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From the very first issue, the purpose of Welcome Home has been
to put mothers in touch with mothers. We depend on our readers –
many of whom have never submitted a manuscript to a publication before
– to fill our pages with humor, advice, information, and insights
relevant to being a mother at home. This guide is intended to inform you
of our needs and our limitations.
Where do I send a manuscript?
All submissions should be mailed to Welcome Home, 9493-C Silver King
Court, Fairfax, Virginia 22031. Please do not e-mail your manuscript.
Formatting and special characters are often lost in the transmission.
Is there a particular format I need to follow?
Our job is easier if your submission is typed, double-spaced, with wide
margins. For most articles, we prefer a length of from 500 to 1500 words.
Please note the number of words at the top of your manuscript. Be sure
your name, address, phone number, and email address are on the first page
of your manuscript and that your name is on each subsequent page. Please
do not staple the manuscript. If you have quoted anyone or if you have
used any resource materials, i.e. magazines, books, pamphlets, and the
like, please include a separate page with names, phone numbers, and bibliography
for our fact checkers. Manuscripts without this information will not be
considered.
We appreciate a cover letter with any biographical information you want
to include for the credit line at the end of the article. The facts you
provide should include the birth dates of your children; your spouse’s
name; your interests, hobbies, and activities (what you would like to
do if you had the time!), and any other information you consider pertinent.
When will I be notified whether my submission has been accepted?
We acknowledge receipt of each submission as soon as it arrives. However,
our process of reviewing manuscripts takes three to six months (up to
12 months for poetry submissions). We will send you a letter as to the
status of your manuscript after it has been reviewed. Most articles which
are accepted appear in Welcome Home within approximately 12 months.
What constitutes an acceptable manuscript?
What are the standards by which Welcome Home reviews manuscripts?
Each unsolicited manuscript is read by our Manuscript Review Team, as
well as by our editor-in-chief, associate editors, and staff members.
Once a month, these mothers meet to discuss all the manuscripts they have
read that month. The team members base their recommendation to accept
or reject a manuscript on the following considerations:
- Is the information in the article different in topic, approach, or expression
from what currently is available in other publications?
- Is the article upbeat? If it covers a serious subject matter, does it
leave the reader with a sense of what she might be able to do about the
problems presented?
- Is it well-written, or is the message unique enough to warrant special
editing?
- Will the article encourage discussion or other kinds of interaction between
mothers?
- Does the submission avoid purposely offending mothers who work outside
the home or people who have made different choices?
- Does it help to create a variety in style and ideas, or is it too
similar in topic, tone, etc., to articles published in past issues of
Welcome Home?
Will my original manuscript be returned?
We do not have the funds to return every submission. When sending an
original, please make a copy for yourself. Manuscripts will be returned
to the author if a self-addressed, stamped envelope accompanies the submission.
If my article is accepted, will I be involved in the editing process?
It is impossible for our editors to check back with every writer on every
detail of editing an article for publication. Whether editing is done
for clarity, for uniformity, or to comply with space limitations, it would
require an enormous expenditure of time and money to contact writers across
the country for their comments on edited versions of manuscripts. In rare
instances, where the meaning of a particular passage is unclear or where
additional information is needed to complete a revised paragraph, an editor
may call the author of an article. If heavy editing is required, we will
rework the piece and return it to the author for approval before publishing
it. However, in most cases, editors simply will use their best judgment,
trying to preserve the writer’s meaning and mood while making any
necessary changes.
Will I receive any monetary or other compensation for articles or artwork
published in Welcome Home?
At the current time, we send each author five complimentary copies of
the issue in which his or her work appears. Artists receive three issues.
Cover artists receive five.
First-time authors and artists also receive a gift certificate that can
be used toward MAH publications. Subsequent published work receives cash
compensation ranging from $20 to $30 for articles and $5 to $35 for art.
If my manuscript is published, who will own the copyright?
The author retains the copyright. When an article is accepted for publication,
the author must verify that our use of the material will not infringe
on the copyright of any other organization or individual. All writers
and artists published in our magazine are free to sell their work elsewhere.
We ask, however, the observance of a minimum three-month waiting period
between the appearance of a piece in Welcome Home and its appearance
in another publication. We also request that any time our edited version
of a writer’s material is printed elsewhere, it be acknowledged as
a reprint from Welcome Home.
What type of material is appropriate for publication in Welcome Home?
We publish personal essays, humor, letters, informative articles, poetry
and much more. Almost any topic touching on parenthood, especially relating
how a mother or father feels while experiencing the various stages of
parenthood, will be considered for publication. Subjects often requested
by our readers include making time at home affordable, growing as our
children grow and dealing with the stresses unique to life at home (such
as isolation, pressure to enter the paid workforce, and common misunderstandings
about the nature of our work). We also are interested in articles on home
management, building community, overcoming various parenting challenges,
marriage, health and safety, the teen years, education, etc. We avoid
articles that mimic “popular” information on the same subject.
Please keep in mind that Welcome Home is produced for a wide audience,
and not for readers of any particular religious background or political
preference. Articles which center on a religious theme or attempt to persuade
from a narrow political viewpoint will not be accepted.
What kind of art work is published in Welcome Home?
We publish cover art, illustrations, borders, and filler art, as well
as cartoons and photographs. The subject matter of the artwork does not
necessarily need to be restricted to mothering themes; this is especially
true of the cover, which is intended to showcase the talent and skills
of mothers at home. The same general standards and guidelines apply to
artwork as to written manuscripts. As with manuscripts, artwork and photographs
will be returned to the artist if a self-addressed, stamped envelope accompanies
the submission. Pen and ink drawings reproduce best, but we have been
successful with most media.
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