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Dragon magazine appears to have always considered reader submissions an important part of their magazine. The line between what a reader submission is and a professional submission is probably a fine line. In this case, a reader submission is probably an unsolicited submission. For example, Dragon does not print unsolicited fiction. If you write a fantasy novel, no matter how good it is, Dragon will not publish it until they decide they'd like it for themselves.
Now, considering their general willingness to accept reader submissions, we have to ponder the question, must the readers "put out" to get what they want?
Think of an article you'd like to see in Dragon.
How's abouts sending in a proposal?
- rob
A single article is the start. Dragon and Dungeon have always been magazines shaped in part by the readers. One article won't change much, but a dozen good articles will.
So, the question is, should I write for Dragon? Should all readers write for Dragon? Is it a magazine for the writers, or a magazine for the readers? What is the happy medium?
I personally think that I can write good articles for Dragon. Perhaps I should. However, if I write articles for Dragon, its utility for me declines. Why? It is simply regurgitating material I already have available to me.
It's obvious I can't write one or two hundred pages of gaming material each month, so I look to Dragon to provide it for me. I shell out my money, and I save my time.
But, as a "reader" should I have a critical voice? Should I say "I don't like this, but I'd love this instead?" There are those on these boards who will label anyone who doesn't adore every aspect of the magazine as whiners. There are others that will say "80% is good, can't you be happy with that? Why complain about the 20% that could be improved?"
Personally, I feel it is important to share my thoughts as an engaged reader, even though at the present I feel no call to become a writer for the magazine.
How do you feel about this topic? What should our "rights" be as readers? When should we "shut up?"
I'd love to hear opinions from other readers, writers, and the staff.
I suppose the vote with your dollars vote is the most important one....I recently re-subscribed after a very long absence from Dragon (but not from Dungeon) and I'm pretty happy with the 80%.
People who care enough to post here are obviously going to have strong opinions either way and aren't always necessarily a good indication of the strength of the magazine.
Total sales and subscriptions should drive the staff, as in any other business. Feedback is important, but only to a certain extent.
I personally think that I can write good articles for Dragon. Perhaps I should. However, if I write articles for Dragon, its utility for me declines. Why? It is simply regurgitating material I already have available to me.
I've found that there's a lot of feedback in the editorial process. The advice, the revisions (the rejections :) )have given me a better understanding of my blindspots in my own campaign. You get a better understanding of the structure underlying the game once you start trying to work out how to balance a mechanic, or really reading a spell description to make sure you've got it right (I swear by all that's holy I was positive ray of enfeeblement had a saving throw :) and let's not even get into the alter self/person fiasco... ).
But that's just me, to each his own I guess.
On the subject of unpleasant labels and pointless feuds. Let's face it, some people, whether due to their temperament or their social development seem to make use of a lot provacative language. Personally I would appreciate a bit of civility since recently I've found myself checking out this site pretty much every day. Perhaps the best way to deal with those folks who seem to be going out of their way to pick fights is just to ignore them (why do I feel like I'm channeling my fourth grade teacher all of a sudden...)
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Post whatever you want. If, in the middle of the post, you think to yourself "I seem to be coming off as a bit of a douche," you might want to step away from the computer and post later.
Otherwise, be as critical as you like, provided you don't get into personal attacks on the staff, authors, or other readers.
Pretty simple, really.
--Erik
Quite a few years back there were these football commercials were the viewer saw clips from previous football games and they had to 'make the call'.
Maybe, just maybe, it would interest some people to read a short article on how difficult some decisions to make are at Dragon.
For example, you could present different covers (A to whatever) for a month's issue and summarize the strong and weak points of some article suggestions. Then, you could look at the typical aftermath.
Now, considering their general willingness to accept reader submissions, we have to ponder the question, must the readers "put out" to get what they want?
Think of an article you'd like to see in Dragon.
How's abouts sending in a proposal?
- rob
My gentle suggestion is simply that Dragon can't publish what Dragon doesn't receive. Obviously, someone needs to put out to make the magazine happen. These boards seem to me an excellent place to try to convince other folks to submit the kind of articles you'd like to see.
cheers,
Rob
Post whatever you want. If, in the middle of the post, you think to yourself "I seem to be coming off as a bit of a douche," you might want to step away from the computer and post later.
I never get that feeling. I always think I come off as a douche :D
I can't speak for the other freelancers here, but I know I always check the "Article Requests" forum when pondering queries. I mean, there's a whole forum dedicated to people posting about what they want to see! It's like a freelancer's dream come true.
-Amber S.
I've certainly sent queries based on stuff in there as well.
I can't speak for the other freelancers here, but I know I always check the "Article Requests" forum when pondering queries. I mean, there's a whole forum dedicated to people posting about what they want to see! It's like a freelancer's dream come true.
-Amber S.
Amber -
I haven't had any luck yet in Dragon, but I also read the message boards with an eye for the sorts of articles people seem to be looking for.
Of course, I haven't had any luck yet, but eventually I will.
Btw, Amber.... any hints on Ecologies? Perhaps (flutters eyelids a bit) you might be willing to post one of your successful queries for an ecology article to help out us poor schmoes who still haven't had any luck?
- Ashavan
Unfortunately I don't save my queries (at least, not many of them) so I don't have any on hand to show you. But they weren't very impressive.
A year and a half ago, around...November? December?...someone wrote to Dragon Magazine asking for an Ecology of the Duergar. Matt Sernett printed the letter along with a reply that he doubted we'd see an Ecology of the Duergar because "it's so hard to make them interesting." Or something.
