Writer's Guidelines

Canter Magazine is a quarterly consumer magazine aimed at equestrians and horse enthusiasts. Canter is a brand new publication, but it has a distinct voice and focus that a writer should understand before submitting a query.

Articles Published: Canter is particularly interested in articles that appeal to a horse person's literary interests. This includes: horse-related art and literature (past or present day artists and writers who have represented the horse in some unique way), historical (either individual horses and riders, or the horse's role in a particular era), cultural (how horses are valued in other parts of the world), travel (horse-related destinations such as Kentucky or the Spanish Riding School—not necessarily just "riding" destinations), collectibles (antique cavalry bits, Breyer horses, etc.), profiles (people or horses in the horse world who are doing something besides just winning ribbons and trophies), breed profiles (which should include information about the breed's historical development or cultural significance), reviews of horse related books and movies, and some fiction and poetry. Canter is not interested in articles about riding, training, or veterinary care.

Audience: The bulk of Canter's audience are horse owners, but we also appeal to people who are interested in horses, but may not have the time or practical knowledge necessary for horse ownership. Most of our readers are female, ages 30 to 50. They are life-long horse enthusiasts. They travel often, they like to read, and they are interested in history. They have very "horsey" lifestyles, even if they are not necessarily owners. They collect horse related art and literature, and, especially, information about horses.

Submissions: Send a one-page query by email only to canter@equinepost.com. Include a detailed outline of what you will be writing about, and what specific or unique angle you have on the subject. The letter should demonstrate your ability to write and your knowledge of the subject. Please don't send one-sentence subject proposals or questions. If possible, attach links to writing samples. Let us know if and where you have been published in the past.

Assignments: Once your idea has been accepted, an assignment letter and transfer-of-rights agreement will be sent to you by mail. The letter will outline length, payment, deadline, and any guidelines we'd like you to follow for the story. All submissions are reviewed for quality and suitability, and are edited to conform to Canter Magazine style.

Length: Most stories are between 1,000 and 2,000 words.

Photographs: State availability of photographs with query. All articles should include photographs or drawings of some kind. Travel or cultural articles will not be accepted without photos. When submitting queries on historical subjects, include information about where you will be obtaining archived photographs, where applicable. Professional quality 35mm transparencies are preferred. Include a variety of different subjects. For example, if your article is historical, include one or two archived photographs, several different modern or "scene-setting" photographs from the historical site, close ups of associated artifacts, maps or diagrams of an event location, etc. Photographs should be well-exposed and in sharp focus.

Departments: We have several regular departments and are always looking for good writers to fill them:

• Bits are very short (300 words or less), timely discussions of cultural events associated with horses. These can be unusual events in and around the horse world (such as Internet adoption of wild mustangs), or newsworthy causes (such as the Inner Vision competition for blind dressage riders). They should not be announcements of winners in traditional horse shows or other equestrian competitions.
• Tales Retold is a 500 word department in which horse-related mythology and legend is recounted for readers. This department can include an analysis of what horses meant to the culture where a particular legend originated, or it can be a simple retelling of the legend.
• Art. We occasionally print profiles of equestrian artists, but we very much prefer to feature artists who can use their work to illustrate a theme. For example, an artist's work might illustrate the history of horses on the Arabian peninsula. The artist can choose to write the article, or we may assign it to someone on our staff. Payment for pieces such as these is usually a half or full page color ad and a sidebar providing readers with the artist's contact information and purchasing information for the works featured in the article. Artists should query with a short outline of the proposed piece and a few thumbnails of relevant works.
• Fiction. We publish very short fiction (between 300 and 500 words), and occasionally longer pieces depending on the availability of accompanying graphics, or the availability of space in the magazine.
• Happenings are generally announcements and reviews of upcoming or ongoing events. These should be events that are open to the public—particularly "artsy" events such as theatre productions, films, museums, expos, and exhibitions, though any event with an equine theme will be considered. Again, we do tend to avoid reviews of traditional equestrian events such as horse shows and equestrian competitions, unless they have a very unusual perspective.
• The Book Barn contains short, 300-word reviews of new horse-related books. We prefer to review books with a historic or cultural theme, memoirs, and essays. We don't generally cover how-to or discipline-specific books. We will also publish in-depth reviews of up to 1,500 words, especially those with a theme closely associated with our own.
• Hoofnotes is a 500 word personal experience department. This is the only place in the magazine where we publish stories told in the first person, especially stories that are associated with the ownership of horses. This department is generally a personalized account of what horses have meant to the author.This department is generally a personalized account of what horses have meant to the author.

Payment: Payment for feature-length articles is $25. Departments and columns pay $10, except for Bits and The Book Barn, which pay $5. These are preliminary rates, which will be in effect for the first two years of publication. Writers who work with us in the early stages of the magazine will be given preference for future assignments, and the rate of pay will scale accordingly. The magazine buys first-time rights. Payment is on publication. We offer a 25% kill fee for accepted, completed articles not deemed suitable for publication in our magazine.

What not to do: If your idea is practical, we are probably not interested in it. This includes anything that can be considered a "how-to" article, such as "how to build your dream barn," "ten ways to improve your balance," etc. If your idea is general, we are probably not interested in it. A general piece is any overview of a subject without a distinctive or unique angle, such as "Dressage in England," or "Arabian Horse Racing." Don't send personal experience stories, such as "My Weekend Horse Camping Trip," or "My Horse's Bout with Colic." We are not interested in articles about So-and-So, who won the Burghley Horse Trials in 1999.

What to do: Find some unique new way of looking at your subject. Instead of proposing an article on Arabian horse racing, tell us how Arabian horse racing is shaping the economy of an isolated village in Spain. Tell us how three generations of townspeople have thrived by taking bets on the outcome of the annual race. Tell us about the festival that proceeds and follows the event. Tell us how the races were founded by a man who challenged his fellow villagers to try and beat his unbeatable stallion. We want to hear something we've never heard before. In particular, we want to know the intricacies of how the horse's history and presence in the world is indivisibly intertwined with our own. We want to know why horses are important to us, and how we can make them a part of our lives.