Writer's Guidelines

We welcome article proposals from skilled technology and business writers, as well as hands-on IT managers and experts. Please review the following guidelines, however, before crafting your proposal.

Article contributions
Enterprise Systems prides itself on its unbiased, vendor-neutral focus. The majority of our articles are staff-written or generated by professional technology authors or our readers. If you are a vendor, consultant, analyst, or systems integrator, we will accept article submissions only if they are impartial and do not propose a particular vendor's solution. Please note: Enterprise Strategies does not compensate authors for the articles published.

Looking for a topic that would interest our readers? Here's a list to get your creative juices flowing. When you see [topic] below, think "ERP," "Supply Chain," "NAS," or "Server Security" … that kind of thing.

  • Determining Requirements for a [topic]

  • How to Evaluate and Select a [topic]

  • Top Five Tech Trends in [topic]

  • Measuring [topic] ROI

  • [topic] Installation and Implementation Tips and Tricks

  • Anticipating and Solving Transition / Integration Issues in [topic]

  • Integrating [topic] in your Enterprise

  • Overcoming Resistance to [topic]

  • Getting the Most out of / Customizing [topic]

  • Training Your Users / IT Staff in [topic]

  • Challenges in Selecting / Installing / Integrating [topic]

  • Best Practices in [topic]

  • Top Five Traps in [topic]

  • How to Optimize [topic] for [platform / system, e.g., Linux]

  • Tips for Outsourcing Your [topic]

  • Securing [topic]

  • Five Traps to Avoid When Using [topic]

  • How to Sell [topic] to Upper Management

  • Web Enabling [topic]

  • Is it Time to Upgrade Your [topic]?

About our audience
Enterprise Systems newsletters are targeted at enterprise-level managers—system administrators, project managers, CIOs, data center directors, IS managers, etc., whose responsibility includes one or more mainframes and/or large, high-performance, heavy transaction volume servers. Our BI This Week newsletter also targets business intelligence/data warehousing project leaders, typically those within a large IT mainframe environment.

We are not interested in desktop/end-user topics. Our readers may or may not support desktop products and users, but our primary focus is on an industrial-strength back-end. Our readers' networks tend to support large numbers of users, massive amounts of data or data connections/transactions, and are generally extremely heterogeneous.

Case studies
Our case studies provide in-depth looks at organizations who have found unique, innovative ways to dramatically streamline operations, cut costs or develop new revenue streams. They may have migrated to a new data warehouse, implemented a new network reporting tool, converted a mainframe to a Web commerce engine, overlaid an automated transaction system on traditional mainframe accounting/inventory systems, etc. Or they may have encountered a serious problem (massive bug, hacker attack, server overload) and resolved it quickly in some unusual fashion.

Please see existing case studies published on our Web site for samples. We especially welcome case studies from users themselves. And, since real-life IT problems are rarely resolved with a single product, we prefer solutions that require a combination of new/enhanced products and process/strategy changes. Please contact our newsletter editor if you have a case study to propose. We are happy to provide you with a complete set of guidelines specific to case studies.

General guidelines

Here are the guidelines to follow when proposing an article:

  • Enterprise Systems newsletters feature articles delve into important technology and business issues facing our audience. Since we are news-driven, we do not have an editorial calendar. Proposals for any relevant topic are welcome.

  • Articles generally run approximately 800 - 1,200 words. (Any longer and reader interest drops off sharply.)

  • In addition to a description of the topic, please include the major points you will be covering, the angle/perspective/approach you will take, and the approximate date you can submit the finished article.

  • Our lead time is a minimum of three weeks. This allows us adequate time to edit your article and put it into production. If your topic is deadline-driven, please allow adequate time for our editorial cycle.

  • Articles must be previously unpublished and cannot be under consideration by another publication (print or electronic) at the time it is submitted to Enterprise Systems. "Previously unpublished" means that your article has not appeared in another print or online publication, is not posted on any Web site, and has not been distributed in printed or electronic form to the public. For example, white papers distributed to clients (or potential clients) as part of a press kit or RFP, or posted on a company or personal Web site, will not be considered.

  • We review proposals and make every effort to reply within two business days.

  • Articles must be vendor-neutral. They may not propose a single solution or viewpoint. Articles must survey the current state of the technology from a variety of angles.

  • Author agreement required: All authors are required to sign writer's agreement prior to acceptance of an article. We ask for exclusive publication rights for a minimum of 90 days, after which rights are shared between Enterprise Systems and the author (or his/her employer, in the case of vendor-sponsored submissions). Please contact our editors for a copy of this agreement. Note that all articles are included in the Enterprise Systems archives for an unlimited period.

  • It is our policy to revise content without contacting the author for approval. We edit for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style to meet our editorial standards, and edit text to fit the space allotted. When significant changes are made to the content, we send a courtesy copy to the author for approval prior to publication.

  • If you are interested in submitting an article on behalf of your employer, please be sure your employer is willing to provide the necessary exclusive publication rights (see "Author agreement", above) before proposing the article. Also, please be sure you have your employer's permission to use their name in your bio.

For more information, or to submit an article or proposal contact:

James E. Powell, Editorial Director
1105 Media, Inc.
3213 West Wheeler St, PMB 177
Seattle, WA 98199

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