Authors are encouraged to discuss proposals with the Editor prior to submitting articles.
Please email Karen vanMeenen at afterimageeditor@yahoo.com
Articles must be formatted in Microsoft Word and submitted as an email attachment or as a
double-spaced hard copy sent to the office.
Ranging from 3000-6000 words, feature articles may be original investigative reporting or scholarly research; they may be biographies of or interviews with important media artists or critics; they may use an event, exhibition, book, video, etc. as a jumping-off point for a discussion of larger economic, political, and cultural issues. Use of endnotes is expected but not strictly required.
Like the feature in terms of prominence and scope, but more like the review in terms of timeliness and length (they range from 1500-3000 words), an essay may be written in a more "subjective" voice and it may be on or about virtually any subject in the domain of media arts and cultural criticism. Most essays are written on commission, though Afterimage will consider unsolicited manuscripts. Endnotes are explicitly discouraged.
Reviews are generally 850-1500 words. They may cover individual or group exhibitions, installations, screenings and performances; or they may examine one or more media arts publications. References should be placed within the text, though endnotes are permitted.
This section includes articles (850-1500 words) about particular conferences, symposia, film and video festivals, photo fairs and festivals, and other formal gatherings. A good report will provide both an account and an analysis of the event. Endnotes are discouraged.
Please click here for information and submission guidelines.
Afterimage publishes news stories on funding, legislation, activism and institutional restructuring, as well as obituaries and other topics of importance to our readership on its web site. Although most news items are written by Afterimage staff, longer news articles (1500-4000 words) are occasionally solicited from outside writers. References should by placed within the text, though endnotes are permitted in longer news articles.
Much shorter than a review (generally 150-300 words), a note is a concise yet critical description of a single book, exhibition catalog, film, video, CD, or periodical.
Refer to the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster's 19th Collegiate Dictionary for style and
spelling. Use open punctuation: i.e., the minimum of commas, quotation marks and other punctuation
necessary for clear understanding of the writing, as well as a minimum of italics and capitalization.
In features, give full endnote references, not footnotes, for all writings quoted or referred to
more than cursorily, including the volume and number references for scholarly journals. Please
include a one-sentence author bio at the end of your article.
Authors who have articles commissioned for the journal will be emailed a detailed style and
formatting guide that they will be expected to follow before submitting their articles.
Afterimage pays five cents a word for articles, with a maximum of $100 for news, reports and reviews; $150 for essays; and $300 for features. Payment is made after publication, not acceptance, and checks may take some months to process. Feature writers receive one advance copy and five additional free copies of the issue; reviews, reports, essay and news writers as well as portfolio contributors receive one advance copy and three additional copies. Authors can purchase additional copies at a discount. All contributors also receive a one-year complimentary subscription. To publicize Afterimage articles, we send tearsheets to galleries, publishers, distributors and event sponsors.