Publication Guidelines

Thank you for considering publication in Doing Freedom! Before you send it off (or write it, draw it, whatever), please read over these guidelines, as well as the "sending material" page (we will never ask anyone to submit! :-). Checking your work and ideas to make sure they are consistent with our needs will help us with our work, and may get you published in DF! more quickly.

Basic Style Guidelines:
The focus in DF! magazine is, as the name says, doing freedom. Only work which relates in some clear way to this mission will be considered for publication. In art work (fiction, poetry, or plays, as well as drawings, cartoons, etc.), a broad view will apply to materials sent in, but that shouldn't be taken to suggest that there's less "room" for creativity in nonfiction articles. In addition to the typical freedom-oriented topics, one may write about a wide variety of things, including health care/preventative medicine or food-related topics (recipes, for example). Creative approaches to freedom-related challenges in any area will be of interest. If you are thinking of writing a series of articles on a specific theme, we highly recommend you outline the series as well as each article, and send that to us before beginning the actual writing.

While theoretical/opinion pieces will not automatically be rejected, a prospective author should be very careful about the content of such a piece. We aren't interested in pieces that snipe at a subgroup of freedom-seekers, for example, nor are we interested in contemplative pieces, such as a treatise on how many Objectivists it takes to create the perfect dictionary. To have a chance of getting in to DF!, a theoretical or editorial article still must be relevant to increasing one's freedom.

If you send in a piece, it may be accepted as is, or, more likely, we'll make some editorial suggestions before accepting the piece. For minor and mechanical issues (spelling, incorrectly copy/pasted words, etc.), we'll simply make the corrections. For editing or rewriting that affects the meaning, we'll contact you and give you the opportunity to withdraw the piece, if you don't like our suggested changes. For lengthier or major changes, we'll send the piece back to you along with our reasons for rejecting it as written. You're welcome to rewrite it and try again or not, as you wish. Sending a piece for our consideration is taken as acceptance of our editorial policy.

To Consider:
If you are planning on using a legal name for your work, we strongly suggest that you reconsider, as the United States has already begun leaning on PT sites. It's likely that DF!, by virtue of its mission of freeing people from coercive mechanisms everywhere, may attract similar imperial attention from them as well as other jurisdictions. Providing a clear paper (and money) trail between yourself and this publication might result in any number of adventures happening, not all of which would be pleasant. Therefore, we highly recommend that you choose some kind of pen name to use with respect to DF! work. In fact, so that our readers will know your qualifications, we suggest you create an entire persona that will help you write, and will help readers connect with you. An e-mail account that links only to this name is a good idea for receiving reader feedback as well, although we don’t require publication of an e-mail address for contributors, and are working on feedback forms for the 'zine.

We will need a name for which an ID can be produced in order to receive payments via check or money order (or, you can choose digicash of some sort), but we'll keep the database of such names and pen names under encryption. Alternatively, we can send cash through the mail, but will not replace any payments that get "lost" while in the clutches of any government postal monopolies; our responsibility ends when we stick your payment in the mail.

Simultaneous submissions are not generally accepted, but exceptions might be made in special circumstances. E-mail Don L. Tiggre to inquire about this. Our policy is to buy exclusive global first publication rights, which remain in force until the issue the piece appears in is replaced by the next issue (currently, we're on a monthly publication schedule). In other words, if we use it, we want it first whenever possible, and we want it exclusively for one issue. That’s what we’re paying for. After that, you can do whatever you want with it. (But if we use it, we'd really like it if you state that it was first published in DF! and link to our home page.)

That’s it! No harping about standard usages, word limits, or other such items. Do your best work, writing in the voice and style you are comfortable with, and once your piece is polished up and ready for the public eye, send it to us for consideration. We’ll get back to you within 15 days as to whether your piece will be used in DF!

Sending Material to DF!
Editorial Staff and Contact Information
Our fair use policy
DF! Home page