Submission Guidlines

Telephony’s authors are telecommunications experts who work in the industry. They publish in Telephony to inform their peers about their professional activities, helping to further the development of the industry and enhance their own professional stature.

Telephony’s readers work at a variety of service provider organizations, including incumbent local exchange carriers, interexchange carriers, competitive local exchange carriers, PCS/cellular companies, Internet service providers, and cable operators. They also include telecom consultants and contractors. Our readers are concerned with the entire spectrum of activities and technology within the telecom industry, and Telephony reaches readers from corporate management to technology/operations management and staff as well as marketing and sales personnel.

Telephony’s authors write for our well-informed, inquisitive and demanding readers on industry and technology topics of interest to the service provider industry. The author's experience and professional credentials must match his or her subject matter. You do not have to be a professional or experienced writer to publish your work in Telephony or on TelephonyOnline.com. Our staff of knowledgeable editors will work with you to make certain that your knowledge is presented in an appropriate and readable format.

Frequently, writers ask very specific questions about editorial requirements. Some of those asked most often are:

How does Telephony cover technology?

In two ways. Applications/case history, a form we use to cover applied technology in depth. The stories must recount a problem or application at the subject company, the various means considered to resolve the problem or implement a technology/service application, the method or product/application chosen to solve a problem or offer improved performance an the reasons for that choice, how the solution or application was implemented (in detail) and the results. While a manufacturer or consultant may have a byline with a carrier, it is important that at least one byline, for any application/case history, be from the carrier.

The second type of story is the technical tutorial, which is used for stories about leading edge and “pure” technology. Technical tutorials go into great depth on the capability of particular technology. They must be bylined by the scientists and experts responsible for developing the technology.

What kind of technology is Telephony interested in?

Our interest mirrors the technology and ideas shaping today’s service provider market including voice, data, video, wireless, intelligent networks, Internet, etc.

How do you determine when to run my article? Can I choose whether my article goes in the print magazine or online?

Telephony makes no distinction between its print and online media; all articles we run on TelephonyOnline.com are held to the same quality and content standards that we use for the print product. Given the frequent space constraints of the printed magazine, publishing articles on our website has proven a highly successful outlet for complementary content.

Telephony cannot guarantee that your article will run on a given date or run in print vs. online. While it is possible to request a position in the magazine, once your article is accepted for a particular publication date, we reserve the right to hold it for another issue or publish your article online. Depending on our editorial needs, Telephony can move features originally scheduled for website publication into the print product.

Does Telephony pay?

At this time, Telephony is not paying for contributed articles.

Can public relations people help?

Telephony welcomes work composed by public relations professionals on behalf of industry specialists. The specialists must approve all materials and the articles must be bylined by them. All payment goes to the specialists. Telephony appreciates the help public relations professionals provide in bringing the writings of telecommunications professionals to our readers.

What general rules must be met?

Articles must be non-promotional and written is sufficient depth to satisfy Telephony’s discerning readers. Our editors will be happy to work with you to ensure that the content of the article meets our readers’ needs. Articles should be written in narrative prose, not the first person. However, contributed articles should not appear to be pure journalism. For example, we do not use quotes from subject interviews in contributed stories. (The following sentence would not be acceptable: “The technology works great,” says John Smith.) The goal is to communicate as easily and completely as possible.

What about the copyright?

We primarily publish exclusive articles and acquire the copyrights, including worldwide magazine rights and electronics rights. An author, or his or her company, retains all rights to the material, except copyrights. The same copyrights apply to features that run exclusively on our website.

Will Telephony make any changes in my manuscript? Can I see changes before the article is published?

Telephony’s editors do revise manuscripts, both to make them easier to read and to fit them in the space available. We do work with authors in making any significant changes and are careful not to introduce errors. It is not possible to give every author a chance to review changes.

What kind of deadline schedule does Telephony have?

Telephony publishes an editorial calendar outlining topics of interest for specific issues. Once an article is proposed and accepted, the accepting editor establishes a copy deadline, usually four weeks ahead of the targeted publication date.

How do I get started?

The first is to send a proposal. Telephony’s editors are happy to review article proposals in almost any form: outline, abstract, descriptive paragraphs, etc. Once the proposal has been reviewed, an editor will get in touch with you to either accept or decline your proposal, and to offer further information. Proposals for online publication should be sent to the attention of Chip Howard, Deputy Managing Editor. His e-mail address is choward@primediabusiness.com. Faxes are also acceptable. The fax number is 312.595.0296.