Contribute to Addict magazines or SteamOS Gamer
Guidance on writing articles for our tech history and modern gaming magazines
Article length
Our A4 magazines have articles which are approximately 600 words per page (with A5 format publications such as SteamOS Gamer at 450 words per page), although this can depend on how many images you can provide and how good the image quality is. If you're unsure how long an article should be, please ask. If we provide a target word count, please try not to exceed it, as this helps avoid unnecessary editing to fit the available space.
Free Steam Games for Contributors
SteamOS Gamer contributors can request Steam game keys and demos in exchange for articles, features, previews or reviews. If you'd like to apply for a review key, please complete our request form:
https://steam.addict.media/game-key-requests
Review keys are only provided to genuine contributors producing content for our magazines. Any misuse of this system may result in revoked access to future review opportunities, deactivated codes, or the suspension of contributor privileges.
Review copies of games, software and hardware may also occasionally be available for contributors to Pixel Addict and Amiga Addict. If you're interested in becoming a regular contributor, we'd love to hear from you.
Writing Style
All articles should be written in English. If you've not seen content from our magazines before, we aim to provide something in the style of the classic British computing magazines many of us grew up with. This means most articles adopt a friendly, conversational style, with a light layer of humour where appropriate. Academic or overly formal writing generally isn't compatible with our magazine style.
Images
Articles will usually be supported by images. We ask that you try not to embed these within your submissions and provide them separately, unless there is a good reason for embedding.
Please provide the highest-quality images you can. Low-quality images may be removed or replaced to maintain the magazine's standards. If you’re scaling up screenshots from classic computers or pixel art, make sure no anti-aliasing or other processing is applied, as this will affect image quality.
Any captions you have for your images can be provided at the bottom of your article along with the image filename as it appears in your submission. We reserve the right to make changes to captions where necessary to fit the layout.
Author Photo
We usually include a photograph of contributors alongside their article, so please provide a photo of yourself with your submission. We prefer real photographs rather than avatar images where possible to give a more personal touch.
Submission Format
We prefer LibreOffice, Microsoft Word or OpenDocument formats with text only, with images supplied separately. Embedded images and heavily formatted documents are harder to work with, as we need to extract and edit the text. Fully designed PDFs are particularly difficult, as they must be rebuilt for publication.
Copyright
Any content you include in your article should be your own, or you should have permission to use it. This includes any images you submit – please take screenshots and photos yourself wherever possible. We are a small magazine and can ill afford legal disputes over image rights.
Layout
The layout of all pages is determined by our editor, so you only need to provide your copy and images and we will do the rest. You're welcome to suggest a layout, particularly if it is important to the article. However, please remember that we try to keep layouts relatively simple for the most part – the more complex the layout, the longer it will take to produce and the less time we can spend on the rest of the magazine.
Boxouts
Boxouts are a great way of breaking your article down visually for the reader, especially if there are specific subtopics you want to tackle. If you want boxouts in your article, clearly mark them in the copy so we understand your intention. Boxouts are generally best placed at the end of your submission to separate them from the main copy.
Review Scoring
We have a fairly simple review scoring approach. Games are judged on four criteria: Graphics, Sound, Grab Factor and Playability, with each criterion attracting a percentage score. The final verdict is a straight average of these four scores.
Proofreading and Editing
As with all in-house content, your articles will go through multiple proofreading and editing passes before being added to the magazine. We may make editorial changes to correct errors, improve flow and ensure content meets the standards our readers expect. We will not intentionally alter the meaning of your article.
In the rare event that we need to make a change that affects the meaning of your article, or if we have difficulty understanding part of the content, we will consult you as soon as possible.
Questions
If you have any questions about submissions, please contact us.