I'll let you in on a little secret: the easiest way to motivate me is to tell me something's impossible to do. I received the issue late, so I had almost talked myself into not submitting a query because someone else undoubtedly already had. But Zherog talked me into sending one. I seem to recall it going something like...
"Dear Dragon,
I recently read the letter from Mr. X in Issue #123 about duergar. I take exception to the statement that duergar are impossible to make interesting! I think it would be easy to play up their xenophobic, foreign culture, their strange appearance and their fanatical religious beliefs to make them totally sexy. Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing such an Ecology, thanks!
-Amber S."
I paraphrase from a two-year old memory, so yeah. But that was sort of it. And of course Matt said send it in and I did. It went through several rewrites - it was actually too interesting at first because I made it too Forgotten-Realmsy, and I had to chop large bits out. *sob* Really good bits. But I'm not bitter.
(Teasin', Wes. ;-) )
That was Nov/Dec, like I said, and I hadn't sent in the final copy until July or something of next year. Then I went to GenCon Indy and met the Paizo crew there - I think I met Wes Schneider, Matt Sernett, Erik Mona, and James Jacobs at the time. Or was it James? I don't remember, I was really tired.
Anyway, I introduced myself and Wes and I chatted about ecologies for a bit. A few weeks later I got an email from Wes saying he was short on ecologies and was I interested in writing more? Of course I said "Hell yeah!" and sent him a few ideas for ones I'd like to do. He greenlit the Will-o'-wisp, the lizardfolk (out next month), and the *coughcough*. So I didn't really "query" those ones at all.
I did, however, query a boatload of Spellcraft articles, none of which made it past the query stage. And some features which never saw the light of day. And a bunch of magic item articles, one of which was picked up and should also be in next month's issue.
So keep at it! Getting in the door is the hardest part. Once you have 1 or 2 articles published, you're able to demonstrate that you can work with editors, get things in on time, and write in a clear and concise manner. Then the editors are much more receptive to your articles.
Also, Koldoon, I'd be happy to proofread any queries you want to submit before you send them out, if that's appealing to you. You can email me at medesha@yahoo.com if you like. If not, that's cool too. :-)
-Amber S.
Edit: No, wait, I sent Wes a list of articles I was interested in and he greenlit the will-o'-wisp and the *coughcough*. Then a few months later he assigned me the lizardfolk ecology for a particular issue. Yeah, that's it. My memory sucks.
I've never pitched an ecology article myself (although I'd like to try one sometime). However, here's an outline for "The Plunderer's Handbook" which appeared a few issues back. As you can see some of the elements I wanted to deal with got chopped out either during the writing process or the editing process. I tend to write looooong so some things have to go!
(and yeah I know, some stuff just turns out to rely upon faulty game mechanics so please don't bother pointing them out :) )
The Plunder's Handbook (Outline)
Original Pitch
The Plunderer’s Handbook (Advice)
Money makes the campaign world go around too… To a
greater or lesser extent we are all motivated by the
hunt for treasure. Beautiful baubles, items of mystical
power, cold hard cash. This article will present tips
and strategies to help readers answer three critical
questions.
(a) How can I squeeze every possible copper piece out
of an adventuring site?
(b) How do I get all of this loot out of the dungeon?
(c) How do I keep all of my treasure until I am ready
to spend it?
-Intro/Teaser "All that glitters….
"Belongs to you.
"Or at least to your character."
Leave No Stone Unturned: Squeezing Every Last Copper
out of an Adventuring Site
-Money hungry (finding the treasure once the site is
cleared of active threats)
-Everything is valuable to someone (figuring out who
might want to buy something)
-With friends like these-using others (prisoners,
monsters, etc) to help you find treasure
-Sidebar (The Tightwad's Toolbox)
-Suggesting some useful equipment for treasure
hunters ranging from pliers (gold teeth) to scales to a
rod of metal and mineral detection
-Dead or alive (selling monsters, monster body parts,
ransoming prisoners, etc)
-Powerplay (feeblemind + Handle Animal)
-Handle Animal works for any creature with an
Intelligence of 1 or 2, though with a +5 DC on the
check, this means any enemy with its Intelligence
reduced via feeblemind could be trained to serve you
(dragons, manticores, etc)
-Less is better then None (e.g. it's smarter to melt
down a gold statue and sell the bars then leave it
behind)
-Sidebar (You gotta spend money to make money…
Preferably someone else's.)
-Getting others to expend resources on your behalf
-Selling the Site (making money off the dungeon locale
itself)
Nothing Gets Left Behind: Taking Your Treasure Home
-Porters and Packbeasts (finding people and creatures
to carry your stuff home)
- casting animate dead on your enemies, mule trains and
shadow walk, all those peasants who say "if only we
had some way to repay you" etc
-Containers (ideas for the things you put the stuff in)
-permanently animate a chest/wagon and fill it up,
magic items like bags of holding, filling up a Daern's
Instant Fortress/boat of folding and then deactivating
it to turn it into a manageable bundle, etc
-Sidebar (Death and Taxes)
-Dealing with custom inspectors and the like
-Concealing your Valuables (ways to hide them during
the trip)
-baleful polymorph on a fully loaded elephant, turn a
pack mule to stone so no one can steal what it's
carrying, etc
What's Mine, Stays Mine: Keeping Your Treasure Safe
Until You're Ready to Spend it
-Buried Treasure (simply hiding your loot)
-Guards (setting up protectors to deter would be
robbers)
-Sidebar (What's the Exchange Rate?)
-converting your treasure into something more
manageable
-Noxious (making your treasure useless or dangerous for
others as a way of deterrence)