WRITER GUIDELINES
Our Current Needs
Before submitting writing proposals to Eden, prospective writers should
familiarize themselves with the type and content of Eden's publications.
If you want to submit a sourcebook idea, we stress the need for a query
letter of some sort (email, snail mail, etc) explaining the general topic
to see if we have already commission out a book of similar nature. Eden
has numerous projects in the pipeline at any one time, and we strive to
keep authors from duplicating their efforts.
Please see the writers submission guidelines (below) for further instructions
on how to submit material to Eden.
Be warned that we have a continual backlog of books in the production
pipeline. There are far more titles and materials that we would like to
produce than we have the resources to produce. In general, we are not interested
in new lines of roleplaying games (we have three, going on six), collectible
card games (production expenses are very high) or supplements that basically
mirror ones we have already published. Further, we are more likely to grant
assignments to those who have put in significant efforts on our playtest
groups. They know our games and have shown their commitment to Eden.
Any further questions can be sent via email
to our Editor in Chief.
Query Letters
To save you time from writing a project and then finding out that we have
assigned something similar to another writer, we ask you send a query letter
first. What do you want to write? What is it about? If it is a supplement
to one of our existing lines, where does it fit in? If it is an adventure,
does it complement any previously published material, or will it change
the world background? Is it primarily information for the Game Master or
the player? Can both GM and player use the book? Why do you want to write
it? Why are you the best one to write it? If you haven't worked with us
before, this is the time to let us know who you are, what sort of gaming
background you've got, if you have any previous publications, etc. If you
have been published before, send a sample of your work. If you have not
been published before, send us a short writing sample (unedited preferably).
Make sure you give us your full name (no Internet handles please), and
a working email address to reply to. Query letters without full names will
be discarded unread.
Our Response to Your Query
We will respond to your query as soon as we can. We get roughly 300 emails
a day so it may take some time. If we believe your idea is something we
would like to publish, we will ask for a detailed proposal . Also we will
send you a game evaluation waiver form, which must be signed and submitted
before we proceed with the project.
Proposals
A proposal lets us judge a game adventure or supplement before
you write the whole thing. It should include a detailed outline, with the
number of pages and word count allotted to each subsection. The outline
should include the complete introduction; a sample chapter, at least 5,000
words long; and your draft of the advertising blurb for the back cover.
However submitted, the proposal must include a complete and notarized Game
Evaluation Waiver form. Again, make sure you give us your full
name (no Internet handles please), and a working email address to reply
to.
The Game Evaluation Waiver
This release form is solely for Eden's protection. It requires that you
waive all rights to the work you are proposing, and promises that you will
not sue Eden if we publish a similar project without compensating you.
It lets us look at your material without fear that, somewhere down the
road, you might accuse us of stealing your ideas. That's putting it very
bluntly, but game companies have found out the hard way that they need
that protection. Without a signed release in our files (notarized, or the
equivalent for writers from outside the U.S.), we cannot and will not even
look at your submission. Anything received without a release is filed unopened
and unread, or just returned, until the release arrives. Our apologies
to those who may be offended by this policy, but in this day of random
lawsuits, it's necessary.
Computer Submissions
Eden relies heavily on computers, currently we are using both power Macs
and IBM-compatible PCs for text editing, and Macs for our production work.
Our word processing is handled in Microsoft Word for both the PCs and the
Macs. On the Mac, we use Quark for layout. Please submit all work in a
format that we can use, anything that requires us to do converting delays
the final draft and such delays payment to you.
For the most part, text submissions may be transfered to our offices
via email attachment. If the file is a large one (more than 20,000 words),
please break it up into chapters, as this makes editing and layout easier.
Use a labeling system that is easy to understand, such as NEMESIS.CH1,
NEMESIS.CH2, NEMESIS.CH3, and so on. Please include a cover letter to your
work explaining what files should be there and what each one covers.
Make sure you keep copies of everything, for your safety and ours. If
a file gets corrupted, we may need to get another from you.
Typed Submissions
Typed submissions are acceptable for magazine articles, for proposals of
any length, and for preliminary drafts of games and supplements. First
drafts and final drafts should also be in computer-readable format (see
above). If we really like your material, we'll accept it chiseled on stone
tablets (you pay shipping!), but we're strongly biased in favor of computers.
Typed material should be double-spaced, in black ink on white letter-sized
paper. Type on one side only. Each page should be numbered.
Correspondence and Submissions
Send all material to:
Writing Submissions
Eden Studios
74 McCormack Rd.
Slingerlands, NY 12159
attn: Alex Jurkat
If you don't include an SASE, it is highly likely you won't
get a reply.
We can take text files and proposals via the Internet. Please send all
email to eden@nycap.rr.com.
Assignments
If everything goes well, you will get an assigment
and a contract. The contract must be signed and returned to our offices.
The contract must include a Social Security Number or we cannot pay you.
Don't ask us to mess with the Feds.
