gnu@sun.UUCP (John Gilmore) (07/20/83)
[Note: This showed up in my mailbox a week or so ago. If you've seen a Whole Earth Catalog you'll be aware of the high quality these people are capable of. To attain it, a large network of knowledgeable reviewers must be built. My connection with this effort is informal, and they have no Usenet or Arpanet access, so please see paragraph 8 if you want to talk with them -- don't send to me. Also, to avoid the wrath of Khan, don't post followups to this message; it went to 5 newsgroups. -- John] Whole Earth Software Software Catalog Review 415-331-6249 Box 428 Sausalito CA 94966 / 27 Gate Five Road Sausalito CA 94965 An invitation to write for the Whole Earth Software Catalog and Software Review 1. WHAT WE DO. We edit the Whole Earth Software Catalog, a 200-page book to be published by Doubleday and Company in frequently revised editions beginning Fall 1984. In it we review the best in personal computer software, accessories, books, magazines, dial-up services, and promising new directions. As an interactive research medium for the Catalog, we publish and edit the Whole Earth Software Review, a quarterly magazine of reviews, opinions, responses, and consequential news for owners and users of personal computers. We seek reviewers and writers for both publications. We also publish the general-interest magazine CoEvolution Quarterly and the Whole Earth Catalog. All four are products of Point, our non-profit education foundation. 2. WHAT KINDS OF SOFTWARE TO REVIEW. Any outstanding software you've used and loved, or at least appreciated. That could include business programs, learning programs, games, creative tools, utilities, programmers' tools, languages, and any other categories, including public domain software. The program you review need not be immediately accessible to a novice, but if it's not, your review should unpatronizingly tell novices why they might someday want to know about it. If you feel you're a novice yourself, but a particular program has helped you, don't feel intimidated; your perspective could be especially valuable in the Catalog. We review software that runs on any personal computer -- any computer which a person uses while at home, in their own employ, or working for someone else. That includes the most popular systems -- CP/M, IBM PC, Apple, Commodore, TRS-80, Atari, Osborne, Kaypro -- but is not limited to them. If a mailing list program runs only on minicomputers but is nonetheless uniquely useful, we might run the review. We won't be snobbish about programs that only run on a Timex Sinclair either. If a program runs only on an esoteric computer brand but is uniquely valuable, we'll consider it based on whether it alone justifies buying the entire computer. We only review software or services that are already available for sale. Don't review bad programs unless you can eloquently point out a generic malevolent problem that users should shun and software developers should correct. Nitpicking at mediocrity gives useless data to a reader who is shopping for a tool. 3. WHAT ELSE TO REVIEW. Books that really help. Essential magazines and newsletters, especially those little-known gateways to an entire field. Mail-order companies that offer good prices, service, and support. Useful devices -- from modems and printers to disk holders and head cleaners. Specifically useful online services (for instance, don't review DIALOG -- review the database on DIALOG that you use and value). Promising developments that people should know about. Anything else that's available and of service to personal computer owners. Surprise us with something we didn't know we should review. 4. WHAT TO WRITE BESIDES REVIEWS. Tips -- the things they should tell you on page one of the manuals but don't, as well as neat shortcuts and money savers. Complaints directed at specific software problems or other failings of the microcomputer industry. Suggestions -- programs, services, and features that ought to be. Letters, comments, odd or important bits of news. We're also interested in articles that open a genre of computer service to new people. We're not so much interested in "how-to" articles as in "what's-available-and-where" articles, or articles that illuminate someone's creative process -- preferably your own. Another good genre for us is the "survey article," a unified group of reviews which evaluate items and services in a particular field. If a prospective article would take a lot of research time, query us about it -- write an informal letter describing your plan. Make sure you enclose a sample of something you've already written. But if it's a straightforward article based on what you already know, don't send queries -- send the entire thing. 5. HOW TO WRITE SOFTWARE REVIEWS. Write as if to a good friend who's smart but completely ignorant of what you're reviewing. Tell how you use the program and how it changed your work or life. Describe what it feels like to meld your mind with it. Use a warm, truthful tone, and humor if it's comfortable for you. If the program has flaws that must be mentioned, mention them within the review -- otherwise people won't read the review or they'll leave with the impression that the program's not worthwhile. Avoid technical detail that isn't needed to explain how the program feels. Don't worry about access; we will research the program's price, availability, and hardware requirements, and print them in an appendage to the review. If you have that detail handy, we're grateful if you include it in a separate paragraph, but we always fact-check it anyway. Telling us the manufacturer's name, address, and phone numbers helps a lot. If you review public domain software, tell us separately what the best version is and how to find it. 6. HOW TO WRITE OTHER MATERIAL FOR US. Write a personal, passionate statement. Some of our best articles start as angry or enthusiastic letters. Strike a balance between technical authenticity and accessibility to interested outsiders. If you avoid jargon-for-its-own-sake and don't talk down to your readers, that balance will be struck for you. 7. LENGTH. Use what it takes. Most reviews will probably be two to six paragraphs. Articles of all lengths are printed, from a paragraph to many pages. We set no arbitrary limits but encourage brevity. 