More and more naturists and non-naturists are approaching N magazine inquiring about submission guidelines for articles. N is delighted at this growing interest among new and experienced writers in opening wider the dialogue on naturist living. N has an over 30-year history of being the voice of a diverse array of naked-minded people. As an internationally recognized leader in naturist publications with professional standards and a diverse readership, N continues to move confidently into the 21st century. It may be time once again, however, to remind N readers—and potential N authors—how easy it is to contribute to this living history of naturism.

The Naturist Society accepts submissions from authors, photographers, and artists for N magazine (Nude & Natural.) N brings together prominent personalities, places, events, and trends inspired by the growth in body acceptance that accompanies a renewal of the practice the world over of social and family naturism. N’s audience consists of the curious and often skeptical “newcomer,” as well as the general readers created by bookstore and newsstand sales, but the core readers are The Naturist Society’s 20,000 subscribing members. Submissions or inquiries may be sent to:

The Naturist Society
Nicky Hoffman, Publisher
627 Bay Shore Drive Ste 100
Oshkosh, WI 54901
Phone (920) 426-5009
Fax (920) 426-5184
e-mail: nickyh@naturistsociety.com

Some Topics of Interest to N readers:

  • Nude travel and tourism, particularly first-hand reports.
  • Beaches, hot springs, and other public clothing-optional sites.
  • Naturist group-or club -sponsored activities, particularly those that are ongoing or feature interaction with the textile community.
  • The history, development of, or special activities at nude-friendly resorts, campgrounds, parks, or spas.
  • Pioneering naturists (past or present).
  • Naturism/nudity in the news, society/culture, law, politics, history, art, religion, etc.
  • The philosophies of naturism or body acceptance.
  • First-hand stories about your experience with naturism; especially first-time experiences.
  • Many more topics are open for consideration. The editors will be happy to discuss any ideas you have. Articles are selected according to their relevance, timeliness, quality, and space availability in the magazine. We recommend that you confer with an N editor before going ahead with your writing, though this is not required. Approval of a topic does not guarantee publication; we must reserve the right to refuse the final product if it does not meet our needs.

Many more topics are open for consideration. The editors are happy to discuss any ideas you have. Articles are selected according to their relevance, timeliness, quality, and space availability in the magazine. We recommend that you confer with an N editor before going ahead with your writing, though this is not required. Approval of a topic does not guarantee publication; we must reserve the right to refuse the final product if it does not meet our needs.

Article Length

Most articles in N run 750-2,000 words, though length may vary greatly depending on the topic and scope. Readers tend to favor shorter articles. We advise writers to take whatever space they need to tell their stories thoroughly but concisely. The editors can offer further guidance on length when you propose your topic.

Article Format

All submission are welcome and reviewed for appropriateness for N magazine. Please submit articles by e-mail attachment to e-mail: nickyh@naturistsociety.com. CDs sent by mail are also accepted.

Changes to Articles

Articles may be edited for space or other reasons. If time permits, we can arrange to return the edited copy to the author for review, but this is not always possible. If your topic is particularly sensitive and you feel editing would compromise your meaning, you may want to discuss this with the editors upon submission.

Most articles published in N are submitted by amateur writers. Still, the editors assume that if you are proposing an article you are able to communicate thoughtfully and clearly, and have some writing ability even though you may be inexperienced at writing for publication. Good storytelling and accurate fact gathering are far more important in this context than technically perfect writing. Editors can “fix” problems of grammar and style, but can’t do much about limited content. Occasionally we’ll ask for revisions or further development of ideas, but in most cases we prefer to work with submitted material as provided.

Copyright/Exclusivity

We assume that articles submitted to N are being sent to N exclusively. If the same or a very similar article is under review, is about to be published, or already has been published in another publication (naturist or non-naturist, in print or online) you must let us know at the time of submission. Once your article has been accepted for publication in N, we assume first publication rights, so you should not submit it elsewhere until after it appears in N. As author, you retain the copyright on your article text, and can resubmit it where you like after it appears in N. Publications that wish to reprint articles as laid out in N must obtain permission from the original author and/or photographer(s), as well as from N.

Photos/Graphics/Illustrations

Photos, graphics, drawings, or other illustrations are most welcome with any article submission, and may be a condition of acceptance. A photo (nude and relevant to the text) of yourself is helpful, if possible.

Photography should enhance the descriptive elements of the article. A travel report, for example, should be supported with photos showing nude individuals of a variety (when possible) of ages, genders, races, and body types engaged in some type of naturist-related activity. Such images are preferred over scenery shots or artificially-posed figures.

Photography should enhance the descriptive elements of the article. A travel report, for example, should be supported with photos showing nude individuals of a variety (when possible) of ages, genders, races, and body types, engaged in some type of beach-related activity. Such images are preferred over scenery shots or artificially-posed figures.

In all cases, whether posed or candid, artistic or journalistic, photos should adhere to non-sexualizing standards of naturist realism and respect. Photos that are sexually explicit or taken surreptitiously will not be accepted. Someone who reads N regularly will best be able to gauge the style and content of photos that are likely to be acceptable for publication.

Photographers should consider securing written permission, from any subjects who appear in their photos. It may not be a legal requirement in all cases, but it is proper in cases where the subject has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The subjects should understand that they are being photographed for possible publication in a national magazine. Children should never be photographed without the permission of both the child and the parent(s), and the parent(s) should be present at all times, preferably appearing with the child in photos. Please refer to the “technical tips” section for information about preferred formats for photography.

