Submission Guidelines

Editorial Guidelines for Survivor Stories

• Editorial Mission: To provide knowledge, hope, and inspiration to people whose lives have been touched by cancer.
• Please familiarize yourself with the survivor stories that currently appear on copingmag.com. Note subject matter, technique, style and format, and write accordingly.
• Maximum number of words: 700
• Tell us what type of cancer you have or did have in the article or in the Editor’s Note (see below).
• Include a digital photo of yourself. Set your camera for the highest possible resolution.
• Avoid putting links to external websites in the body of your article. Links may be included at the end of your article (see below).
• Articles about coping with cancer should avoid lengthy treatment descriptions. Instead, focus on what you have learned from your experience that could help others.
• Be informal, upbeat, and positive.
• Except where medically appropriate, substitute other words for “patient,” such as “survivor.” A “survivor is anyone living with a history of cancer, from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life,” according to the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation. Avoid “victim.”
• Editor’s Note (optional): Include information about yourself at the end of the article (e.g., short bio, contact information). Links to external websites may be included here. Include the Editor’s Note in the maximum 700 word count.
• Action! box (optional): List resources for readers to follow up on topics discussed in the article. Links to external websites may be included here. Include the Action! box in the maximum 700 word count.
• Please see the Submission Guidelines for instructions on how to submit your story.

Editorial Guidelines for Professional Advice

• Editorial Mission: To provide knowledge, hope, and inspiration to people whose lives have been touched by cancer.
• Please familiarize yourself with the professional advice articles that currently appear on copingmag.com. Note subject matter, technique, style and format, and write accordingly.
• Article must be objective and well documented. Coping® does not publish testimonials and cannot endorse, or appear to endorse, products or services.
• Approximate number of words: 700 to 1,400
• Include a digital photo of the author or authors. All digital images must be high resolution and output at 300dpi or higher.
• Avoid putting links to external websites in the body of your article. Links may be included at the end of the article (see below).
• Explain medical information in lay terms where possible.
• Use short sentences and paragraphs.
• Avoid large quantities of statistical information.
• Use consumer magazine-type headline and subhead to encourage readership.
• Article should benefit the reader.
• Except where medically appropriate, substitute other words for “patient,” such as “survivor.” Coping® challenges readers to develop a positive, proactive attitude for a better quality of life by becoming cancer survivors, rather than remaining patients and victims. A “survivor is anyone living with a history of cancer, from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life,” according to the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation.
• Editor’s Note: Include information about the author or authors at the end of the article (e.g., short bio, contact information). Links to external websites may be included here. 
• Action! box (optional): List resources for readers to follow up on topics discussed in the article. Links to external websites may be included here. 
• Please see the Submission Guidelines for instructions on how to submit your article.

Editorial Guidelines for Reflections

• Editorial Mission: To share brief words of wisdom learned through the cancer experience.
• Please familiarize yourself with the “Reflections” that currently appear on in the magazine. Note subject matter, technique, style and format, and write accordingly.
• Maximum number of words: 250
• Include a digital photo of yourself. Set your camera for the highest possible resolution.
• Your words of wisdom should benefit the reader.
• Be upbeat and positive.
• At the end of your Reflection, add a footnote telling what type of cancer you have or did have and the city, state, and country in which you live.
• Please see the Submission Guidelines for instructions on how to submit your Reflection.

Editorial Guidelines for Poems

• Editorial Mission: To provide hope and inspiration through poetry.
• Please familiarize yourself with the poems that currently appear in the magazine. Note subject matter, technique, style and format, and write accordingly.
• Suggested maximum length: 50 lines
• Include a digital photo of yourself. Set your camera for the highest possible resolution.
• Coping® strives to remain upbeat and positive. Therefore, poems about death and dying are generally not accepted.
• At the end of your poem, add a footnote telling what type of cancer you have or did have and the city, state, and country in which you live.
• Please see the Submission Guidelines for instructions on how to submit your poem.

Editorial Guidelines for Support Organizations

• Editorial Mission: To inform readers about cancer support organizations that provide free services nationwide in their country.
• Please familiarize yourself with the support articles that currently appear in the magazine. Note subject matter, technique, style and format, and write accordingly.
• Maximum number of words: 400
• A byline is encouraged, but not required.
• Include a high resolution digital image of your organization’s logo (must output at 300dpi or higher).
• Editor’s Note (optional): List information about the author (if applicable) at the end of the article, e.g., short bio. Include the Editor’s Note in the maximum 400 word count.
• At the end of your article, provide your contact information in an Action! box. Include the Action! box in the maximum 400 word count.
• Please see the Submission Guidelines for instructions on how to submit your article.

Consent and Release Agreement

By submitting my manuscript/s and photograph/s, hereinafter referred to as the “materials,” I agree to allow Media America, Inc. (MAI), a Tennessee corporation in the United States of America, to publish the submitted materials on the website copingmag.com and in Coping® With Cancer magazine; and to publish the materials in other MAI-authorized publications, products, promotional materials and electronic mediums including the Internet.

MAI may also copy and distribute, or allow to be copied and distributed, reprints of the submitted materials as published. I understand that all materials submitted to MAI are gratuitous if published, and that publication is not guaranteed.

I attest that the submitted materials do not violate any person’s or entity’s copyright, trademark, rights of publicity, right of privacy and/or any other such right. I hereby release, discharge and agree to save harmless MAI and its employees or agents, affiliates, legal representatives or assigns and all persons acting under its authority or for whom it is acting, from any liability by virtue of any publication of my likeness or other submitted materials, including, but not limited to, claims for libel or invasion of privacy, as well as any liability arising by virtue of any distortion, alteration, or optical illusion, whether intentional or otherwise, that may occur or be produced in the making of my submitted materials.

I understand that any submitted materials are subject to editing. I acknowledge the ownership of copyright rights in any “edited” version belongs to MAI as original creations of derivative works, and if I submit my submitted material for use in any other medium, I acknowledge that I do not have the right to use the “edited” version published by MAI without its permission.

I understand that MAI will make every effort to return materials to me if requested; however, I agree that MAI is not responsible for lost, stolen, damaged or unreturned materials.

I hereby warrant that I am 18 years old or older and have every right to enter into this Agreement in my own name. I state further that I have read and fully understand this Consent and Release Agreement prior to its execution. This Agreement shall be binding upon me, my heirs, legal representative, and assigns.

If applicable, as parent or guardian of a minor, I give my consent for the publication of the submitted materials that reference or show this person.

About Coping®

Coping® with Cancer Website

• The website for people whose lives have been touched by cancer™.
• A complete online experience that educates and inspires.
• Warm and friendly, easy-to-use format.
• Provides knowledge about living with cancer, hope, and inspirational topics.
• The resource guides are the most complete found anywhere.
• Relevant articles and trustworthy resources are constantly being added.

Coping® with Cancer Magazine

• The magazine for people whose lives have been touched by cancer™.
• Written by and for the cancer community with help from our editors.
• Now in its 38th year of service.
• Read by people in the waiting rooms of America’s private practice oncologists, hematologists, urologists, and cancer treatment centers.
• Individual subscriptions available by mail.
• Waiting Room Distribution Program available for physicians and organizations.
• To maintain an editorial environment free of bias, Coping is not affiliated with any treatment center or cancer-related organization.
• National Sponsor of National Cancer Survivors Day®.
• Provides the official coverage of National Cancer Survivors Day.
• Advertising accepted, which must conform to ethical and medical standards as prescribed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).