Thank you for your interest in OutSmart magazine, published by Up & Out Communications.

OutSmart is a monthly magazine covering subjects of interest to both the Houston and the wider lesbian and gay community and their straight friends: local and national news, community organizations and people, political opinion, arts and entertainment, film, popular culture, restaurant reviews, health and self-help, spirituality, photo essays, and personal essays. Established in February 1994, OutSmart is a free publication, distributed on the first of every month primarily in the downtown/Montrose areas of Houston. Our circulation is 20,000, with an estimated pass-on readership of 60,000.

OutSmart's tone: We take a magazine approach rather than a news approach, looking for features and columns that can convey the humanity and diversity of our community in a fashion that is literate and engaging. We strive to present a picture of our community that is constructive and informed, without stooping to negative gossip on one side, nor empty boosterism on the other. In appearance, we're a mainstream publication, professionally oriented, and do not carry any sexually explicit advertising.

OutSmart is 70 percent freelance written. Columns and short articles are 500-1000 words (one printed magazine page). Feature-length articles are 1,5000-3,000 words. Although all payment needs to be negotiated with the editor upon acceptance, we pay about 5 cents a word, or $40 for short articles and $75-$150 for features. We pay on publication.

You may query with either complete articles or story ideas. However, if you are not submitting a complete manuscript, we will need to see other samples of your work before making an assignment. Queries are answered within six weeks of submission. Our lead time is two months before publication for new writers. All articles submitted for publication will be reviewed by the editor to see if they are suitable for publication. We appreciate submissions, but we do not guarantee publication.

Please submit articles on "hard copy," double-spaced on paper. If accepted, we will need to have the article e-mailed or submitted on disk; Macintosh format is best, but we can use some IBM programs as long as you save your article as a text file.

Simultaneous submissions acceptable, except to another Houston publication. Any simultaneous submission/publication in the Houston area must be discussed and cleared with the editor. All articles published will include the author's byline. We buy one-time rights, plus publication on our website.

We encourage you to submit illustrations along with your article: photographs (either B&W or color), drawings, charts, graphs, maps, etcetera. However we reserve the right not to include these illustrations with your article.

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