One Ahead: Writing Guide

Valuable insights from the best minds in magic.

Compensation

Columnists get 5% of monthly recurring revenue.

• If at least one article by a columnist gets published during a calendar month, then the columnist will receive a payment for that month.
• Monthly recurring revenue is defined by Stripe as the normalised monthly revenue during the invoice period from all active and past-due subscriptions.
• MRR includes subscription income directly from the publication, like full memberships, collector memberships and sponsorship subscriptions. Individual product sales are not included in MRR.

Payment & Invoices: Payments get sent on or before the 5th. You must then invoice before the 10th, including the fee, the published article titles, and the invoice number. Mark your invoice as "paid".

Publishing Workflow

We like to keep things simple. We trust you to decide on topics, write valuable articles, and then produce and submit them ready for scheduling by the editor.

1. Decide on what to write.
2. Write your article!
3. Set up your article in Ghost with the help of this guide.
4. Submit your article by the 1st using the form on this page.
5. Share your article when it's live! We'll email you a link.

The editor will always share feedback once an article is scheduled.

Style Guide

One Ahead is for "professional hobbyists".

• Target Reader: "Jason Sudeikis" – dedicated hobbyists aged 40+ with a passion for magic, but it's not necessarily their main interest.
• Gender Neutral: The magician places the coin in their hand.
• Topical Evergreen: Create content that feels relevant today but remains valuable in future. Utilize current events as a springboard into broader topics.
• Short Paragraphs: Opt for shorter paragraphs. Most readers are on mobile.
• Italicize Brand Names: Such as Ellusionist, Disney, or any other brand.
• Cross-linking: Link to existing relevant One Ahead articles with anchor text: David Copperfield.
• Header Text: Use the large "T" header text in Ghost unless you need to split your article up with large headers and small headers within those sections.

Post Setup Notes

• Title Placeholder: Editor to finalize based on SEO. Submit a short generic title, e.g., "David Blaine Breath Hold" for a breath-holding story.
• URL/Slug: Be concise; use keywords in a simple order. A story about David Blaine's new show could have the slug "david-blaine-disney-beyond-magic."
• Excerpt: It's the story's tagline, SEO description, and social media caption. Hook the reader with keywords in one or two sentences max.
• Header Image: Leave blank for the Editor to produce.

Publishing Schedule

Check on your next submission deadline. Note: submission dates can change within 30 days notice. If you'd like to plan and write ahead, be sure to get confirmation from the editor.

Submit your next article

When your article is ready to get published, submit it below. An Editor will take a look and schedule it or reach out with any notes. Thanks!

Submit your invoice

We pay writers before the 5th of each month for their work from the previous month. You must invoice us by the 10th of the month with the amount received and mark your invoice as paid for our records. Submit it below: