Contributor Guide

In general, my vision for the magazine is that it is a platform for neighbors to express themselves and their love for the neighborhood ❤️ and, in order for the magazine to keep going, the most important things is that people are excited and enabled to do their best work - and that articles get *done!*

The model for contributing could be boiled down to: "if you are excited about it, and finish it, it's very likely to be printed!"

I believe the role of the editor in this type of thing is mostly about encouraging people to do their best work, setting them up for success, and making sure the final product is cohesive and quality.

To hammer in the point, I am often asked "dude, what if we did X for the magazine" (scratch and sniff stickers, comics, fashion column - it's always great ideas), and my response is almost always "hell yeah! If you make it happen, let's do it" !

Slight caveat, it may not happen in the next issue if we're balancing stories. And of course, there are definitely things that don't fit in the magazine (declarations of war, interest story about a neighborhood in NYC, trashing a neighbor), and I am happy to say no to things, but so far it's been all great ideas.

One additional technical note: authors do not need to live in Lower Haight exactly, but it's important that you spend time here and focus the content on the neighborhood. Assume all readers are in Lower Haight!

Structure

A bit more concretely, the structure is very Author-centric.

1. Author - you own your story! Craft an idea (column, section, poem). Make sure it gets done!
2. Editor - Joel will be primarily editing + arranging/picking pieces (though lmk if you would like to weigh in) Generally light touch. Will provide word count targets, happy to bounce around ideas and help think about what would make an awesome piece.
3. Helpers - supplemental photography, illustrations, design, etc - authors should ask as needed!

Ideal Project Timeline

1. Have an idea!
2. (Required) Text Joel the general idea so it's on his radar! He will give general timeline (i.e "need to send me a copy this week to be in next issue") or offer connects/help
3. (Optional) chat with Joel about the idea to workshop the idea a bit, see how it might fit into an existing story, theme, or just for fun! Not required, highly encouraged.
4. Do it! Text others or the helpers chat for help ("hey it would be cool if we did some photography for this!"). Generally, I think there's momentum with these things - aim to get a rough draft done asap (few days). Send rough draft!
5. Edits/finalization! Joel will make sure to communicate that it will be placed on the next issue.
6. BOOM ur an author.

Typically, a small-ish feature (dog feature) will be about a half a page and about 300 words. Longer stories are maybe 500-700 (depending on images, paragraph breaks, etc.). Leading space for the magazine is decently large which I like for the feel, but definitely means less word density. Note, if you want to write something longer we have options! (1) would be to cut off the story and have a link to continue reading (2) publish a shorter version, with the "full version" accessible via QR code.

Some Ideas

This is to get your brain going, not exhaustive.

• Story about an upcoming event that someone can attend!
  • Or even just getting the details together to post in the mag
• Local Person Feature
• Local dog feature
• Local Business Feature
  • Story focused on the chef / owner
  • Story focused on the dining experience (I want to know the vision behind noc noc)
  • Story about how a business impacts the community (Cafe International Jazz as a community staple)
  • How did this business get started? (Pottery spot has a really nice owner and story)
• Fun column
  • Fashion in Lower Haight
  • Fictional serial
  • Local art made by kids
  • Dog feature
• Local Interest Story (Does not have to be positive! Can be something challenging)
  • History of a building
  • Story of how a little library was placed
  • Review of the worst intersection in the neighborhood
  • Why the bay wheels stations are always empty but they aren't making more
• Local politics (probably max 1 per issue)
  • Interview with Bilal about a local issue.
• The cover
  • ART! We're always looking for beautiful cover art.
• Featured Art!
  • Poems, photos, etc!
• Goofy things
  • Scavenger hunt!
  • Scratch and sniff stickers in the magazine
  • Crafts
  • Seasonal recipe

Some things I don't really want in the magazine

Though I'm happy to change my mind!

• Critical reviews of local business or people
  • I want the magazine to be generally positive. Focus on elevating people and groups you love.
• National / global politics
  • There are other really great outlets for this. Can be good if it's 98% about Lower Haight with national context.
• Stories about a recent event that only happen yearly
  • I want to focus on things people can go to shortly! For instance, a story about the trash pickup is awesome because people can go any week. Don't want to much Fomo about events that already happened.