Discovery Islander

Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in submitting material to the Discovery Islander. To assist us in publishing your submission please follow these guidelines.

Text

We welcome written articles on topics and events of interest to the Discovery Islands community. Letters to the editor, business profiles, local history, upcoming events etc... are all fair game.

Word Count - Please keep letters and press releases under 350 words, 250 words or less if you plan on submitting an accompanying photo or graphic. Consider including a 50 word 'Community Announcement' that can be used if space is limited.

Feature Articles: For longer feature articles please contact us to be sure your topic is suitable for publication before submitting, or better yet, before you start writing. A typical word count for a feature article is 750-1,100 words. We rarely publish articles longer than that so be concise with your wordcraft. Avoid repetition, stay on point.

Event Bullets: Please avoid using Where, When, Who type bullets for events and the like. It doesn't fit our style. Type it up just like you would say it in day to day speech.

It is our preference to receive submissions by email.
Please send your submission to news@discoveryislands.ca

Formats

Please do not send us text saved in a PDF or Word .doc file. We really don't need text in an attachment. We typeset all text to our publication style. Keep things simple, just type the text directly in the body of an email message. Bold and italics can all be formatted in your email program. Please do not send us a print-out or a scanned file. If you have typed your item on a computer please send us the text in an email message. On a busy deadline day there are few things more frustrating than retyping a long article that has already been typed and then submitted on paper or scanned so that the text is effectively a photo and can't be copied into our layout program.

We do welcome clearly-handwritten material, if that's your only option, dropped off at Inspirations in Quathiaski Cove or our office.

Photos

Photo files need to be attached as separate files in one of the following formats (in order of preference): .jpg, .png .tif or WebP.

The most important thing to understand with digital image files is that the file size is directly related to the resolution and the number of pixels in the image, and that it is vital to ensure there is adequate data for sharp print reproduction. Please check the size of your image file to ensure it is suitable to submit. A colour jpeg file between 1 and 3 MB (megabytes) will be ample for our use. If it's going to be a candidate for a cover photo it will need to be between 4 and 7 MB.

Watch for settings in your email app that may down-sample images. If you see an option for 'Image Size', set that to 'Original' or 'Large'.

We prefer to receive colour photo files. We use colour pictures online and have special techniques to make a black and white version that will print at its best in the print edition. If in doubt just send the original file from the camera without any editing.

Please do not send photos inserted into a Word document, they become overly compressed and will not print as well as if you send us the original photo file as a .jpg or .png format just as it comes from your phone or camera.

Posters, Logos and Other Graphics

The Discovery Islander follows a newsmagazine style, think of a small Macleans or Newsweek. We prefer articles to be written as a narrative. Submitting a poster as the vehicle for your text is not appropriate. Graphics like posters are, in our publication style, considered paid advertising. We welcome advertisements of course, that's how we're able to put ink on paper and we do offer 15% discount for local non-profits'. But if you're on a budget and looking for a free way to promote an event then please write out a story to describe it. Then mention how important the DI is to your employer, a local business and encourage them to support your event through advertising in the DI.

Sometimes when we have extra space we are able to publish poster without charge but please include a written story as well.

Submitting Your Item

We prefer to receive submissions by email. Send your item to news@discoveryislands.ca
Please use the name of your article aor event s the subject of the email. We get many emails called "DI Submission" . Make your article distinct by giving it a proper title. There is no need to use a separate attachment. Simply send the text in the body of the email message. If you have typed up your article in MS Word or Apple Pages etc... once you are finished just copy and paste the text it into an email and send that.

If you don't have a computer there are computers available for public use at the local library. If you absolutely have to handwrite your item please print clearly and bring your item to Inspirations in the Q-Cove Plaza or our office at 701 Cape Mudge Road - please use the mailbox provided outside the office, no house calls please.

Graphics Professionals

Please submit digital artwork for display advertisements as grayscale pdf or.ai files at 300 dpi. We welcome RGB versions of advertisements for our online edition but our print edition is printed in black ink only which requires Grayscale photos and text. If you are not sure the difference drop us a line and we are happy to provide some support. Submit graphics as attachments under 10 MB or use a file sharing platform like DropBox, WeTransfer etc... for larger files.

Thank you we look forward to helping you get the word out about your event, story or point of view.