The section publication (newsletter or journal) is produced collaboratively with the section editor(s) and the section publications staff at NYSBA. The section publications staff includes the publications design manager and two section publications coordinators.
One coordinator manages your specific publication throughout the process. The section publication staff also works with our in-house marketing and design department, publications department and the section liaison to produce content and ensure its accuracy. The publication budget is set by the section; anything related to the budget of the publication should be referred to the current section chair.
Content Guidelines
The editor, working in conjunction with the respective executive committee, and in accordance with policies established by NYSBA, is responsible for the substantive content of the section publication. However, senior staff at NYSBA may on occasion request that an article be edited or withdrawn if it doesn’t meet the association’s standards. Please keep in mind:
- Articles should not be overly self-promotional or one-sided; avoid any articles that seem to be personal gripes about a particular person, office, or organization. This includes articles that take the side of the plaintiff or the defense or look at an issue from only one perspective.
- Articles cannot promote any one company, brand, product or organization.
- We also generally recommend against book reviews as these tend to be overly promotional. If you do include book reviews, please make sure they are written by a lawyer who has no relationship with the author and include the book’s attributes and shortcomings.
Administrative Duties
The editor is also responsible for the administrative aspects of preparing the materials for production. These duties include:
- communicating directly with the authors concerning their initial submissions and any changes, including ensuring they have reviewed the Author Guidelines;
- ensuring that the authors’ submissions (including Chair’s Messages) are on time and in the proper electronic format and in accordance with our Author Guidelines;
- reviewing (or asking someone to review) the articles for substantive accuracy before sending them to NYSBA;
- incorporating multiple reviewers’ comments into one file;
- following up with contributors whose submissions are incomplete, and obtaining a three- or four-line biography from each author and a headshot (headshots are optional);
- obtaining written reprint permission if the article has been previously published, as well as permission for any images not obtained through NYSBA’s stock subscription service (see the Photographs & Images section of the Section Publication Production Process for information on selecting and submitting images);
- obtaining a written copyright agreement from each author, which can also be obtained from your section publication coordinator;
- submitting all the articles and images electronically to NYSBA by the agreed-upon deadline along with a list of the articles in the order they are to appear in the publication (keep in mind that the coordinator may need to change the order to accommodate center photo spreads);
- returning galleys within three business days of receipt (editors are ultimately responsible for ensuring all material is correct); and
- communicating with NYSBA if the scheduled deadline will be missed.
In addition, although we do not require editors to do so, we ask that they (or the authors) select passages which could be used as pull quotes if space permits on the galleys. Pull quotes can be placed at the top of the first page in the file.
Once we have received all the articles and put them through our in-house production process, the newsletter or journal will be formatted into galleys (via an interactive PDF) and returned to the editor to review for stylistic and graphic concerns and checked for egregious errors.
Please note: The substantive review should have been largely complete at this point. Any changes should be minor and/or limited to any egregious errors or out-of-date statements.
Communication
Please note that all authors should submit content to the section publication editor, rather than send it to the coordinators directly, who typically communicate only with the editors. This type of centralized communication contributes to a more predictable flow of information and facilitates follow-up. We ask that you do not have your authors contact us directly, since we do not want to interfere with your communication with them. Please familiarize yourself with our policies (e.g., formatting guidelines, reprint permission, complimentary copies they will receive, etc.) so that you can answer any questions your authors may have.
Exception: Authors can send requests for reprints/individual pdfs to reprint@nysba.org (see our Reprint policy).
Additional Copies
Please let us know about any special distribution instructions that will affect the number of journals or newsletters we print as soon as possible BEFORE we place the print order. For instance, if extra copies are needed for a section event or special mailing, we need to know that before the issue goes to press. Each author and editor is provided with two copies of the issue in which his or her article appears, unless they request otherwise. If a need arises for additional copies after publication, we may have a few on hand; please contact your section publication coordinator. All publications are also made available online to members in good standing with the section via the Publications tab on the section webpage.
Content Provided by NYSBA Staff
The section publication coordinator can pull the latest new member list, committee list, and other section-specific leadership lists you request. If you are a new editor, you can refer to previous issues or consult with your publication committee or chair as to whether these should be included. The publications design manager and/or section publication coordinator will also make a determination about what NYSBA ads are included and where. If you have any concerns about the content of the ads, please discuss them with your coordinator.
Layout and Design
In an effort to increase the recognizability of its many publications, NYSBA has adopted uniform design standards for its marketing pieces and section publications. The design standards for section publications include a banner at the top of the cover with the issue date, volume and number, and uniform fonts within the nameplates, headings, body text and footers. If you have any questions or concerns about the design, please talk to the publications design manager.
Scheduling and Deadlines
At the last quarter of the calendar year, the publications design manager will create a production schedule for the following year, in consultation with the editors.
