Electric Perspectives is the magazine for executives and managers in America's shareholder-owned electric companies. A publication of Edison Electric Institute (EEI), Electric Perspectives reaches the desks of decisionmakers in 99 percent of these utilities, who together produce more than three-quarters of the nation's electric power. In addition, Electric Perspectives' circulation includes executives at EEI's international affiliates and associate members. Moreover, most issues have special distribution to specific audiences at EEI conferences and meetings.
Published six times a year, Electric Perspectives' articles combine thoughtful commentary and in-depth analysis on current issues and future trends in the industry. Your article, if published, will be read by the executives and upper managers at the leading electric companies in the world. As an audience, they possess a wide range of expertise, as well as a keen interest in information that has an impact on the industry. For the most part, they do not look to Electric Perspectives for news, continuing financial coverage, or technical information on specific products, as they would with other trade publications. Rather, they use Electric Perspectives to stay ahead of industry trends and business issues, and they rely on its broad perspective, accurate reporting, and engaging style for useful, authoritative-or purely interesting-information on a wide range of topics.
We are happy to consider your manuscript for publication-we are always on the lookout for new ideas and fresh perspectives. Please keep the following guidelines in mind as you prepare the manuscript.
Topic
Your topic should hold the immediate interest of the executive/management levels in shareholder-owned electric utilities. It should address an issue or set of issues that has or will have an impact on the industry. You may also discuss programs and systems that have broad application in the industry. In past issues, for example, Electric Perspectives has featured articles on e-commerce, fuel cells, reliability, new trends in nuclear power, and customer call centers, to name a few.
While case studies are welcome, we are more generally concerned with industry-wide issues. For example, an article describing various energy-efficiency efforts by a number of utilities may be preferred to one about a particular utility's program. (Depending on the article's or program's merits, we sometimes make an exception.)
We also consider articles directed toward a general business audience that would be of particular interest to electric utility executives. For instance, we've covered the aging crisis in industrialized nations, the bottom-line impact of etiquette in the workplace, and how to survive a merger.
Highly technical articles will not be considered. For instance, while we would consider an article on changing telecommunication needs in the industry and their impact on policy, we would not consider a detailed discussion of a particular system's operating procedures.
We will not consider articles whose goal is to promote a particular commercial product or service.
Style
You are writing a feature article, not a white paper or a brochure. Your reader is looking for a good read, something that will be informative and useful as he or she thinks about the many issues involved in the industry.
Also, the reader values substance over assertion. That means that you should support what you say with data, research, quotations, and/or examples.
You should strive for an informative, approachable style in your writing. You will be speaking to readers who do not have time to wade through complex, technical jargon but who demand well reasoned, intelligent discussions. Electric Perspectives looks for a conversational style, but not an overly familiar one. Here are some basic directions:
- Stay away from the passive voice.
- Avoid using jargon without explanation and do not assume comprehensive technical knowledge. This does not mean, however, that you must over-simplify your language or explain everything "from the beginning"; rather, address your writing to an interested, intelligent reader, one who understands the electric utility industry but who perhaps doesn't have in-depth knowledge in your particular area.
- Use concrete examples. Our readers want to see how issues and techniques apply to the real world.
For general editorial style, EP follows The Chicago Manual of Style (published by the University of Chicago) and Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Of course, you may refer to past EPs.
Content
For a feature article, your manuscript should be 2,000 to 4,000 words long. For a review, you should shoot for 1,000 to 2,000.
Use targeted yet creative headlines, and use subheads to break up long sections of text. If you have lists-steps in a program (for example) or a number of reasons for a situation-separate the items with bullets. Long lists and series of numbers, however, if they can stand alone, should be combined in charts.
As the author, you are responsible for the facts in the article you submit. Electric Perspectives makes every effort to verify them, but we ask that you check dates, spelling of names and technical words, quotations, and so on.
Your manuscript should include:
- a title
- a by-line with author biography
- subheads
- and (if necessary) figures and illustrations on separate pages at the end (but please refer to tables and illustrations in text as well). Include source documentation only if necessary, and try to incorporate the substance of endnotes in the main text.
Additional Information
Often, Electric Perspectives publishes sidebars with an article. If you have information that does not quite fit your article but that has topical interest for the reader, please let us know. We also use a lot of color photography, and we would appreciate seeing any photographs or illustrations that are connected with your article. If we use them, we will publish the credit line ("Photo courtesy of..." etc.) you provide.
Rights
Electric Perspectives retains all rights to published articles. We also reserve the right to edit articles to meet the needs of the magazine's audience, editorial style, and space requirements; and to illustrate them as we see fit.
To Submit Your Manuscript
We prefer to receive manuscripts electronically-preferably as a Word or otherwise PC-compatible file attached to an email. We do accept hardcopies as well however.
If you want to email a letter of inquiry and a 1-page abstract of your proposed article, you may. An entire manuscript is better-it's easier for to react to a finished product than a proposal-but we recognize that it might not be easier for you.
Direct editorial submissions and inquiries to Eric Blume, Editor & Publisher.