I had wondered abour EPE re-printing Silicon Chip articles also. Once upon a time no
magazine would touch anything previously published by someone else, even on the other
side of the planet. Even with © Copyright permissions approved etc.
Writing articles / projects is not an easy or quick task. From start to finish you could be
looking at anything from 2 weeks for a very small article to 3 months or so for complicated
project. I have had a couple of projects published, ETI, Silicon Chip, N&V and several
circuit notebook / design ideas.
The first and most important aspect from my point of view is the original design. there's
not much point using ( Dippy's favourite ) cheap obscure/obsolete crap from China or
E-bay parts amongst the component list. Off The Shelf components
always.
Most magazines have a How To guide on the outline or format they prefer the content
to be written in. In some cases you can get away with hand drawn circuit diagrams as
long as they are neat and legible. PCB Layouts can be done with several CAD packages
so check which the publisher what format they can handle, most will take a PDF layout
if thats all you can supply. A prototype unit is prefered, for testing / evaluation, but
sometimes you can even get away with a good photo or two for publication.
You don't have to have a Degree in Electronics when writing the "how it works" part,
but a reasonable understanding of the circuits function operation is prefered.
Some experienced Editors can fix your sins, some don't have a clue and will publish
whatever you have written ( after Spellcheck ).
You may also find that your 4,000 to 6,000 word article gets edited/whittled down to
2,500 words. That will depend on publishing space available, (that month) sometimes
things may be slow and they will use everything. Remember Advertising pays their rent.
As far as labeling components e.g. 4K7 or 4.7K and 0.1µF or 100n I think it is a bit like
the NEG, 0V, Earth debate, that could go on forever.
It's nice to see what you are used to ( colour or color ) but if you can't work it out or
look it up and find out if you are unsure, then you probably shouldn't be playing with
those funny little thingies with the coloured stripy lines on them. Try Football, Wrestling etc.
The ones my Sister wanted to make cool Earings out of.
So I would say if you have a good idea get it down on paper, take your time, ask for help
if you need it and give it a go.
Editors can do wonders, that's their job.
It has been said that up to 95% of all good ideas are lost when the owner dies with
them still in their head, never having writen anything down.