Your section publication coordinator will be sending you a schedule for each specific issue one month prior to content due date. If that deadline is missed by more than a few days, the coordinator will send you an updated schedule to reflect the new timeline. The time frame for each section publication begins once the actual copy submission deadline is established with the editor, and that submission date determines the corresponding press and delivery dates.
The typical time frame for production of a section publication—from the time we receive all of the material until the time the publication is printed and delivered—is approximately 12 weeks (see Production Time Frame below). The time frame depends on current workload and the availability of the designers and print shop, as well as how quickly editors return corrections to the coordinator and how extensive the changes are.
Please note that we rely on the master schedule primarily as a guide for determining the anticipated frequency of publication for each publication in a given year and for approximating due dates for submission of material.
Note that the agreed-upon deadline for submission of copy is the outside date by which we must receive all material in order for the publication to adhere to the established schedule. Failure to meet the submission deadline will delay the production schedule, which likely will warrant rescheduling the press time and delivery date. To clarify, we can only meet the predetermined delivery date only if the copy submission deadline is met, and that deadline is not considered met until we have received all of the reviewed, publication-ready articles, bios, images, and captions. We will do our best to meet the target publication date, keeping in mind that we may have many other publications in the production process.
If you have any questions about, or difficulty with, meeting the established deadlines, please contact us (preferably by email) as soon as you anticipate a problem. We will work with you in every way possible to help you meet the deadline as far as our own time and workload allow.
Key Stages in the Production Process
Production of a section publication can be broken down into eight major steps:
- The section publication coordinator receives all reviewed copy, checks and acknowledges what’s been sent, and does an initial light copyedit and applies styles to prepare for layout;
- The content is laid out into galleys; additional material is added (eg., member lists, ads, etc);
- Galleys undergo an in-house proofreading according to our house Style Guidelines, coordinator enters changes into proofs and sends proofs to editor(s);
- Editor(s) reviews galleys and makes minor changes (via PDF; see Proofreading, below, for more information); coordinator makes changes and editor(s) review corrected proofs, if another review is requested;
- A final PDF version is prepared and loaded onto the website;
- An email blast announcing the issue is scheduled in coordination with the marketing department;
- Publication is printed/collated/stapled or bound at our print shop; and
- Publication is sent to a mailing service for distribution. Editors’ and authors’ copies are mailed directly from NYSBA.
Please note: We discourage editors from having authors review galleys. Editors should only reach out to authors if there is a question. If it is absolutely necessary for an author to review their article, editors are expected to collate their changes into one master proof; please do not have authors submit any changes directly to the coordinator.
Production Time Frame
Once the copy submission deadline has been established, the printing and distribution dates are scheduled accordingly. These dates are based primarily on the time required to perform each of the steps below. The time frames will vary, however, depending on the number of publications in production at a given time, the available in-house resources and, above all, adherence to deadlines. We use the date that the publication is uploaded to the website as the target publication date; note that the printed copies may take as long as 4 weeks to be produced and mailed after this date.
assemble lists & images
*Target Publication Date is PDF upload date
Photographs & Images
The use of high-quality photos can enhance the look of your newsletter or journal as well as personalize a section event or meeting. Please keep in mind that low-quality photographs, blurry pictures, or pictures that are too dark or too light will not improve when printed. If you wish to include a photo spread of your section event or meeting, please choose, or have someone from your section choose, up to 20 photos that best represent the event. We ask you or someone in the section choose the photos, as you know your members, meeting speakers, and event highlights. If you wish to publish photos of your section’s Annual Meeting program, contact your section liaison to make arrangements to hire a photographer or to obtain photos from the photographer. Please reach out to the liaison well in advance of your content due date to inquire about and obtain any photos.
Please note that the only color pages of a typical newsletter or journal other than the covers are the center four pages. The remainder of the publication will be in black and white.
When submitting electronic photos, please:
- E-mail them as attachments, or, if there are a significant number (i.e., more than a dozen), use a dropbox and send a link. Electronic photos should not be pasted into the body of e-mails, Word documents or articles. If they are, please ALSO send an additional separate file as a jpg or tif.
- Be sure they are high resolution (300 dpi) and in .jpg or .tif format. If submitting photos from a cell phone, please make sure they are sent in the largest file size available.
- Include captions (if desired) in a separate Word file or email (please identify which caption goes with which photo).
- Do not copy photos from websites because they are often low resolution and of poor quality.
- Coordinators are not responsible for obtaining headshots; please have your authors send a high resolution (300 dpi) headshot with their articles if headshots are included in your publication.
- Please ensure you have permission to use any images or photographs if required.
Other images and artwork; charts and graphs
Our design team uses stock images from Shutterstock. The watermark on the image will be removed in the final pre-production stage, after you have submitted all galley changes. You are welcome to search Shutterstock.com and select possible images to use by sending its image number. You are also welcome to suggest images from other sources, but please make sure to obtain any necessary permissions before you submit to the coordinator and provide proof of permission. Keep in mind that generally, unless the section is willing to buy copyright to an image, we do not buy the rights to images not on Shutterstock.