Nude & Natural Photo Release Agreement

Style Guides/Source Documentation

The editors of N are more concerned with accuracy of reporting, relevance of the topic, and readability of a piece than with an author’s adherence to strict style guidelines. Authors may use whichever established style manual they choose, if appropriate, as long as usage is maintained consistently throughout the article. (N uses The Chicago Manual Style most often.) Most articles will not need endnotes; however, any reference material used to provide information for your article should be documented, and direct quotes should be attributed to their original source. If notes are included, please format them as a minimal number of endnotes rather than footnotes. Follow the style manual of your choice, but be consistent. That said, in the editing process, N may need to adjust punctuation or references for magazine style consistency.

Author Bio

For N office reference, supply a short biographical statement along with your article, including full name, address, daytime phone number, e-mail, naturist group/club affiliations, TNSF membership number (if applicable), and a brief statement of your qualifications. In virtually all cases the author’s name will appear as a byline with the article. N rarely permits pseudonyms to be used. Please discuss this with the N staff before submitting an article if this is an issue for you, as there are other options for authors concerned about name recognition.

Return of Materials

Most photos submitted will be digital, and should be provided in high resolution. Unpublished print photos are usually returned unless there is a strong possibility that they may be used in future publications of N. We prefer to retain a file copy of photos or illustrations that are published. If you must have your photos or other materials returned, indicate this at the time of submission. Label all print photos, disks, or other hard materials with your name, address, phone, and/or e-mail address. Never send originals or the only existing copy of your article, photos, or other materials. Digital text and photos are preferred.

Payment

Writing for N for the most part is a volunteer activity. The staff will be happy to discuss this further on a case-by-case basis. As a general rule, N does not pay for:

  • Unsolicited text submissions.
  • Materials submitted with a commercial agenda (product releases, news releases, group or club activities announcements, etc.).
  • Full-length features that promote commercial organizations (resorts, parks, etc.).
  • Short news items, letters to the editor, cartoons, reviews, and other such materials.

TNSF is now a non-profit, and as such are reliant on the donated submissions of its members. If you need payment, photography published in N is paid:

  • Photo: $10 each
  • Maximum compensation for any one submission is $150

Please Note: Submissions do not guarantee compensation. Compensation is made according to a variety of factors, and determination of compensation is made solely by TNSF.

Technical Tips on Article Submissions

Articles should be submitted as attachments via e-mail. If sending your article in the body of a message rather than as a document attachment, please do not use special formatting such as bold type, italics, curly quotes, em dashes, superscripts, columns, tables, footnotes, etc. These often create “garbage characters” that must be removed manually. Please do not embed your photos in the word file, send them to us separately. Microsoft Word is the preferred format, but we are able to translate documents from most any standard word processing program (either Windows or Mac). Use rich text format (.rtf) or plain text (.txt) format. Most word processing programs allow for this option under the “save” or “save as” command. If you have used bold, italic, or other formatting commands, these may be lost when the file is saved as text only. If such formatting is critical to the article, then also send a PDF or mail/fax a hard copy for reference.

Other related issues to keep in mind when typing your article:

  • Add a hard return only when indicating a new paragraph, not at the end of each line. Extra hard returns need to be removed manually by the editor.
  • Do not use multiple spaces or multiple tabs to line up text.
  • Use a single space after punctuation marks (not two).
  • Eliminate headers and footers from your files. Pages should not be numbered as they will be reformatted in our page layout program.
  • If notes are used, be sure they are formatted as endnotes and not as footnotes.
  • Do not place titles, headers, or other text in all uppercase letters.
  • Keep paragraphs short—two to three sentences max, in most cases. Paragraphs that seem short on your computer screen can be very long in a three-column journal format.
  • Articles should be single–spaced.

Technical Tips on Photo Submissions

Given the current popularity of digital photography, N is happy to accept high-resolution digital images for publication. However, the technical requirements for digital photos are stricter than for slides or prints. In order for a digital image to maintain its quality in print, it’s important that the images contain enough data (resolution).

If you plan to submit digital images, be sure that your camera or cell phone is set to capture images at a high resolution—at least 2,550 pixels wide. Shoot at the lowest ISO for light condition (as default 400 ISO or less). The higher the number of pixels in the image, the better the resolution and the better the results tend to be in print. Most megapixel digital cameras currently on the market are well-equipped to capture images suitable for print and should be set to fine. Sometimes photos are cropped, so keep that in mind when shooting and shoot just a bit larger.

Please send your photos in original or RAW format for any images that will appear in print. JPEG files are acceptable if they are saved at maximum quality with minimal compression. JPEGs optimized for the Web are not acceptable for print.

The preferred method for submitting digital images is via Wetransfer.com.  A small number of images may be sent to us via e-mail, but many photos that are of a size and format suitable for print will be too large for e-mail transfer. 

When submitting images, provide suggested captions indicating the subjects, location, and date when relevant. This can be done in a separate Word document. 

 Obtain permission from the subjects in your photos before submitting them for publication. It’s common courtesy, in some cases it’s the law, and it will save many headaches later for both the photographer and N. Photographers should retain copies of any written photo releases they obtain from the subjects of their photography.

Drawings and other artwork may also be appropriate; check with the N editor before submitting.

Don’t forget: Include your name and contact information—including daytime phone and e-mail address—with any text or photo submission

Deadlines

There are many factors N editors must consider in determining when an article is to be published. Contact N for an expected release date of TNSF’s quarterly journal.