Originally published in COMPUTE!’s Gazette Issue 2, August 1983
COMPUTE!’s Gazette for Commodore is looking for interesting, useful articles aimed at beginning to intermediate VIC-20 and Commodore 64 users. If you have an article idea or good original program, we’d like to see it. Don’t worry if you are not professional writer. We are more concerned with the content of an article than its style. Simply try to be clear in your writing and check your program tor any bugs.
COMPUTE!’s Gazette for Commodore is consumer-oriented magazine for VIC-20 and Commodore 64 users who want to get the most out of their computers in a non-technical way. It is aimed primarily at home users, not .ill of whom necessarily want to become expert programmers. If your article covers more advanced or technical topic, you may choose to submit it to our companion publication, COMPUTE!. If you submit an article to one of our magazines and we believe it would be more suitable to the other, we will transfer your submission to the right editors. The basic
editori.il requirements for publication are the same for both magazines; so are the payment rates.
The following guidelines will permit your good ideas and programs to be more easily edited and published. Most of these suggestions serve to improve the speed and accuracy of publication:
1. The upper left corner of the first page should contain your name, address, telephone number, and the dale of submission.
2. The following information should appear in the upper right corner of the first page. If your article is specifically directed to either the VIC-20 or Commodore 64, please state which one. In addition, please indicate the memory requirements of programs.
3. The underlined title of the article should start about 2/3 of the way down the first page.
4. Following pages should be typed normally, except that in the upper right corner there should be an abbreviation of the title, your last name, and the page number. For example: Memory Map/Smith/2.
5. Short programs (under 20 lines) can easily be included within the text. Longer programs should be separate listings. It is essential that we have a copy of the program, recorded twice, on tape or disk. The tape or disk should be labeled with your name and the title of the article. Tapes are fairly sturdy, but disks need to be enclosed within plastic or cardboard mailers (available at photography, stationery, or computer supply
stores).
It is far easier for others to type in your program if you use CHRS(X) values and TAB(X) or SPC(X) instead of cursor manipulations to formal your output. For five carriage returns, FOR I=1 TO 5:PRINT:NEXT is far more “portable” to other computers with other BASICS and also easier to type in. And, instead of dozen right-cursor symbols, why not simply use PRINT SPC(12)? quick check through your program – making these substitutions – would be greatly appreciated by your editors and by your readers.
6. If your article is accepted and you have since made improvements to the program, please submit an entirely new tape or disk and new copy of the article reflecting the update. We cannot easily make revisions to programs and articles. It is necessary that you send the revised version as if it were new submission en tirely, but be sure to indicate that your submission is revised version by writing “Revision” on the envelope
and the article.
7. All lines within the text of the article should be spaced so that there is about 1/2 inch between them. one-inch margin should be left at the right, left, top, and bottom of each page. No hyphens should be used at the ends of lines to break words. And please do not justify. Leave the lines ragged.
8. Standard typing paper should be used (no onionskin or other thin paper) and typing should be on one side of the paper only (upper-and lowercase.)
9. Sheets should be attached together with paper clip. Staples should not be used.
10. good general rule is to spell out the numbers zero through ten in your article and write higher numbers as numerals (1024). The exceptions to this are: Figure 5, Table 3, TAB(4), etc. Within ordinary text, however, the zero through ten should appear as words, not numbers. Also, symbols and abbreviations should not be used within text: use “and” (not &), “reference” (not ref.), “through” (not thru).
11. For greater clarity, use all capitals when refer ring to keys (RETURN, TAB, ESC, SHIFT), BASIC words (LIST, RND, GOTO), and three languages (BASIC, APL, PILOT). Headlines and subheads should, however, be initial caps only, and emphasized words are not capitalized. If you wish to emphasize, underline the word and it will be italicized during typesetting.
12.COMPUTE!’s Gazette for Commodore pays between S75 and S1000 for published articles. In general, the rate reflects the length and quality of the article. Payment is made upon acceptance of an article. Following submission (Editorial Department, COMPUTE!’s Gazette for Commodore, P.O. Box 5406, Greensboro, NIC 27403) it will take from four to six weeks for us to reply. If your work is accepted, you will be notified by letter which will include contract for you to sign and return. Rejected manuscripts are returned to authors who enclose an SASE. We do not
consider articles which are multiple submissions. If you wish to send an article to another magazine for consideration, please do not submit it to us.
13. Articles can be of any length from single-line routine to a multi-issue series. The average article is about four to eight double-spaced, typed pages.
14. If you want to include photographs, they should be 5×7, black-and-white glossies.