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Essentials in
Board
Harmonizer Editorial Policy
Guidelines for submissions, opinion pieces, advertising.
Updated: 8/12/2004 4:49:00 PM
The Harmonizer
Official publication of the Barbershop Harmony Society
7930 Sheridan Road
Kenosha, WI 53143
harmonizer@spebsqsa.org
General Editorial Philosophy
The Harmonizer is primarily a features magazine that covers issues of interest to the barbershop world. The magazine also contains a limited amount of generally applicable news and data. Due to The Harmonizer’s bi-monthly schedule and long lead-time, it is not a preferred resource for most timely news. The magazine is published each January, March, May, July, September and November.
Features in the magazine deal primarily with people, trends, accomplishments, events, history and “how-to” aspects of the barbershop hobby. It is not an academic or peer-reviewed journal, but rather a broad-scoped magazine written by and for barbershop fans and hobbyists. Articles are written by volunteer writers and headquarters staff, all of whom receive relatively liberal latitude in which to create lively articles that may contain subjective observations and perspectives. Most articles will receive standard editorial placement in the magazine layout. (For exceptions, see “Opinion Articles.”)
The Harmonizer editorial team takes an active editorial stance in helping authors make their articles as relevant and interesting as they can be. The editorial team serves as a resource for coaching and directing writers and serves as the arbiter of whether articles are of sufficient editorial quality for publication. The team strives for balance in covering a wide variety of topics and perspectives, striving to allocate sufficient portions of limited editorial space to all worthy topics.
Committee reports and other limited-audience pieces will not appear in their entirety in the magazine, although summaries may appear, with reference to the full report. Such reports may also be launching points for articles that cover much of the same material through reader-oriented approaches.
Deadlines
Articles may be submitted at any time, but must be received at least 45 days before the publication date to be considered for publication in the upcoming issue. Meeting that deadline does not of itself guarantee that an article or letter will be published in the next issue.
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor must be received at least 30 days before the publication date and should be fewer than 150 words. No anonymous submissions will be printed. Letters must consist of observations based on content that has appeared in the magazine. The letters page is not an appropriate forum for introducing new ideas and information, public notices, for extending recognition or for expressing public thanks. The Harmonizer reserves the right to edit letters for length or content.
Article Review Process
The Harmonizer editorial team selects and solicits articles and determines their eventual presentation in the magazine. When the subject matter warrants, the editorial team solicits the expertise of staff and volunteers during the editing process. Prior to publication, the headquarters staff managers and directors review and provide feedback on all articles appearing in The Harmonizer.
Among Harmonizer editorial team members, the editor has ultimate responsibility and authority regarding what appears in the magazine. Only the Chief Executive Officer and and Marketing Director have the authority to override a decision of the editor or editorial team.
Solicited Articles
The Harmonizer staff frequently seeks out volunteers for a variety of articles and photos. The magazine does not pay for either solicited or unsolicited articles. The Harmonizer will make every effort to publish all solicited articles, but due to many unpredictable factors and variables, some solicited articles may not be published when originally planned or occasionally may not be published at all.
Unsolicited Submissions
The Harmonizer welcomes unsolicited submissions on any and all topics related to the barbershop music arena. There is no guarantee that any given submission will be published.
Many organizations within the Society wish to use The Harmonizer as a means of publicity. The editorial team is eager to publish articles based on ideas submitted by leadership and other sources—however, finished articles must still be compelling and attain editorial standards for quality, timeliness and audience applicability.
An article written or solicited without the cooperation of the editor is considered an unsolicited submission that may or may not be published, regardless of the position or stature of the person who wrote or solicited the article.
To maximize the likelihood that a submission will be published, both potential article solicitors and potential authors are encouraged to speak with the editor of The Harmonizer before proceeding with an article.
Editorial Treatment of Articles
Editors function as writing coaches and work with authors to make articles as readable and applicable to the audience as possible. Editors reserve the right to adapt articles or work with authors to modify the style and approach of their articles. Authors of columns and feature-length articles will receive a photo credit in the magazine.
Because many non-feature-length submissions tend to share similar content and themes, many of these shorter articles will be modified or combined with others to more clearly demonstrate trends or differences. The Harmonizer staff reserves the right to modify wording or to adapt, shorten, incorporate or combine portions of submissions with other articles. Authors of short pieces might not be contacted prior to publication, nor will they necessarily receive attribution except where warranted due to the writing quality of a given submission or another other unique characteristic.
An author who does not wish to have his submission substantially modified must explicitly state this at the top of his submission. In most cases, this will decrease the likelihood that the editorial staff will be able to use his submission.
Opinion Articles
The Harmonizer welcomes submissions that deal with controversial topics, viewpoints, trends or research. As with all other articles, the determination of a controversial article’s suitability for publication will be determined based on its quality, uniqueness, timeliness and its perceived relevance. The Harmonizer reserves the right to reject or modify articles or sections of articles that are considered libelous, demonstrably false, unnecessarily harsh, or in poor taste. Personal attacks will not be published. The Harmonizer may limit the scope or duration of some debates in the interest of providing fresh and balanced content in limited editorial space.
An article will be clearly presented as an opinion piece if it:
- Takes a position on a topic for which there is known division or controversy.
- Largely or primarily offers a critique of an official Society position or policy.
- Primarily proposes an idea or a course of action that directly conflicts with Society rules, traditions, practices, or prevailing philosophies.
- Is primarily written for the purpose of persuading readers to adopt a particular viewpoint, whether or not such a viewpoint is officially sanctioned. (The content in the President’s and Executive Director’s columns generally falls under this category. Submissions with a similar tone will be considered for an opinion section.)
- Is written in response to an article that has previously appeared in The Harmonizer.
To enhance reader understanding, authors of opinion articles must provide their personal history or influence pertaining to the subject matter.
These guidelines apply to all persuasive-themed articles, regardless of the author’s prominence or position in the Society; however, when an author has been commissioned to represent an official Society position, a persuasive article will be given standard editorial treatment. If an article is written in response to an official policy article, the author of the original article will be given the option to include a brief counter-response adjacent to that article.
Deceased Members
Barbershoppers constitute a tight-knit family of close friends who grieve with one another when a beloved member of that family passes on. However, due to several factors, The Harmonizer is not well-suited for the remembrance of men who have passed on. Because of its bi-monthly nature and the many weeks of lead time required for publication, the news of a member’s passing cannot be handled in a timely manner. Also, due to relatively high numbers of prominent men passing on and the need for editorial evenhandedness in who is or is not featured, articles about recently deceased members will not be regularly run in The Harmonizer.
The Harmonizer will frequently run features on highly-known or highly interesting people in the Society; however, the passing of such an individual will not alone be the impetus for a feature article.
Advertising
The Harmonizer reserves the right to refuse any ad for any reason. Ads that compete with Society financial interests may require prior arrangements through the Director of Finance and Administration.
Advertisers must create their own ads and submit them 45 days before publication. The Harmonizer takes no responsibility for the content of any ad.
Rev. January 2002
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