Formatting Guidelines

Your piece should be sent as an attached RTF (detailed instructions below) 

Please use a fixed width font (ie Courier New) Size 12. 

Do NOT centre justify your paragraphs. 
Do NOT use strange fonts. 
Do NOT include your name in the document header. 
Do NOT put anything in the document footer. 
DO include name, address, phone number, email etc at the top of the document. 
For full marks, you should indent the first line of each paragraphs by 0.5 (approx 1cm), double-space lines, and indicate section breaks with a centered "#". 
Thus, your story should look like this:
 

RTF Files: 

Otherwise known as "Rich Text Format", this is a standard file format designed for passing documents between different word processors. All word processors written in the last 10-15 years support Rich Text Format, pretty much regardless of the platform. They tend to be more compact that the equivalent DOC file, and they do not hide things like viruses etc. 

Creating a Rich Text Document is quite straightforward: (the following instructions are for Microsoft Word, but should apply to most word processors.) 

From your menu, select "File-->Save As..." 
At the bottom of the dialogue box that comes up, just below the name of the file to save, is a box labeled: "Save As Type" 
On the list will almost certainly be a format entitled: "Rich Text Format" 
Selected it, and save as normal. 
Your file will then have an extension of ".rtf" (ie: mystory.rtf). From within your mailing program, create an new message addressed to: asimsubmissions at gmail dot com 
Attach the file to this message by: 

Outlook Express: 

Insert->File Attachment 

Netscape Messenger: 

File->Attach->File 

Eudora: 

Message->Attach File 

All of these usually have a button with a paper-clip in the toolbar. This works just as well. 

Most Web-based mailing programs also have the provision to attach a file. 

So: Now you know everything there is on how to submit files to Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. All you have to do now is write! 

A note about the reasons behind our formatting guidelines: 

The editorial team of ASIM is scattered over most of Australia. 

Since nearly all our communications are electronic, printed submissions are less useful than they might otherwise be. While we will accept printed submissions for people who for some reason or another can't manage email, it will get scanned into electronic format and emailed to the various readers and editors anyway ... so sending them electronically saves the editors a labour intensive step, and saves you postage. 

As to the reason for attached RTF rather than plain text, the submissions wrangler finds them easier to manipulate, and prefers to see the things like italics presented as the author intended, rather than the makeshifts required by plain text. 

All stories submitted go through an initial blind reading process... that means that the stories are sent to our panel of readers with no author information attached. This is why we want the author information in one place where it is easily removed.