Its many scrapbookers dream to be published – not much beats the trill of knowing that someone, somewhere has thought YOUR layout to be good enough to grace the pages of their publication.
You can’t hope to win the lottery if you don’t first take a ticket – in the same way you can’t hope to be published if the editors have not seen your work – this means that you have to submit it to them for them to see them. There is no sure fire way to submit – a lot depends on timing & luck, meaning that you may submit JUST what an editor is looking for a just the right time, however, a few guidelines will make the process easier & hopefully increase your chances at success.

Generally magazines are looking for well-designed layouts with certain flair, layouts with good photographs and journaling, and layouts that perhaps take a look at events differently are strong candidates for being published. However, don’t judge your own work – I have had layouts published which I don’t feel are my “best”, as has been said it may be the right layout for the right time! Most magazines work at least 6 months ahead. In December they are looking for summer submissions, not Christmas or winter. Therefore, you have a better chance of getting a layout picked up if your submission is the right season.

Submitting your layouts for publication for the first time can be intimidating, but remember the very first time you uploaded a LO to the gallery at DSP, just how nervous you were, now its second nature, submitting your LO’s to publications will soon become just as easy.

The first golden rule if you want your submission to be taken seriously is to take the submission process seriously! Editors are swamped with layouts, be sure yours is correctly and beautifully submitted – take your time, do it well.

The first thing you will need to do is to keep good notes about each layout as you work on it – note
• Name of the layout
• Date completed
• Notes on techniques used, the story behind the layout – here it is worth taking a bit of time to phrase well, describe well, this, together with the picture of the layout is what sells the layout – how often have you seen a relatively plain layout in the gallery, but been really taken with it when you read the description?
• A copy of any journaling
• Fonts used
• Program used

If you have not been keeping notes up to now, you can easily get the information from your gallery at DSP, but from now on do keep it – I have a notebook file open as I work, and save it with the same name as the layout itself, in a folder with my web copies.

Another good habit to get into is to make good web copies – DSP allows up to 120K but most magazines ask for under 100K so best is to make them that from the start. Refer to your programs manual / help menu & familiarize yourself with this process – a bad copy is NOT going to sell you layout, is it?

How to submit:
The advent of www.scrapsubmit.com has made the process of magazine submissions much easier, faster and professional. Once you have registered on their site they provide a free service for you to submit and track your layout submissions by way of you ScrapFolio™. It is also worth taking the time to create a good ScrapBio™ which may be linked to your submissions as a professional marketing tool to share your work and experience with others. (See their site for further explanation of the terms)

One danger with Scrabsubmit is that it is all too easy - when submitting your work, take the time to read the details provided for each listing. Most ask for specific items to be submitted; for example, some of the listings request examples of articles that you have written, but do not ask for any artwork. If these guidelines are not followed when submitting, your submissions may be deleted and your future submissions might possibly be ignored, as well. It is extremely important for you to read the listing guidelines thoroughly before checking the box to send your submission using Scrapsubmit.

Although layout submissions may be tracked using the ScrapFolio™ I also have designed a simple Excel spreadsheet simply because I find it easier to look at my whole list in one glance to see to whom it has been submitted and for what. You can easily make your own either in Word or Excel – if you’d like to use my template download it here.

The other way to submit is by email – magazine calls (their requests for specific pages) you will find a list of these at www.scrap-source.com. Many publications will also have a call for specific layouts they are looking for, listed on their websites, your favourite magazine may also accept submissions.

When I submit by email, it looks something like this:

A sentence or two about my layout. Thank you for your consideration.

Title of layout:
Size:
No. of Pages:
Date:
Specific call:
Special techniques:
Journaling:
Credits: (do remember to credit any designer or member whose kits or elements you use – if it is a DSP product it is worth checking out the thread here. If I’ve used photographs of anyone else’s I credit them too)
Program:
Fonts:

Name:
Full Address:
Phone:
Email:

Once your layouts are submitted it will be 3-6 weeks after the deadline before you get THE call or email. At this stage they will probably request the 300dpi copy as they need good printing, this hopefully can be emailed, some require it to be posted. It is advisable to remove your layout from the gallery after it has been accepted for publication – you can either delete it – yes you do loose your comments ? but you will then have the thrill, after it has been published, of uploading it again, with the words “as published in” after the title! If you really don’t want to delete it you can move it temporarily to a private gallery with you can create at DSP.

Once you are published you can proudly upload your layout to the special gallery provided here at DSP and announce your success in the forums here.

I do hope that these words will inspire YOU to submit your work & be published – follow the guidelines and do be persistent but patient – it IS possible to succeed! All the very, very best of luck to you!