Afterimage accepts both commissions and unsolicited manuscripts. With unsolicited manuscripts include writing samples and an SASE if you would like the manuscript returned. All writers are encouraged to discuss article ideas with the editors before submitting finished articles. We do not reprint previously published pieces.
Authors are encouraged to discuss proposals with the Editor prior to submitting articles. Please email Karen vanMeenen at
Articles must be formatted in Microsoft Word, version 5.0, and submitted via email or on a 100MB ZIP disk or CD for Macintosh. Always mail a double-spaced hard copy as well.
AFTERIMAGE SECTIONS
FEATURES
Ranging from 3,000-6,000 words, feature articles may be original investigative reporting or scholarly research they may be biographies of or interviews with important media artists or critics; they may use an event, exhibition, book, video, etc. as a jumping-off point for a discussion of larger economic, political and cultural issues. Use of endnotes is expected but not strictly required.
REVIEWS
Reviews are generally 700-1500 words. They may cover individual or group exhibitions, installations, screenings and performances; or they may examine one or more media arts publications. References should by placed within the text, though endnotes are permitted.
ESSAYS
Like the feature in terms of prominence and scope, but more like the review in terms of timeliness and length (they range from 1500-3000 words), an essay may be written in a more "subjective" voice and it may be on or about virtually any subject in the domain of media arts and cultural criticism. Most essays are written on commission, though Afterimage will consider unsolicited manuscripts. Endnotes are explicitly discouraged.
REPORTS
This section includes articles (700-1500 words) about particular conferences, symposia, film and video festivals and other formal gatherings. A good report will provide both an account and an analysis of the event. Endnotes are discouraged.
PORTFOLIO and INKLIGHT
Our Portfolio section highlights a developed body of work by a single image-maker, while our Inklight section invites collaboration between image-makers and writers. Please click here for more information and submission guidelines.
NEWS
Afterimage publishes news stories on funding, legislation, activism and institutional restructuring, as well as obituaries and other topics of importance to our readership. Although most news items are written by Afterimage staff, longer news articles (1500-4000 words) are actively solicited from outside writers. References should by placed within the text, though endnotes are permitted in longer news articles.
RECEIVED AND NOTED
Much shorter than a review (generally no more than 300 words), a note is a concise yet critical description of a single book, exhibition catalog or periodical.
AFTERIMAGE STYLE GUIDELINES
Refer to the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster's 19th Collegiate Dictionary for style and spelling. Use open punctuation: i.e., the minimum of commas, quotation marks and other punctuation necessary for clear understanding of the writing, as well as a minimum of italics and capitalization. In features give full endnote references, not footnotes, for all writings quoted or referred to more than cursorily, including the volume and number references for scholarly journals. Please include a one-sentence author bio at the end of your article.
Please double-check dates, titles, spellings of names, etc. Include makers' names and year dates of all works mentioned. All titles of film, video and photographic works and publications should be in italics; series and installations should be in quotations; and all exhibition titles should be in quotations. Any article, including features, that reviews a particular work or event must include separately the following information:
1. exhibitions:
title; name of artist if it is a solo show; name and city of venue;
opening and closing dates; name, city, and dates of all venues to which
the show has traveled or will travel books and catalogs: title,
author/editor, publisher (with address if not well known), number of
pages, price for hardback and soft cover copies films/videos not shown
in a formal exhibition: title, artist, distributor(s) (with address if
not well known), rental format and price
2. festivals/conferences: title, location, sponsor, dates.
PAYMENT
Afterimage pays five cents a word for articles, with a maximum of $100 for news, reports and reviews; $150 for essays; and $300 for features. Payment is made after publication, not acceptance and checks may take some months to process. Feature writers receive 1 advance copy and 5 additional free copies of the issue; reviews, reports, essay and news writers as well as portfolio contributors receive 1 advance copy and three additional copies. All contributors also receive a one-year complimentary subscription. To publicize Afterimage articles, we send tearsheets to galleries, publishers, distributors and event sponsors.