Writer's Guidelines
Book Manuscripts
The American Federation of Astrologers is a world leader in the field of astrological publishing and welcomes book-length manuscript submissions on the subject of astrology. We also welcome first-time authors.
AFA primarily publishes advanced beginner, intermediate and advanced astrology books, as well as scholarly astrological works. Our market for beginner books, Sun-sign guides and similar material is limited and we thus publish very few of these. The ideal word count for a book-length manuscript published by AFA is about 40,000 words, although we will consider manuscripts from 20,000 to 60,000 words.
Submission Guidelines
- Use 8.5 x 11" white paper.
- Use an easy to read font, such as Times 10 or 12 point; do not use fancy fonts or a larger point size, even for chapter titles or subheads.
- Double-spacing is not required.
- Number the pages consecutively, either by inserting a header or by hand.
- Include the word count for each chapter and the entire mss.
- Include a table of contents.
- Include print-outs of all charts, including complete data; do not embed charts in the manuscript.
- Illustrations (other than charts) must be output on a laser printer in black ink only. AFA does not publish books with interior color pages.
- Include a list of all charts (with source) and illustrations.
- Do not embed footnotes. Footnotes should be included as regular text at the end of the document.
- If your manuscript is accepted for publication, all text must be submitted on disk in Word or .rtf format; pdfs are unacceptable.
AFA Style
- Spell out the names of all signs, planets, asteroids, aspects, etc.; do not use glyphs.
- Capitalize the names of all signs, planets, asteroids, angular house cusps, Vertex, East Point, North Node and South Node.
- Do not capitalize the names of aspects.
- Spell out the name of all houses: use third rather than 3rd.
- Format for planetary signs and degrees: 26 Virgo 56, 3 Scorpio 04.
- Format for longitude and latitude: 39N50, 123W30.
- Format for midpoints: ME/NE
Please note: All manuscripts accepted for publication will be edited to conform to AFA standards. However, major rewriting and editing of the manuscript is the responsibility of the author; please do not submit a manuscript that has not been well-written and edited.
A print-out of the entire manuscript should be sent to:
American Federation of Astrologers
6535 S. Rural Road
Tempe AZ 85283
Please enclose return postage if you would like your manuscript returned in the event we are unable to publish it.
Book Reprints
AFA is also looking for quality out-of-print astrology books to publish. If you are the author and your publisher has released all rights to you in writing, including the right to use the edited text and illustrations other than astrological charts, we would be interested in talking with you. Please contact us at info@astrologers.com or call 480-838-1751.
Todays Astrologer
Todays Astrologer, AFAs monthly journal for members, has been published continuously since AFA's founding in 1938. Many of the great astrologers of the 20th century contributed to this publication in the early years, such as Charles E.O. Carter, Charles Jayne, Olive Adele Pryor, David Williams, Vivian Robson, H.L. Cornell and Nicholas de Vore.
All articles published in Today's Astrologer are contributed by members or others interested in sharing their knowledge. Whether you're an experienced astrological writer, interested in getting started as an astrological writer, or simply enjoy writing as a hobby, we would like to hear from you.
Articles on any astrological subject matter are welcome. Most articles are 1,500-3,000 words, but we do accept shorter and longer articles.
Your submission should follow the guidelines above for book manuscripts. You also can email your article to info@astrologers.com, but any charts or illustrations must be submitted as attachments and not embedded in the body of the email or in an attached document.