Charts and graphs can be included in the article Word file or in a separate Word file. Other options may be available; please check with the coordinator if you have questions or concerns about the use of charts and graphs. Remember that any charts or graphs used are also subject to copyright.
Miscellaneous Production Considerations
There are certain limitations relative to layout and printing that affect all newsletters and journals. For example, section publications with 96 pages or fewer are printed two-sided on 11″ x 17″ paper and folded and saddle-stitched; therefore, the total number of galley pages must be divisible by four. The usual practice has been to use as many pages as needed to accommodate the articles (making sure each one starts on a new page), and paid advertising, where applicable, and then use material such as section meeting notices, NYSBA publication advertisements, and NYSBA announcements to fill in the rest. Editors are encouraged to forward any information about section events that might be promoted in the newsletter. Because of the constraints, it is very difficult to add content (like articles) when we are already well into the production process, as it will affect the layout and therefore delay publication.
Journals with more than 96 pages cannot be accommodated on our collator, so they are printed two-sided on 8 ½ x 11” paper on a high-quality copier and perfect-bound (glued). This process is more time-consuming and expensive, so sections may want to consider keeping page counts below 96 pages.
Some sections are discussing moving to providing their publications as digital-only or having members opt-in to receive printed mailings. If you want to do this, it should be approved by the section. The section coordinator can discuss this option with you further.
Paid Advertising
Advertising sales are handled through an outside sales group. Anyone who expresses interest in buying ad space in a section publication should be referred to NYSBA’s MCI contact.
NYSBA has recently updated our Author Guidelines and we would like you to share this information with both your new and seasoned contributors. This webpage provides important style guidelines as well as other information and resources for publishing in a NYSBA section publication. We ask that you review the guidelines and then share the link below with your authors.
We ask that all editors and authors respect and follow these style guidelines as much as possible for the sake of ease and consistency across all publications. Please note that we prefer to use and follow the most recent Associate Press (AP) style guidelines, with some exceptions as noted below. (AP does not have any kind of citation style, so that is dealt with in more detail below.)
All authors are required to sign a completed Copyright Agreement form when publishing in a NYSBA Section Publication. Please see the Author Guidelines for further information.
As editor, you must provide the author with the “Section Publication Title, Issue & Number” information. We suggest that you download this form, add the information, and then send it to authors. Copyright terms apply to all work published by NYSBA unless otherwise noted; as such, it’s not necessary for repeat authors to submit a new copyright agreement for each and every issue as long as they understand and agree to our current terms. If they have not signed an agreement within the last six months, please have them do so now.
The authors are then to submit all completed copyright agreements to the editor of the section publication in which their work will appear.
Please note: Our copyright agreement has recently been updated and includes changes to our reprinting and republication policies. These new policies can be found on the new form (available on the Copyright Agreement tab) and are as follows:
Use by Author: Following first publication of the Work by NYSBA authors will have the right to a perpetual, royalty free, worldwide license to use the work for their own personal use and to promote their employer, law firm, or law practice. This use includes permission to make and distribute print or digital copies of the work to friends, colleagues, clients, or on their employer or law firm website or social media promoting their law practice without further notice to or approval from NYSBA. Any such copy must contain the following notice “Reprinted with permission from the New York State Bar Association © 2022.” Authors should contact reprint@nysba.org if they need assistance in creating a PDF of their article with this notice included or if they have any questions.
Republication: If authors seek to have their Work republished in another publication they may do so upon prior written notice and approval from NYSBA. Such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld when republication is more than 90 days after the original publication date. Request for approval of republication earlier than 90 days may be requested at any time. It is recommended that any request for approval be submitted at least 5 business days prior to any republication submission date. All notices and requests for approval shall be sent to:
New York State Bar Association
Republications
One Elk Street
Albany, NY 12207
reprint@nysba.org
Complimentary copies: Upon publication, each author will receive two complimentary copies of the section publication in which his or her article appears. Additional copies may be requested but must be ordered in advance of printing. Authors should relay this request to the editor(s) when the article is accepted.
For further information on NYSBA policies, you may also contact the Section Publication Coordinator, Alyssa Colton (acolton@nysba.org).
Authors may apply to the CLE Board for publication credit by downloading the application from the Unified Court System’s web site:
NYSBA
Publication Design Manager
For questions about scheduling your section publication or who your assigned coordinator is for your section publication, please contact Lori Herzing:
lherzing@nysba.org
(518) 487-5790
Section Publication Coordinators
For questions about the section publication process or status of your publication, please contact your assigned coordinator:
Sara Anderson
sanderson@nysba.org
(518) 487-5595
Alyssa Colton
acolton@nysba.org
(518) 487-5672
MCI
To secure your ad space in a NYSBA section publication, please contact Holly Klarman:
holly.klarman@mci-group.com
(410) 584-1960