Thank you

We are delighted that you are considering writing for one of Minnesota Physician Publishing's magazines. To help make the process a pleasant experience for you, we offer a few tips.

Creating your article

Keep your audience in mind. Articles are not for the general public but for a specific readership. Minnesota Physician articles should provide doctors with useful information they don't already know. Employee Benefits Planner articles should help employers and their Human Resource professionals improve their interactions with employees for the good of the company. Audience for Minnesota Health Care News is the health care consumers.

• Our readers are experts, but not in every field, so try to avoid technical jargon.
• The reader learns that you are an expert in your field from your one-line bio at the end.
• We ask authors to avoid overt promotion of their organizations.
• Our articles have a Minnesota focus.

In stating facts, give a source: "According to Mayor Jones, the town's population is expected to increase to more than 60,000 by 2010." We don't use footnotes but work essential references into the body of the text. "As Dr. No reports in January's New England Journal of Medicine ..."

• Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all the facts, including dates and correct spellings of people's and organizations' names.
• An article should be 1,200 to 1,400 words in length for Minnesota Health Care News.
• Articles for Minnesota Physician should be 1,300 to 1,600 words in length.
• Do not address the reader as "you." Say, "companies should" or "physicians should," not "you should."
• Avoid generalizations. Be specific. Everyone loves anecdotes and interesting details.

Getting our help

We offer a lot of help on this end. Don't be anxious about polishing. If you can get the ideas in written form, we'll edit the piece, fax it to you with changes and questions and work with you over the phone to get the article just right. The phone conversation usually is brief.

• We edit articles for AP style and house style, drawing on our knowledge of our readers.
• As do most publishers, we determine the article's placement, title, and art.

Sending us your article

We request that you send your article as an email attachment. If you are unable to do that, call us at (612) 728-8600 to discuss other methods.

Important

• We accept articles that have not been published elsewhere.
• We require that all writers return a signed, original editorial consent form prior to publication.
• Minnesota Physician Publishing reserves the right to make final decisions about what to publish.