8. HOW TO SEND IT. Mail your manuscript to Richard Dalton, Editor, Whole Earth Software Catalog/Review, P.O. Box 428, Sausalito, CA 94966. Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Keep a copy of everything you send -- we're careful but not perfect. Put your name, address, and phone number on the first page of each manuscript, so if we lose the envelope we still know it's yours. We read all legible manuscripts. Typewritten, dot-matrix printed, or letter-quality manuscripts are fine. Double or triple spacing makes it easier for us. Handwritten manuscripts should be carefully made legible -- otherwise our difficulty reading them obscures their quality. We do accept manuscripts and review by electronic mail on three networks at present: the Source (send mail to PS0008), CompuServe (type GO WEC), and the Electronic Information Exchange System (use public conference 1031 or send a message to 334). We will eventually have a remote CP/M Bulletin Board system running during non-business hours at (415) 331-7138. 9. WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR SUBMISSION. If it's a review, we first acknowledge its receipt, tell you if it's being considered for publication, and thank you. Then our research department sends for the particular item that you reviewed. Getting it may take weeks -- evaluating its quality or running it past one of our far-flung evaluators could take a month or two more. Knowing the timeliness of this field, we try to evaluate as speedily as possible, but we also like to be thorough. If we print your review, we'll send you a clipping and payment upon publication. If we don't print your review, you won't hear from us -- regrettably, we don't have the resources to return reviews we don't use. We usually decide on articles more quickly, unless they require extra research on our part. We return all articles that come with a stamped, self-addressed envelope. You should hear from us within two months. 10. PAYMENT. $20 if we print your review. $10 if you're the first to suggest an item and someone else reviews it. $30 if you both suggest and review it. For articles we pay $100-300 depending on quality, depth of research, provision of illustrations, length, and how much supplemental work is needed. We usually pay on publication. Article writers also get copies of the issue or edition and a year's subscription to the Review. 11. RIGHTS. We buy only first rights from authors -- they can sell their work elsewhere later. If someone asks us for permission to reprint an article, we generally refer them to the author. We reserve the right to reprint an article or review in our own publications and eventually in a Whole Earth Software Catalog Database. Anything submitted to the Catalog is considered grist for the Review and vice versa. Authors have final cut on their writing. We may suggest changes, but we generally won't print an article without your approval -- at least over the telephone -- of the final draft. We always forward copies of response mail to the author. 12. MORE INVOLVEMENT. If your reviews are consistently wonderful, and show that you command knowledge of an entire computer domain, we may ask you to join our staff and evaluate software that manufacturers send us. If you are interested, send us a list of programs that you feel MUST go in the Whole Earth Software Catalog, a review of one or two of them, and a short letter about your experience evaluating software. 13. SUBSCRIPTIONS. One way to learn how to write for us is to see what we already do. The first issue of the Software Review, to be published January 1984, will be $5 postpaid; subscriptions are $18/year for four issues. Charter subscriptions, before December 1983, are $16/year for four issues. It's available from us at P.O. Box 428, Sausalito, CA 94966. 14. WILL YOU STILL LOVE US IF WE REJECT YOUR OFFERING? We agree with Anne Herbert, whose CoEvolution Quarterly writer's guidelines inspired ours: "Editing is arbitrary. It's hard to explain why any given piece is rejected. To understand that, picture yourself leafing through a magazine, not liking an article, and suddenly being confronted by the author who wants you to explain why you didn't like the article. A cogent explanation would be somewhere between awkward and impossible and definitely time consuming. Our rejection notes tend to be short. It has to be that way if we're to have time to read all the mail carefully. If we turn down your piece, we may not convey in the note that we are grateful for all mail, that mail is all we've got, that the magazine wouldn't exist if it weren't for mail from strangers who are good enough to share the wonders of their world with us." We're waiting to hear from you. -- Art Kleiner for the Whole Earth Software Catalog and Review staff.