Columns These should contribute much toward defining the personality and authority of the magazine. They should inform, entertain and stimulate the reader to think beyond the surface of an issue, product, event, personality or how-to concept. Whenever possible, columns should build upon, or launch from a news event, new product or emerging trend. They should be meticulously factual and the writer should indicate somewhere in the text that his point of view is based on experience or interviews with other experts in the field. While Yachting hires columnists and contributors more for their expertise in a given field, we expect copy that is tight and reasonably polished.
Word count is important.
If we ask for 350 words, we expect 350, not 600. The editing process often involves queries to authors and may sometimes include requests for rewrites. We may send unsatisfactory material back to the author for rewrites, more than once if necessary. Columnists and contributors are expected to be our eyes and ears in the field. We expect them to provide briefs each month and keep us informed on developments in the field.