Getting Your Ideas into Print.

Getting into print is a matter of writing something that someone else wants to read, and writing it so clearly that it can be read easily and effectively. Some aspiring young authors think that getting published is mainly a matter of knowing the editor. Rather than knowing the editor, you should first know your purpose in writing. Second, know your intended audience. Third, know appropriate publications. The criteria by which manuscripts are evaluated are usually not difficult to discover. Check the information in a journal's masthead or somewhere in the vicinity of its table of contents. General criteria almost always echo the audience being served--or that is the intent of the criteria. Do not send a manuscript to more than one publisher at a time. Cover letters usually don't do any harm, but they probably don't do much good either. If a cover letter is needed to explain some circumstance that is not obvious in the manuscript, then use a cover letter. Otherwise, a manuscript either stands on its own or it doesn't. The format of the paper should follow the requirements of the journal to which it is being submitted. If a manuscript is accepted for publication, it is not uncommon for a year to pass between the time it is sent and the time it appears in print. (WR)