Writing for php|architect

We never tire of saying that php|architect is a magazine written by developers, for developers. The names of some of the best-known PHP experts in the world have appeared on our pages, but the vast majority of our content is the work of PHP enthusiasts from all walks of life (many of which have become well-known experts in their own right).

The first step towards becoming an author is to submit one or more article ideas to our editorial department. We are always looking for new authors, and welcome all submissions—even if you have never written for a magazine before.

What kind of content we look for

In general, php|architect readers want to hear about practical solutions to practical problems. Thus, we prefer to publish features with a hands-on approach to a topic that is likely to be of interest to as many developers as possible, as opposed to theoretical pieces that are not likely to have immediate applications in a real-world scenario.

This doesn't mean, however, that we won't publish the occasional article that covers (for example) a computer-science problem from a PHP developer's perspective—after all, a good developer has both theoretical knowledge and the ability to apply it in practice.

In short, if you have an idea about an article—whether on an efficient algorithm, a useful library or a particularly clever solution to a problem you've recently devised, drop our editorial team an e-mail and discuss it with them—chances are, we'll be interested in publishing it.

How to submit an article idea

The most important thing not to do when proposing an article is to... send us a complete article!

It's very likely that our editors will want to discuss your idea and help you hone it down into a proposal that we will want to publish. Therefore, it's best to send us a short synopsis of the article, indicating the topic you want to cover and the angle you want to cover it from, together with a tentative timeline to give us an idea of when you'll be able to deliver it by.

Doing so will avoid wasting your time on rewrites—which are never fun for everyone—and on e-mail exchanges trying to nail down all the details.

Article length and detail

One of the elements that sets php|architect content apart is the depth of coverage of our articles. We prefer features that dig deep into a particular topic and bring all of its most intimate details to the surface—without, of course, driveling on pointlessly.

We normally divide articles in two categories:

Features are an average of at least 4,000 words in length and feature prominently in our magazine. These are our preferred pieces for one-time topics, as they give us the opportunity to provide the kind of in-depth coverage that our readers want
Reviews are, as their name subtly implies, reviews of products—books, software, and so on—that are relevant to the PHP world.

We also publish columns, monthtly recurring articles of between 1,500 and 2,000 words. With the exception of /etc, these imply a longer-term commitment and, therefore, they are usually assigned by our editorial team as opposed to being initiated through unsolicited proposals.

How Our Editorial Process Works

Being writers ourselves, we value our authors' time. Our editorial process is geared towards ensuring that you can dedicate yourself as much as possible to your primary task: writing. With the exception of some preliminaries and a few revisions, our editorial process is entirely transparent to our authors: all you need to worry about is coming up with great ideas, get them in a text file, and send them to us—we'll do the rest and come back to you with a galley to ensure that we haven't introduced any mistakes, as well as with payment once the articles have been published.

Here's a step-by-step overview of the path that an article takes from inception to publication:

The author makes a proposal to our editors
The editors may approve the idea right away, or (more likely) come back with a few question and help the author refine it
Once an idea has been approved, the editors and the author decide on a deadline, and a contract is issued
The author writes the article, and turns it in
At this point, a tech editor goes over the article to ensure that it is technically sound. If there are any areas of concern, the tech editor discusses them with the author
From the tech editor, the article is handed over to an editor, who makes sure that grammar and orthography are top-notch
Next, the article is passed on to our layout department, where it is composed and laid out in the final form that will appear in print (or in PDF)
Finally, PDF galleys are produced and sent back to the author (time permitting) for one last check to make sure everything is fine

Submission Format

You can discuss your submission format with your editor once your article has been approved for production. In general, however, you do not need to worry about any special requirements: our authors submit their articles using nothing more than simple text files.

The format we use is designed to ensure that your work goes through as few hands as possible before being laid out on paper—thus minimizing the chance that errors will be introduced accidentally during production. More information on the submission format can be found here.