Writers’ Guidelines

Thank you for your interest!

Family Business Magazine welcomes contributed articles from family business advisers and consultants. Please take note of the guidelines below, which are designed to help you determine whether your expertise is a good fit for our pages.

The articles we publish address the concerns of family business owners. We are looking for practical pieces that help our readers manage the family aspects of business, or the business aspects of family. We don’t publish general business advice. Our readers’ businesses generate annual revenues ranging from the tens of millions into the billions. Small-business owners and family-run startup ventures are not our audience.

Contributed articles must be thought leadership pieces that educate readers. We do not accept manuscripts that overtly promote an author’s products or services. (In other words, the conclusion of your article should not be, “Hire an adviser” or “Your problem can best be solved by a firm that offers the kind of services that our firm provides.”)

Please note that our readers are keenly interested in family business issues and are very well read on these subjects — most of our subscribers have been with us for three years or more. Also note that our readers’ companies are well past the founding, entrepreneurial stage; most of them have successfully transitioned to the third generation or higher. Thus, our contributed content must go beyond oft-repeated conventional family business wisdom. We seek articles that give our readers new insights into issues at the nexus of family and business, not well-worn advice that our readers have heard many times before.

The tone of our articles is conversational — think of the writing in a business magazine you’d find on a newsstand. Family Business Magazine does not publish academic research. Like business magazines and the business section of the newspaper, we don’t use footnotes. The maximum length we can accommodate for contributed articles is 1,800 words. Please submit your manuscript as a Word attachment, with no graphics or photos embedded. (Graphics may be submitted in a separate file; photos should be submitted as a separate .jpg attachment.)

Because of the limited space availability in our print edition and the large number of submissions we receive, the lag time between article acceptance and publication is generally several months. We cannot estimate when an article will appear in print until after a manuscript has been accepted and the editing phase is complete.

Family Business Magazine does not offer payment for articles written by advisers. Articles must be submitted exclusively to Family Business Magazine and must not have been previously published elsewhere. Publication in Family Business Magazine enables authors to address our subscribers. If you’d like to distribute your article to a wider audience after publication, you must purchase an authorized reprint or electronic file from us. For pricing information, please contact Barbara Wenger at
bwenger@familybusinessmagazine.com. Articles published in Family Business Magazine may not be reproduced in any form (including photocopy and Internet circulation) without prior authorization from the publisher.

Email is the preferred method for submitting inquiries.
It is advisable to begin by submitting a brief outline that states your topic and includes three or four key points you propose to make.

Have a question?
Contact:
Zack Needles, Editor-in-Chief
Family Business Magazine
zneedles@familybusinessmagazine.com

Freelance writers

Family Business Magazine’s audience consists primarily of owners and managers of successful, multigenerational family-owned companies with annual revenues in the tens of millions and above. We don’t cover startups or small businesses.

General business success stories are covered in numerous publications. Our content delves beneath the surface and addresses the family side of family business — with a particular emphasis on how challenges were overcome or how problems were avoided or resolved.

Topics we cover include succession planning and generational transition, family and business governance (boards of directors, family councils, etc.), developing family policies (family employment policies, shareholder agreements, etc.), sibling or cousin partnerships, bringing next-generation members and/or in-laws into the fold, recruitment and retention of non-family executives, raising capital without relinquishing control, and innovation within the context of a venerable legacy business.

We are seeking experienced writers who can get interviewees to open up and speak candidly and introspectively about these issues. Because of our family focus, our family profiles must include interviews with multiple family members, ideally including members of two or more generations. We also seek the perspective of non-family managers or board members.

We are particularly interested in profiles of large, nationally known family companies. Please verify that family members are willing to be interviewed before you submit a pitch.

Thank you for your interest!

Email is the preferred method for submitting inquiries.

Have a question?
Contact:
Zack Needles, Editor-in-Chief
Family Business  Magazine
zneedles@familybusinessmagazine.com

Company/public relations representatives

We welcome introductions to families who want to share their family business stories.

Our focus is on the business aspect of families, and the family aspect of businesses — with a particular emphasis on how challenges were overcome or how problems were avoided or resolved.

Topics we cover include succession planning and generational transition, family and business governance (boards of directors, family councils, etc.), developing family policies (family employment policies, shareholder agreements, etc.), sibling or cousin partnerships, bringing next-generation members and/or in-laws into the fold, recruitment and retention of non-family executives, raising capital without relinquishing control, and innovation within the context of a venerable legacy business.

Members of your organization must be willing to speak candidly and introspectively about these issues. Because of our family focus, our family profiles must include interviews with multiple family members, ideally including members of two or more generations. We also seek the perspective of non-family managers or board members. Please verify that family members are willing to be interviewed before you submit a pitch.

Thank you for your interest!

Email is the preferred method for submitting inquiries.

Have a question?
Contact:
Zack Needles, Editor-in-Chief
Family Business  Magazine
zneedles@familybusinessmagazine.com