay only in contributors’ copies for such articles. We do occasionally use feature articles by professional writers, and for such articles we pay between 10 cents per word and 30 cents per word, depending upon the article. Payment will be made soon after acceptance, and articles usually are published within six months to one year after acceptance. Please let us know when you query whether you expect to be paid for your article. As stated earlier, payment is reserved for professional writers contributing articles we can’t get in some other way.

Reading Today contains several special sections geared to specific purposes. Some of these sections have their own needs and guidelines.

Council and Affiliate News. We invite local, state/provincial, and national IRA groups to submit articles about successful programs they have conducted. These can include community outreach programs, membership recruitment programs, or partnership efforts. Articles should run 800 words or fewer, and photos are welcome.

We especially encourage national affiliates to submit brief reports summarizing interesting or unusual activities. These groups should also let us know the dates for their forthcoming national conferences. State/provincial groups should make sure that they submit their conference information to the Council and Affiliate Services Division at International Reading Association Headquarters by the date requested each year. That information provides the basis for the calendar listing in Reading Today.

Ideas for Administrators. For this section, we seek practical ideas that principals or reading supervisors can replicate. Tips on strengthening the schoolwide reading program and motivating kids to read for pleasure are some of the topics we have covered in past issues. Articles may run up to 800 words, and accompanying photographs are welcome. We also welcome very brief (200–400 words) “tip” articles focusing on a single idea relating to reading that administrators might find helpful.

Parents and Reading. This section focuses on practical ideas that parents can use in helping their children with some aspect of reading. Authors should go beyond general advice such as “read to your child.” Instead, focus in on a specific topic, such as tips for having a successful parent/teacher conference or ideas for keeping kids reading during the summer. Articles may run up to 800 words, and very brief articles of 200–400 words focusing on a single tip are also welcome.

In the Classroom. We welcome brief anecdotes about humorous or heart-warming happenings in the classroom (up to 250 words). We will occasionally consider longer news or feature articles of up to 800 words on interesting or unusual programs in schools or classrooms. Typically, we focus on the types of programs or activities that would not be covered in our journals. We welcome photos to accompany the longer articles.

Forum. For this opinion section, we welcome “Commentaries” of up to 800 words about a topic of interest and importance to reading educators around the world. Don’t be afraid to be controversial. We also welcome “Letters to the Editor.” These letters run up to 400 words, but the shorter they are, the better the chance that we can use them. Letters are also sometimes shortened to fit the space available.

Send articles to Reading Today, International Reading Association, 800 Barksdale Rd., PO Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139, USA. Or call us at 800-336-READ (302-731-1600 outside North America). You can reach editor in chief John Micklos, Jr. at extension 250 or by e-mail. You can reach managing editor Louise Ash at extension 233 or by e-mail.