Submission guidelines and FAQ for contributors

Denver Witch Quarterly is an ebook/print-on-demand format magazine. DWQ publishes four times a year, on the 15th of January, April, July, October, with additional special issues focused on various topics. While DWQ is based out of Denver, Colorado USA, our audience is international, and we accept submissions and advertising from all over the world. Heck, if Venusians and Martians wanted to take out ads, we would sell ad-space to them too. The same holds true for submissions. This is an edited magazine; we do reject horrible submissions, and will edit borderline submissions. Contributors are paid quarterly plus sixty days based on the royalty reports received by that time. Payment is based on the weighted contributor share. Payout threshold is five dollars (USD), and is paid though PayPal. Contributors can request a “reasonable” advertising advance to help cover the costs of their own advertising. Deadlines: Imbolc/Ostara (December 21st), Beltane/Litha (March 21st), Lugnnasa/Mabon (June 24th), Samhain/Yule (September 21st). The opinions expressed by contributors are their own, and carry no endorsement by DWQ. Denver Witch Quarterly is also not responsible for business transactions between the public and our advertisers & contributors.

Email submissions to basttemple [at] msn [dot] com (We accept .doc and .docx [Times New Roman], and jpegs.) Include pen-name, Paypal address, legal tax name, and brief bio.

Statement of Principles 

Denver Witch Quarterly does not accept materials that advocate, promote or reflect discrimination or intolerance based on race, gender, sexual orientation, profession, etc.

Contributor FAQs

What type of material is Denver Witch Quarterly looking for? 

DWQ is looking for editorials, fiction, poetry, rituals, seasonal material, instructional and informative articles, photography, art, cartoons, and filler copy of interest to pagans, Wiccans, witches, and magic practitioners. We use a wide range of material. While Denver Witch Quarterly is named after its local region, we are actually an international magazine with readers all over the world.

Can I submit previously published material?

Yes, provided that you own the copyright to the material. DWQ feels strongly about protecting the copyrights of writers and artists. DO NOT SUBMIT ANOTHER PERSON’S WORK. (The only exception is material for the “Seen on the internet”—please provide screenshots of the original post with your submission.) When submitting previously published work (this includes self-published work, as well as blogs and webpages), please include a note about where and when it was previously published.

What rights does Denver Witch Quarterly ask for? 

One time ebook/print rights for the issue that the material is published in. All other rights remain the property of the creator.

Where do I send submissions? What do I need to include? What file formats do you accept? 

Send submissions to basttemple [at] msn [dot] com

We prefer that you paste your submission into the body of the email. But we do accept doc. and docx. (Word files) provided that they can pass a virus scan. Files that fail a virus scan will not be opened and will be immediately deleted. For photos and artwork, we accept jpegs currently (and probably other types that can be inserted into Word documents—the editor of DWQ is still learning this stuff).

Include in the email of your submission, your legal name, your pen-name, a short bio (including a web address if you have a web page as a writer/artist), and your PayPal address.

Does DWQ withhold taxes? Does DWQ collect tax information? 

No, DWQ does not withhold taxes at this time. Yes, DWQ does collect tax information from contributors who earn significant income. We absolutely collect tax information from any contributor who earns more than $600 a year. In the future, DWQ will start to withhold taxes when contributors start to hit the IRS threshold for tax withholding.

How is the revenue pool determined? 

Contributors are paid from a pool of 80% of the royalties received from the issue that they contributed to. How much of the pool they receive is based on the Weighted Contributor Share.

Why only 80% of the royalties? And what happens to the advertising revenue? 

Twenty percent of the royalties (plus his contributor share) automatically goes to Morgan Drake Eckstein, to cover his time and energy in coordinating, editing, formatting, and doing all the dog work that putting a magazine together entails.

Advertising revenue (if any) goes towards the operating expenses of Denver Witch Quarterly.

What is the royalty rate? 

This is too complicated for a quick answer. Different retailers pay different rates. Plus some retailers like Amazon and Scribd have special rules which affect the royalty rate one receives.

