Old House Chronicle Contributor Guidelines

Submissions to the magazine are encouraged for, but not limited to, the following departments:

Project Reports

- Recountings by OH owners of significant projects they have done. These should include (but aren't limited to) reasons for starting the project, the scope of the project, major steps along the way, information on how budget targets were met (or not), and the final outcome of the project. It isn't necessary to detail dollar amounts of your budget, but how you arrived at the budget and what made you keep to it or go over it. Scheduling information is also helpful: did you have one? did you stick to it? It's good to include any new or unusual techniques used during the project. Did you learn anything during the project?

Systems, Techniques and Tools

- Authors with a good working knowledge of a category of old-house knowledge can write articles detailing systems (for example, wiring) or techniques (for example, how to replace a porch deck) or tools/products (for example, how to use the different types of paint strippers).

Book Review

- OHC magazine reviews books helpful to its readers. Books both well-known and obscure will be examined to determine what useful or entertaining information readers might gain from perusing them.

This !#$# House

- Stories of DPO (D@#$ Previous Owner) aggravation. How has your house tried to make you crazy? What events led up to your recent acquisition of ten different Norwegian curses?

Humor

- To relieve the angst detailed in the previous category, OHC magazine brings you the lighter side of the old house game.

House of Style

- What style is my house? Each issue will profile a different old-house style and will be illustrated with a photographic essay and accompanying explanations. What are the particular elements of a style? Rooflines, massing, windows (fenestrations for the architectural types), decorative elements, surface treatments, colors. If a newer addition is included, how is it designed to be compatible with the original in structural elements and materials?

Traditional Landscaping

- Houses are a part of the landscape that surrounds them. How have landscapes been treated during different periods? How can old houses be landscaped in a sympathetic manner?

Resources

- We maintain a listing of old-house web resources: commercial suppliers, web sites, etc.

Guidelines

Feature-length articles should run 1000 words or more; high levels of detail are encouraged. Most stories benefit from photographs showing steps along a process, details of a tool or setup you used, or simply a view of the house or room that you worked on.

Submissions are preferred in plain ASCII text, either attached to or in the body of an email. Please send submissions to the editor. Further guidelines for writing style may be found here.

Photographs

Standard 4x6 inch color photos should be scanned in at a resolution of 75dpi (dots per inch). The preferred file format for photos is jpeg with a compression ratio of about 30:1. This will produce a high-quality image with a reasonable file size. Photos in other formats are also supported and can be converted by the editorial staff.

Publication Rights

Since articles for OHC magazine are unpaid, future publishing rights are retained by the authors. A copyright notice will appear with each article stating the author's copyright. Note that articles published in OHC magazine are intended to remain in the magazine archives and may be retrieved by an electronic search. Other arrangements may be made on an individual basis.

Any articles submitted for OHC magazine should either be unpublished, or have publication permission from the organization that previously published the article in question. Any article that has been previously published should be so identified.

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