This document evolved from an IRC chat among print team members on 5 May 2001 and from conversation on the IMC-Print listserve.
[ Transcript of IRC chat | IMC-Print listserve archives ]

Submitting Stories

• Where to submit content: Submit text or graphics to a) print.indymedia.org with the Publish function, and b) to the IMC-Print listserve.
• Use a clear title: Identify the issue number, the piece\'s title, and the format. For example, \"For PDF #11: World Bank Closes Due to Activist Pressure (article)\", or \"For PDF #422: Nader\'s Inauguration (photo)\".
• Include the source: Include the name of author/photographer/artist, and the source. For example, \"By Ima Rabblerouser, IMC-Belgium\"
• Include a character count: Put the number of characters (letters) in the text. Conventionally, people put this at the end of the article. (Most word processors can provide a character count.)
• Label it \"Edited\" or \"Unedited\": \"Edited\" means the story has been shortened or excerpted for publication already. \"Unedited\" means the story should be included, but must be modified first.

Article Length by Character Count
Two pages (size: A4, or, 8 1/2 by 11) is quite short. Not much fits in that amount of space. Many articles will need to be excerpted or shortened to fit, either before they are submitted or after they are accepted. Conventionally, people use \"word count\" not \"character count\"; however, the weekly PDF is translated into different languages, and this creates special challenges. An analysis of past issues of the weekly PDF shows that counting characters is more meaningful than counting words. (For example, many German words are very long.) Most word processors will give you a character count so you don\'t have to do it yourself. (In Microsoft Word, choose \"word count\" from the \"Tools\" menu, and it will show you the character count. Use the figure that includes spaces.)

Table of examples:

	Deutsch	English	Espanol	Francais	Nederlands	Svenska	Russian
Total characters in an issue	13680	12,000	14400	15480	16560	12240	14160
Short story	1469	1289	1547	1663	1779	1315	1521
Medium story	3504	3074	3689	3965	4242	3135	3627
Long story	4959	4350	5220	5612	6003	4437	5133
	These counts assume fonts between 8 and 9 points. These counts include blank spaces. See note at end of document for more data on the source of these figures.

Indymedia content only?

The IMC-Print team has not decided if the weekly PDF should only include content from IMC sites. Certainly it would be a waste of space to reprint something from the New York Times, for example, but what about a press release from an activist organization? This question is still open.

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Note: Background data for word counts

Comparing the lengths of the \"What is Indymedia\" box in different languages, I arrived at the following ratios among translations.

For 100 English characters, expect:
114 in Deutch
120 in Espanol
129 in Francais
138 in Nederlands
102 in Svenska
118 in Russian

Questions? Want more information? Write fellowtraveler@riseup.net