What is the Weighted Contributor Share? 

The raw contributor share is based on the percentage of magazine space that their submission takes up. Think of this in terms of the number of pages that one’s contribution fills.

Please note that some sections of the magazine do not count towards a share. For instance, advertising is not counted as a contribution; nor are Letters to the Editor.

The raw contributor share is then weighted to take in account, the importance and sales value of the contribution. For instance, research proves that the cover of books and magazines greatly influences the number of copies sold—therefore, if a contributor’s artwork is used for the cover, it will be weighted to account for its importance (instead of counting as one page, it will be counted as five). In other words, if the editor believes that your contribution will be a sales driver, your contribution share will be weighted to reflect this.

And while this may seem unfair, in reality, it happens in publishing all the time. Quite simply, some writers and artists receive more income than others. The proper response to this is to continue working on the skills that make you a writer and artist, and to continue building up your audience, so that someday, you too, can earn more money.

Is there any chance that I could get a flat upfront payment? 

Not at the current time. If the current contributor share model does not work, and there is sufficient advertising revenue, the model of flat upfront payments may be adopted later on.

What is the payout threshold? When am I paid? How am I paid? 

The current payout threshold is five dollars, after one’s advertising advance (if any) is earned back. Payment is quarterly plus sixty days (due to how much royalty statements and payments lag in the distribution network) based on the figures available at that time. Payment is made through PayPal.

What is the “reasonable advertising advance”? 

Many of our contributors own businesses, or help coordinate events, that they would like to advertise. As an incentive to get them to contribute, Denver Witch Quarterly can let them post an ad without paying the ad cost upfront, paying off the ad cost as they earn their contributor share. The reasonableness is determined by Morgan Drake Eckstein and a couple of people that he consults with.

Does MDE pay for his own advertising? 

That is just a silly question. Of course not, he owns the magazine.

 Can I get a free contributor copy of the issue that my stuff is published in? 

Yes, contributors are given a couple code redeemable through Smashwords for a free ebook copy. (At this time, DWQ cannot offer a free printed copy—sorry.)

How is DWQ issued? 

DWQ publishes first through the Smashwords platform (which has distribution agreements with iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and several other ebook retailers) and Amazon. Later DWQ plans on publishing through the POD (print-on-demand) services of CreateSpace and Lulu.

How is Denver Witch Quarterly priced? And who determines the price? Are there ever any free giveaways of copies?

Currently, DWQ is priced at $0.99 (USD) pre-release, with the cost going up to $2.99 after the issue releases.

Morgan Drake Eckstein will determine any further price changes, giveaways, and promotions based on his best guess of what would create the most royalty and/or advertising income.

How often is DWQ published? And what are the deadlines for submissions and advertising? 

DWQ publishes on an quarterly basis. Deadlines: Imbolc/Ostara (December 21st), Beltane/Litha (March 21st), Lugnnasa/Mabon (June 24th), Samhain/Yule (September 21st).

Do you send out rejection slips? How about acceptance slips? 

No, I don’t send out rejection slips, except for special occasions. I also don’t send out acceptance slips (outside of the free ebook code). Some editing notes might occur if I need a rewrite of a border-line submission.

How long does my submission remain in the active file? 

Pretty much forever (something I learned from previous publishers—I once got paid for a story that I submitted two years earlier).

The stuff I write is not a good fit for Denver Witch Quarterly—are there any other Salt Mine Publications magazines I could submit to? And do the same policies apply to them? 

Besides DWQ, there is also the irregularly published magazine, Quantum Entanglement, which focuses on science fiction, fantasy, some horror, and fandom. The same policies apply. Send submissions using the same address as DWQ, marking your submission for QE. And in the future, if there is enough demand and material, Salt Mine Publications will consider issuing magazines in other subject and interest areas.

Why was my font and formatting choices changed? 

Because ebook readers are fussy machines who choke up on line dividers, tabs, strange colors, and exotic fonts. As a result, DWQ is forced to use barebones formatting.

Example of Contributor Share report

Contributor Share breakdown for Fall 2016 issue

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