One Ahead: Writing Guide

Valuable insights from the best minds in magic.

Quick Links: Writer Sign In - Invoices

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 5% 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, such as full memberships, collector memberships, and sponsorship subscriptions (Individual product sales are not included in MRR).

Payment & Invoices: Payments are sent via PayPal on or before the 5th of the previous month. You must then invoice before the 10th, with the fee, the published article titles, and an 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 for the editor to schedule.

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 always shares feedback once an article is scheduled, and you can always submit your articles in advance if you know you'll be away or working on other projects before your article gets published. Note that submission dates can change with 30 days' notice. If you'd like to plan and write ahead, be sure to get confirmation from the editor.

Style Guide

One Ahead is for "professional hobbyists".

• Primary 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.
• Internal links: Link to existing relevant One Ahead articles with the anchor text like David Blaine. See the internal linking guide.
• 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: The editor will finalize it based on SEO. Submit a short generic title, such as "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: You can leave this blank for the Editor to produce.
• Header Image: Leave blank for the Editor to produce.

Submit your next article.

When your article is ready to be published, submit it below. An Editor will review it and schedule it or contact you 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: