Topics
All types of diving, dive travel and expeditions, resorts, adventures and photo-stories, dive equipment, profiles of people with significant achievements in diving, diving events and shows, marine biology and ecology, oceans, wrecks, reefs, trends, marine archaeology and other related issues.

As we must adhere to the highest international standards in publishing, only well-written submissions with editorial integrity and high ethical standards will be considered for publication.

Content and word count
Since our magazine is online distributed and doesn't have to have an exact number of pages, wordcount is not a critical measure. However, as a general guide we accept stories from 400-3500 words depending on subject matter with at least four to six or more high quality images. Most of our feature stories are packed with images (10-20) since we have unlimited space. But we publish only the best of what we get since the technical and artistic skill of most of the contributors who submit work to our magazine is world class if not exceptionally high.

Manuscripts
Email your manuscript in a Word document following standard publishing style. The manuscript should be spell-checked and proofread.
Please do not insert images into Word documents or submit pdfs (other than for demonstration purposes)

Include total word count, contact info, your sources’ email addresses and telephone numbers, a resume, a brief two to three line bio and a quality head shot of yourself.

Images
Send digital images or high end scans (we recommend Nikon Coolscan, Imacon or drum scans) of your photographs in jpeg, tiff or png format - 144 dpi resolution at approximately the following dimensions:
2500 x 1550 pixels for covers and spreads.
1550 x 1000 pixels for all other article photos.

Images should be cleaned and colour corrected. Images with dust, scratches, backscatter, compression artifacts or other visible blemished will be rejected. So will images that is out of focus or incorrectly exposed. Check the histograms. Do NOT compress jpgs.

Remember captions
Please include meaningful captions with names, location and description for all photographs. Some photographs of people require a signed release from the subject.

Other
Travel stories should contain a legible map and fact file including notes on geography, climate, demographic information, currency, language, security, voltage, food, health & vaccinations, visa, prices and relevant travel information.

How to submit
Send your story, photographs, ad materials and website information to the emails address below. Ftp-access is provided pr request.

X-RAY Mag and its affiliates are not responsible for lost or damaged materials or loss or damages resulting from electronic transfer or communications. Personal information is held confidential and will not be released without the individual´s written permission.

Please note
Submitted contributions with texts that hasn't been spell-checked, images that are not in order (bad photography, scratches and dust, uncorrected and uncleaned files), captions lacking will be returned. We don't have the resources to fix these things for you. So save us all some valuable time and make sure that your contribution is order in the first place.

Send to
Gunild Pak Symes, Managing Editor & Art Director: gsymes@xray-mag.com

or

Peter Symes, Editor-in-chief & Publisher: editor@xray-mag.com

Expect a confirmation of the receipt of your email within 2-3 days. We may be out of office for a short while but if you don't hear back please try again.

Compensations
X-Ray Magazine does currently not offer monetary remuneration for submitted articles but other forms of compensations or trades can be worked out on an ad-hoc basis.

This is not a reflection of what we consider right or a fair deal to hardworking contributors - on the contrary, it s..ks - but the current global economic downturn has created a lot of setbacks for dive industry and regrettably changed the usual revenue streams profoundly.

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TIPS

Structure your material into subsections
Before you write, make a list of bulletpoints that you would like to cover. 5-8 main points are usually fine. End your travelogue with an assessment or recommendation. Who is this location or course best suited for? Families with kids or the adventure-seeking technical diver. We all have our standards and different yardsticks. Bear this in mind.

Imagine your audience.
When you write for a magazine you have an audience just as if you were a slideshow presenter or just talking to your neighbour. In this case you can't see them face to face and they can't ask you questions. But they are looking for the same answers and entertainment. Capture their imagination and tell the story. Sometimes it helps imagining that you are writing a letter to a certain friend. Make it relevant, make it personal.

Why, How, When, What?
Make sure that you answer all the obvious questions your audience may have. Why go there? What is so special about it? When is a good time? Who would be interested? Why should I bother? Should I bring the kids or my rebreather? What are the highlights? The obvious questions are those a slide show audience would inevitably ask you about after the show if you forgot to bring the subject up yourself during your presentation.

Writing in oral language
Written and oral language are quite different. Avoid the temptation to directly transcribe your train of thoughts.

Blending in oral language in written text can be done skilfully and with great effect - if you are an aspiring novelist with talent. Otherwise give your first draft a complete writeover and weed out oral language.

1,5 hours under water, 15 hours above
Diving is the centerpiece of our vacation but we spend the vast majority of or the time out of the water. Include some bits on the local ambience, people and culture. It is very often the topside experiences that sets the dive destinations apart rather than the clownfish, dolphins and turtles. What is there to see and do when out of the waters? See temples, go shopping?

The "Everything's beautiful"-trap.
"The water is tempting green, the sky is blue, the sand is white, the palms are green and the people are really nice." Sure they are, but aren't most of this world's dive destinations wonderfully attractive? Avoid the standard cliches and describe what you really see.

Capture the flavour
All impressions count. Make us smell the tar of the ropes or the special coffee they serve here. Or did the flowering fields leave a lasting impression, or the sunrise over the volcano? Tap into the memory bank and tell about your lasting impressions and sentiments.

Be honest
If it sucks, it sucks so tell it. However in reality the picture is rarely entirely black or white. Quality and price are always interconnected in some way - most often you get what you pay for and this and common sense should be your yardstick. Safely should never be compromised however.

Credits and advertorials
Brand names, company-specific recommendations and other blatant appraisals that comes across as advertorial messages within the article will be mercilessly edited out. I makes a horrible read and the audience sees right through it anyway. Acknowledgements and thanking sponsors or hosts may be included in at short note at the end - at the editor's discretion. Advertorials are not acceptable in X-Ray Magazine.

Proofing
Most word processors comes with a spell checker. Please use it, and check your punctuation. Get someone else to read your article over before turning it in.

Got everything?
Remember articles comes with pictures/illustrations, captions and factfiles