Writers Guidelines

The NRAWomen.com Audience
NRAWomen.com caters to female firearm enthusiasts, recreational shooters, hunters, competitive shooters and supporters of the Second Amendment. We welcome both fresh voices as well as the most seasoned, with a goal of educating and uniting our readers through their experiences and/or expertise. We are looking for interesting and unique storytellers, and those with authority in their specific area of interest, whether on a professional or hobby basis. Stories have the potential to reach the collective NRA membership of 5 million and beyond through newsletter and social media distribution, thus any information presented should concur with NRA gun safety rules and protocols, and showcase our community of gun owners and their activities in a safe and positive light. At this time there is no associated print version of NRAWomen.com.

Types of Stories Considered
Topics contained on NRAWomen.com include but are not limited to self-defense, home or personal protection, hunting, recreational shooting, competitive shooting, firearm reviews, profiles of exceptional NRA members and women in the firearm and hunting industry, gear reviews and more, and can be presented in various formats such as “How-To,” “Tips & Tactics,” “Lifestyle Feature,” “Personal Essay,” “Q&A,” “Lists or humor” among others. We will consider videos on a case-by-case basis. 

How to Submit Pitches
Authors may submit a brief (100 words) summary or extract of his or her proposed piece to Editor, [email protected]. We will also consider complete drafts that require minimal copyediting. If your article will contain substantial technical data (as in firearm reviews), editor will provide further elaboration on NRA Publications testing protocols. Writers should also include information on why she or he is qualified to write an article on a specific topic, and include a list of any certifications that might substantiate her or his authority on a subject matter. If possible, include links to samples of previous works relating to the subject matter. Writers can expect to hear back regarding a pitch within 10 days of submission. Articles accepted for publication may not publish for several weeks, depending on the timeliness of the article (i.e., turkey hunting stories typically run in spring). Every effort will be made to post an article at the earliest practical opportunity but remains completely at the discretion of the editor.

Do You Have to be Female to Write for NRAWomen.com?
Men are welcome to submit queries if they believe the topic they are pitching can be presented in a gender-neutral way. In general, these typically include firearm reviews or instructional tips and tactics, rather than lifestyle personal essays that can only be presented from a female viewpoint. Exceptions to the latter will be considered if a particular essay can only be told through a male perspective (i.e., What my wife/sister/mother taught me about shooting, etc.).

Length of Articles
Feature stories typically run between 1,000 and 1,500 words, but use the words necessary to tell the story, whether it is more or less than these guidelines. Lists or “tips” type stories tend to be shorter (700 to 1,000 words), with an opening paragraph followed by a brief description of each tip or item in the list. 

Images
Lead images should be submitted in horizontal format in as high resolution as possible. Our minimum size requirement for a lead images is 1920 x 1080 pixels, which complies with ADA requirements for the newest websites and mobile devices (which use retina display). Smaller images will be considered for use within the story body. Stories submitted with images adhering to proper size requirements will be given greater consideration for acceptance. iPhone and other smartphone images are acceptable, provided they meet size requirements. Including images with submissions implies (per our copyright license) that you have the authority to publish accompanying images. Images that contain minors may require a separate photo release signed by a parent or guardian.

Images that contain firearms or a subject using a firearm should ensure that proper NRA safety protocol is adhered to, including the use of ear and eye protection when appropriate. Please do not submit pictures of a shooter pointing the barrel of a gun directly at the camera; we will not publish it. 

Style
Article submissions should be double-spaced in MS Word or other format adaptable to Mac (Pages). Writers should follow Associated Press (AP) Style guidelines. We reserve the right to copyedit further to conform to NRA and NRAWomen.com style. Individual images or collections of images that exceed 7MB should be submitted through file transfer programs such as DropBox, WeTransfer, etc. 

Copyrights
NRA requires authors to sign a general Copyright License Agreement giving NRA non-exclusive rights, and states that he/she is the author is the originator of the content, and that it has not appeared in a previous publication. The copyright remains in the author’s name but the Publisher (National Rifle Association) owns the copyright and may distribute worldwide in various formats (digital, print, etc.). The complete copyright agreement is available to the author for signature upon acceptance of article, and must be returned prior to publication.

Payment Terms
Payment is usually made to the writer during the month the article has been received, depending on the day of the month (i.e. an article accepted on March 28 will be reflected in the April payment cycle). For current compensation rates (subject to change), please contact the editor at [email protected]. 

If you have a specific question regarding guidelines that has not been answered here, please email the editor at [email protected].