Working with Your Editor
Once we accept your proposal and sign a contract with you, you will be
assigned an editor -- someone who is paid by Eden Studios. This person's
job is to make sure your work is well-written and conforms to our style;
that (if it's a supplement) it conforms to the rules of the game it supplements;
that it is interesting, readable, logical and fun. Our editor is being
paid to edit your work, not to organize or rewrite it. If we find any minor
problems with style, grammar, or content, we will fix them and tell you,
so you can do better. If we find severe problems with organization or content,
the manuscript will be returned, with comments, so you can try again. Only
if we conclude that your ideas simply outpace your writing ability will
we consider a buyout, as described above.
On some projects, your work will be sent to a rules editor. Changes
here will be done so that the entire game remains consistent. We will contact
you with questions if you made any new rules or changes to existing rules.
If you added something that changes the game world or rule play and we
deem it unnecessarily you will be returned that section to rework it. So
as to lower the chance of any major rewrites, please contact any rules
editor prior to any major rule additions or changes.
You should expect your editors to contact you regularly with comments
about your work; to keep you informed about its status; to jog you if you
fall behind schedule; and to answer your questions about either game rules
or company policy. If you have any problems with your manuscript (or with
this company), talk to your editor first.
First Draft, Playtest and Final Draft
Our contract will include deadlines for first draft and final draft. When
we say first draft, we do not mean a stack of notes. The manuscript you
submit on the first draft deadline should be, in your opinion, a complete
product, ready to send to the typesetters. We won't, of course -- we will
send it to editors, and playtesters for comment. But it has to be ready
to be looked at! Plan to finish all your creative work by the first draft
deadline -- that's what it means.
As part of your drafting work, you will be expected to join and participate
in a playtest group online. We will post all draft files to the group and
they will fire off comments, suggestions, reports, etc. You will be expected
to review these comments and incorporate changes to the manuscript as needed.
Your editor will also partcipate in the group discussion and will chime
as he or she feels is necessary.
When your editor calls the playtest at an end, you will be expected
to work through any further revisions and submit a final draft.
Penalties
Over the past couple of years, several projects have been badly delayed
or killed because freelancers turned in their manuscripts weeks or months
late -- or sent "first drafts" that were in no shape for playtesting. So,
with regret, we have started putting penalty clauses in our contracts.
We will work with you to set deadline dates that you think you can meet.
But then we'll expect you to meet them. If you don't, you'll earn less
or the project will be canceled outright, and you'll earn nothing..
Unacceptable Work
The ''escape clause'' in our standard contract says that if we don't like
what you write, we don't have to accept it. We have only had to do this
a few times, and we don't ever want to do it again. But be warned. Things
that might make a manuscript unacceptable include: sloppy or unprofessional
work (correct your own grammar and spelling, please!), plagiarism, failure
to meet contract specifications for style and content, or a seriously missed
deadline. However, we'll work with you as long as we can, if we feel you're
working with us.
Buy-Outs
We have also had cases where a writer submits a first draft that is far
from ready to publish, but too good to throw away. If we don't think the
writer is able to finish in a reasonable time (or if the writer doesn't
feel he or she can!), we will sometimes offer a smaller flat fee for the
material ''as is,'' and make other arrangements to finish the job.
Work for Hire
Unless otherwise specified in the contract, Eden Studios buys everything
it publishes as ''work for hire.'' That is, we buy all rights. It is as
if you were working in our offices -- what you submit to us in the course
of the project, whether or not we publish it, belongs to us. Social Security
numbers, or the overseas equivalent, are required on these contracts by
law -- if you don't have one, get one.
Plagiarism
Lifting material from other people's work is only acceptable if it is from
roleplaying game line at issue, and is published by Eden. Even then, tell
your editor that you're doing it. We don't mind repeating information from
an older book if it is relevant, but you will not be paid for such. Repeating
information from an older book and not informing us is a breach of integrity
and grounds to terminate the project.
If the prior work is not an Eden publication, don't use it. If you must,
make sure you clear it with your editor.
Art Specs
The completed first draft must include the writer's sketches -- in as much
detail as possible -- for all maps and similar material that are necessary
to the book. Adventures, in particular, need maps. Be sure the map sketch
you submit is readable and to the proper scale -- and specify what that
scale is supposed to be! If your map includes both a large map and details,
the details should have their own scale, and should be oriented the same
way as the main map. Include a North arrow.
Any maps that must be in the book need to be included in your first
draft that is submitted. Also, we cannot simply duplicate or trace over
an existing map to make maps for your book. If you give us photocopies
of published maps as source material, we must redraw it (so don't send
them in at the last moment). And we must have the ISBN, title, author and
publisher of the original map, to give proper credit to the source material.
Reminder
Always keep a copy of everything you send us. Don't send us your only copy
of anything, post office, fed ex, ups, they all have been know to make
mistakes. If you keep the original, make sure the photocopy we get is very
readable.