The Cowboy Chronicle receives virtually all its contributions from SASS members. All material sent to The Cowboy Chronicle becomes the property of SASS unless marked otherwise or special arrangements are made. Make copies of valued photos and send only the copies for potential publication.

The Cowboy Chronicle is on a monthly publication schedule. The deadline for articles, match reports, and other editorial pieces is 60 days prior to the beginning of the publication month. Advertising is a different matter. Please see The Cowboy Chronicle Advertising Schedule and Rate Sheet enclosed with this document.

Submittal Format

The Cowboy Chronicle is prepared on a MAC in Microsoft Word. Most modern word processors provide the ability to save text in a variety of formats. Word or ASCII text material is required.
When submitting via e-mail, send the material to bormand581@aol.com. Copy the text into the body of the message, and include a copy as an attached file. If the submittal is via a diskette, please include a hardcopy printout of the report and make sure the hardcopy is in large, clear type. Don't use fancy "Cowboy" fonts. They cannot be scanned and easily turned into text. Don't write on the hardcopy. "Clean" material can be scanned (if necessary) into the computer with only a fair amount of effort. If the submittal is via a CD, please make sure the CD is “closed” and accommodates only a single writing session. Don’t embed photos in the text … keep them as separate files and key the captions to these file names.

Amount of Material

For The Cowboy Chronicle, shorter is better than longer. Match reports are limited to 800 words. Major match reports are limited to 1500 words. Feature articles are limited to 1200 words. News items, letters, and other similar items should run 250 or fewer words. Exceptions can certainly be made, but a 3000-word match report will be sent back to the author for rewrite. No more than six captioned photos can be accommodated … and you get to pick them.

Aliases

SASS and The Cowboy Chronicle know only one name for our members—their "alias". In referring to people in your articles, if the person is a SASS member, use their alias and (the first time only) their SASS number. For example, "Little Shot, SASS #45, performed …", and thereafter simply use Little Shot. Quotes are not appropriate—that's someone's proper name. It is generally not appropriate to mix the street name and alias, for example Jim "Little Shot" Smith.
If the person being referenced is not a SASS member, please use only their street name.

Photographs

Photographs make the difference between a "ho-hum" article and material that is interesting enough to be read. When taking photos, there are a number of things to keep in mind:

• Get as close to the subject as possible. One person "in the background" is not generally acceptable. Close facial shots are excellent.
• People are more interesting than "things." Even when showing a "thing," put a person in with it.
• Broad-brimmed cowboy hats on a sunny day will obscure the subject's face every time. Get close, have the subjects push their hats back until the sun is shinning in their eyes, use a fill-in flash, and make sure the sun is not behind the subject.
• For group photos, get in as close to the group as possible, and send a 5X7 or 8X10 picture—we can't use very many large size photos, and will do our best to shrink them down, but we do want to see each and every face—otherwise the photo is likely to get "bumped."
• Folks who take pictures for a living know there is a certain attraction for "live" photos, but most really great pictures are posed. Many of the shooting photos received are of people's backs. It is far better to stage a shot where the face shows, the sun is behind the photographer, the stage props are well lit and in the picture, and the competitor is often pointing his/her gun in some direction other than straight down range. Incidentally, it's not good form to point (even empty) guns at folks—even for staged pictures.
• Label your pictures. Photos often become separated from the text, so please label the photos with either your name or your club's name. Each photo must also be accompanied by enough information, ideally a caption, so the reader will be able to understand at what he/she is looking.
• Digital photos that are to be captioned should be at least 1000X600 pixels in size and collage images should be at least 800X480 pixels.

As you can see, there are many things to consider when putting The Cowboy Chronicle together. Don't be intimidated by the above instructions, but be aware there are things you can do to make life easier for the editor and ensure your story is published with minimum interference from the editorial process.

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