How members can be involved & Writers’ Guidelines

Otherways is produced by a team of volunteers. We welcome contributions from members and non-members alike. Read on for details of writers guidelines and how members can be involved.

How members can be involved

Be a ‘section editor’ for a few issues of ‘Otherways’ (or longer; but don’t be put off by the idea of a long-term commitment, it wouldn’t have to be that). The topic can be something you’re interested in. As ‘section editor’ you compile your particular section and send it to the editor.

If you’d like to host a section (i.e. be a ‘section editor’) please contact Sue at ua.ude.civ.de-emohnull@rotide

Contribute to any part of the magazine. (Please remember, if the item is taken from another publication you must contact the publisher or author and get their permission to reprint in our publication.)

The ‘Letters from Home‘ section tells of personal home ed stories and experiences.

Network News contains brief details of home ed groups. It is not necessary to be a member of HEN to list your group – listing is free.

Home Ed Kids pages: Poems, short stories and photocopies of children’s drawings.

Age of Reason: For home ed teenagers by home ed teenagers.

Please send all other material, including: original artwork and writing; articles, letters and news items from other sources (with permission of author or publisher); and Letters to the Editor, to:

The Editor
Otherways Magazine
13 Waterford Drive
STRATHFIELDSAYE VIC 3551

or email Sue at ua.ude.civ.de-emohnull@rotide.

When sending material for inclusion in the magazine it is easiest if you can send your contribution by email or disk, but we are happy to receive it in any form!

Writer’s Guidelines

Editor: Susan Wight ua.ude.civ.de-emohnull@rotide

Postal address:
Otherways Magazine
13 Waterford Drive
Strathfieldsaye Vic 3551

Otherways was started as the newsletter of the Alternative Education Resource Group (AERG) in 1980 and been published quarterly every since. Gradually, AERG evolved into the Home Education Network (HEN) and the original photocopied newsletter expanded into today’s magazine.

Otherways focusses on home education and aims to support, encourage and inform Australian home educators. If you are not familiar with home education, please study the magazine before submitting an article. Sample magazines and back issues can be purchased in our shop or you can download our free sample PDF issue. If you are familiar with home education please study the magazine before submitting an article anyway to get a feel for the flavour of articles we publish. You can also check the Otherways page of the website where we publish some articles from previous issues.

HEN is a secular organisation and as a general guide we tend towards natural learning articles but are also happy to publish good articles and resource reviews to support home educators who use a curriculum.  Any topic of interest to home educators will be considered. We welcome articles from both experienced writers and newbies. If you have something important to say to other home educators but doubt that your English skills are up to it, write your article as though you are talking to a friend and, if we think what you have to say will appeal to our readers, we can tidy up your spelling and grammar for you.

We do not accept advertorials.

Editorial Deadlines

Please feel free to submit an article on any topic at any time, and we’ll schedule it appropriately. Please note that articles are sometimes selected two issues in advance. Sometimes we will hold articles for a future issue in order to achieve the balance of articles we are looking for in each issue. Issue deadlines are as follows:

February Issue: Deadline – 15th January
May Issue: Deadline – 15th April
August Issue: Deadline – 15th July
November Issue: Deadline – 15th October

Submission Guidelines

Submissions via email are the preferred format. Please send to ua.ude.civ.de-emohnull@rotide with ‘submission for Otherways’ in the subject line. We prefer to receive submissions in Word format. If you do not have Word, please save your article as a Rich Text File or paste it into the body of your email.

We do accept typed or handwritten articles, which you can mail to:

Otherways Magazine
13 Waterford Drive
STRATHFIELDSAYE VIC 3551.

When submitting articles via postal mail, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with sufficient postage if you would like your work returned. If you don’t need your article returned, a small SSAE or an email address will be fine so that we can contact you regarding possible publication.

General article length is 1,000 to 1,500 words, but we do accept longer articles if they particularly appeal to us.

We usually publish authors’ names and their state but we will also accept pen names if requested.

Include your name, postal mailing address (where we can send a copy of the magazine if your article is accepted).

PHOTOS

We always in need of sharp, clear photos for editorial use. Regular print sizes work fine for inside the magazine.  Covers require a very sharp, clear image. We prefer photos showing children and families doing everyday things, not  posed educational-type shots. Please include information about the photo, including names of anyone in the pictures, and the name of the photographer. Also include a SSAE with sufficient postage for the return of your photos if required.

Electronic submissions of photos are accepted. Email ua.ude.civ.de-emohnull@rotide

RIGHTS

Authors retain the copyright of their articles and are free to sell them elsewhere. By submitting an article to Otherways you grant us the right to print your article in Otherways and any Best of Otherways, Otherways Revisited or other future specials that we may publish.

PAYMENT

Otherways Magazine is published by the Home Education Network which is a non-profit support group. All work on the magazine is done by volunteers in order to support and empower other home educators. We are unable to pay for contributions. However, we will send authors a free copy of the magazine in which their article appears.