Guest Author - Theresa V. Wilson

An ezine is an electronic magazine. Instead of reviewing and selecting from choices on at a newsstand or magazine rack, readers enjoy making selections online. Not unlike magazine content, ezine article submissions must be scrutinized and qualified by the editor in order to maintain the quality and integrity of the ezine publication.

As you begin to expand and develop your ezine, you will seek to add quality materials from contributing authors. It will be important that you provide clarity of your expectations, details of what will be expected, specifics of what statements or messages will be prohibited, and are general guidelines for content quality.

Terms and conditions should be clear and include details that the author clearly understands he/she agrees to including that the material remains author owned, that your ezine does not accept any responsibility or liability for the author’s writings, references, or data, and that your ezine prohibits use of copyrighted materials. It is important that you include a notation that, by accepting their work, the contributors confirm they are the original authors.

Editing: Be sure to include a statement that your ezine prohibits profane, obscene, or libelous content. For your own protection, it is important that you take the necessary precautions to review and edit all content before publishing. As owner representative, the “buck stops” with you. You have total responsibility for quality and content at all times.

Author Fees: It’s important to make clear your intentions when accepting articles for publication. If the author is making a non paid contribution, be sure to give contributors an opportunity to include a short author bio at the end of their article as well as include an opportunity to provide links to their web site or email or other contact information of their choice. If you offer payment, be specific as to amount and how authors can expect to receive the payment.

The primary focus of an Author Agreements is to protect your ezine from copyright infringement challenges because of errors or omissions of others, to clarity to all parties the sole owners rights which do not change because others are contributing their work, t be specific about limitations of contributors’ age (e.g. must be at least 18 year old) when necessary, and provide affirmation your ownership of any graphics, titles, and design of the site.

As owner of the ezine, you may revise the terms of an agreement at any time. For your protection, it is always good to encourage all contributors to take the time to review general rules for submission and check a “responder box” denoting that they have in fact read and agree to the terms for submitting materials.