Southern Accents defines the best of Southern style: classic interiors, beautiful gardens, gracious entertaining, and an educated eye for art and antiques. The romantic appeal of the magazine transcends its geographic boundaries, speaking to a national audience who embody the Southern lifestyle and those who aspire to live it.

• Frequency: Six issues per year
• Circulation: 400,000 paid subscribers nationwide
• Readership: 2.6 million (an average of six readers per issue)
• Publisher: Southern Progress Corporation (SPC), a division of Time Warner
• Editorial offices: 2100 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham, AL 35209
• Web site: www.southernaccents.com

Southern Accents stories are planned one year in advance during an annual series of editorial meetings. Flexibility allows some adjustment as the year progresses, but editors generally stick to the plan. That allows time for research, photography, writing, and production. This lead time is particularly crucial if a story has a seasonal angle, such as fall color or holiday decorating.

Surveys show the average time spent perusing a typical issue is 90 minutes -- an impressive statistic in this fast-paced age. Reader characteristics include:

• Gender: 89 percent women, 11 percent men
• Median age: 48

Five overall subject areas (interiors, gardens, art and antiques, entertaining, architecture) define the content of each issue. Divided into features and regular columns, stories depicting each of these areas are included in all three sections of the magazine -- front-of-book, well (the middle section, with no advertising), and back-of-book.

The magazine also has special sections, such as those that focus on showhouses and remodeling.

Behind every story, in all departments, is the desire to serve our readers -- to give them ideas and inspiration applicable to their own homes.

No manuscripts, please. Southern Accents does not accept prepared text, but we are happy to consider a well-developed idea expressed in a query letter.

• Indicate that the writer has read our magazine well enough to grasp our style and subject matter.
• Do not propose a topic recently addressed in a published Southern Accents story.
• Present a fresh and surprising angle on a widely acknowledged topic, or present a new story idea that is uniquely suited to Southern Accents.
• Express the idea in language that captures and holds our attention.
• Express the idea concisely.
• Include scouting shots or photocopies of photographs whenever possible. This is mandatory for any query related to home and garden stories.
• Are accompanied by the writer's bio and clips of published work, unless samples are already on file with Southern Accents (in this case, the cover letter should remind us that we have clips and offer to send more if necessary).

Note: Query letters may be sent via regular mail along with your bio and clippings of your published work enclosed.

Assigning editors will contact the writer within three months if Southern Accents decides to pursue an idea. Specific angle, fees, expenses, and deadlines will be discussed.

The Southern Accents office manager will issue a story contract and a Substitute W9 form (click to download the form in PDF format); both should be signed and promptly returned by the writer. The office manager must receive these documents in order for the writer to secure compensation. Expense guidelines will accompany the contract.

Southern Accents negotiates fees with each individual writer depending on experience. Reasonable expenses (such as transportation, lodging, and dining for travel stories) will be paid as agreed upon in advance. Compliance with our expense guidelines is mandatory.

Payment is issued within four weeks of story acceptance. Note: Following story acceptance, the assigning editor may still request text revisions by the writer.

Kill fees are 10 percent of the assigned fee and all rights will revert to the author, as noted in the contract.

To ensure prompt payment, writers must:

• Meet the deadline specified in the contract.
• Send a complete story package to the assigning editor. That includes 1) story text and cutlines; 2) all fact-checking material; 3) names and complete and legible addresses of all story sources or participants who should receive complimentary copies of the issue featuring the story. Fact-checking material includes but is not limited to: names and contact points for all story sources and anyone quoted; brochures and/or business cards showing up-to-date data pertinent to lodging and other referenced facilities; photocopies of pages from historical documents, Web sites, or other information sources used.
• Submit an invoice along with the complete story package. The contract does not serve as an invoice.

• Homes/Gardens: Lydia Longshore Somerville
• Art/Antiques/Architecture: Julie Cole Miller
• Decorating/Entertaining: Rebecca Sowell Hawkins

Please mail queries to the appropriate person listed above at the following address:

Southern Accents
2100 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL 35209