About The Magazine

The Parking Professional is a unique monthly magazine written and edited specifically for parking professionals.  It is the only monthly magazine on parking and is quoted by the Wall Street Journal as "the industry bible".  Each month it provides timely coverage of parking issues and trends relevant to parking operations of all types and sizes, along with in-depth how-to articles on every aspect of running a parking operation.

Our readers are members and non-members of IPI.  They are mayors, board & commision members, top staff people of parking operations along with managers and supervisors, consultants, suppliers of equipment, police chiefs, and finance directors.  They deal with parking in cities, airports, colleges and universities, hospitals and medical centers, sports complexes and office complexes.

Their experience in parking operations runs the gamut from less than one year to more than 50 years.  Their staff sizes variy from one to several hundred.  Their operations may have fewer than 100 spaces - or thousands.

Our readers can be found all over the United States, in Canada, in Australia, in Malaysia, in Hong Kong, in Sweden, in England - just about any country where you find cars.

Our readers are specialists in market research, salesmanship, waterproofing, designing, computers, human resource management, and government affairs.  Many others are generalists responsible for for all parking mangement functions.

Finding the Mindset

Personal experience is probably your best source of article ideas.  As a practitioner of parking mangement, you have encountered problems, found solutions, and made mistakes that can be shared with your colleagues.  Has your operation created a programs or policy that works better than anything else you have used before?  Do you have a fresh approach to an old problem or a cost-effective solution to a new one?

Examine back issues of The Parking Professional to get a feel for the kinds of articles that are published and the way they are written.  This review process may give you insights into how you can contribute an article that addresses the special concerns and interested of parking professionals.

While not every article in The Parking Professional appeals to all readers, your article has a better chance of being accepted for publication if you think beyond the scope of your own operation.  How can others adapt what you've done?  What kinds of pitfalls might they run into?  What costs are involved?  Try to anticipate readers questions -- and answer them.

Before You Write

Articles are most commonly not accepted for publication in The Parking Professional because they deal with topics irrelevant or trivial to parking operations; are poorly organized; project a style or tone not suited to our readership; are self-promotional; or are too small.

Before you write the article, feel free to write or call the editor to discuss your ideas.

Getting It Down On Paper

Now you are ready to write the article, please read through several issues of The Parking Professional to get an idea of the content and tone.

Like most magazines, we have a policy against double submissions.  Please do not send us a manuscript that is being considered by another competeing publication, or that has been accepted or published by them.

• Pick a working title.  We reserve the right to change it before publication, but your title will help you focus your ideas.  Make it brief, use and active verb, and aim to be clever.
• Write a lead sentence or paragraph that will draw your audience into reading the article.  Among the devices you can you can incorporate into a lead are a surprising statistic, a witty or shocking quotation, a question, a scenario, or an analogy.  Most important, your lead must be relevant to your topic and get to your point quickly.
• Don't attempt perfection in the first draft of your article.  This is the time to get everything and anything down on paper.  Let go of your inhibitions and write freely.
• But don't stop there.  Edit your article thouroughly.  At least twice.  Delete unnecessary words.  Move paragraphs to achieve continuity.  Rewrite entire sections.  Make sure that every paragraph follows logically and smoothly the one before it.  Don't be satisfied until every sentence says precisely what you want it to say.  If you do this now, there's less chance that the article will require extensive rewriting once it reaches us.
• The tone you adopt is crucial to your article's readability.  Our readers are successful executives, and you risk insulting their intelligence by preaching or lecturing.  Pretend that you are explaining your ideas to a colleague, face to face.  Avoid excessive jargon, and define the jargon you must use.
• Try to be comprehensive without excessive detail.  Pertinent information can often be put in a sidebar instead of interrupting the articles flow.
• Avoid cliches.  Shun the passive voice in favor of the active voice.  And, as Strunk and White say in The Elements of Style, "Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able."
• Make your conclusion as memorable as your lead.  Instead of merely summarizing, try to surpass the limits of the article.  To quote the editors of Harvard Business Review, "A good conclusion adds something new, but relevant, to the article - a forecast, a challenge, a clinching bit of evidence, or ideally, something to do on Monday morning."
• As your research and writing continue, don't hesitate to call the editor of The Parking Professional with questions.
• Test market your article by asking a few colleagues to read it.  They may point out ways to clarify your message, add an example, or liven up your lead sentence.
• If you have ideas for artwork, photographs, or charts to accompany the article, submit them with the article.
• Review the checklist included in these guidelines to ensure that your manuscript is in the correct form.
• Before you submit the article, double-check the accuracy of your article using the "red check" method:  Return to your original source material, and verify every name, date, fact and figure, placing a red check mark over each in your manuscript.  We spot-check all articles for accuracy but count on you to give us the right information the first time.
• Finally, our readers want to know who you are.  Please submit a two paragraph biography and a head-and-shoulders photo with your manuscript.

Evaluation And Acceptance

All articles submitted to us will be acknowledged with a letter and reviewed by an editor.  Allow four to six weeks for the review of an unsolicited proposal or manuscript; solicited proposals and manuscripts are usually handled more quickly. Manuscripts are evaluated based on originality of topic, organization, readability, soundness of content, timeliness, and interest to our readers.  We also consider whether the argument is supported with concrete examples: ensure that the article is not a promotion of a particular company, product, or service; and determine if the topic of the article fits in a future editorial lineup. We may accept your article outright, accept it for a staff rewrite, or accept it contingent on your revision.  If we do not think your article is suitable for The Parking Professional, we'll send you a letter or call you to explain why. Once the article has been accepted, it will then be assigned to an issue.  We work two to three months in advance of an issue, so if your article has been assigned to January's issue, your editor will probably contact you in October. Your writing style is your own, and we make every attempt to preserve it as we prepare your manuscript for publication.  But we will try to make the copy as substantive, clear, and lively as possible.  If your article is substantially revised, we may send you a computer printout of the edited version, and you will have about three days to review it. If questions arise after that, we'll call you; but otherwise, the next time you see your article will be in print.  You will recieve at least two complimentary copies of the issue of The Parking Professional in which the article appears.  You can order more copies of the magazine or, you may want to order reprints of individual articles from IPI by calling (540) 371-7535.  In both cases, quantity discounts are available.

About The Magazine This article... length should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words. an original work. does not promote a product, service, or company. has a three to six-word working title with an active verb contains a by-line and ends with a one to two paragraph biography giving the author's full name, title, and organization or company and its location includes a head-and-shoulders photo of author. signals shift in topic with subheads includes sidebar for pertinent facts or data that do not fit within the main body of the article.  Sidebars should be no longer than two double spaced pages. is accompanied by a cover letter addressed to the editor, and any supporting charts, photos, or artwork. does not have footnotes, but rather credits sources directly in the article. has been double checked for accuracy using the "red check" method.

Reaping The Rewards

Most authors feel great personal satisfaction from having an article published in The Parking Professional and helping parking executives across the country do a better job managing their operations.  Contributors to The Parking Professional also recieve the respect of their colleagues.

Our authors advance the written body of knowledge about parking management, and all professions require such a pool of knowledge.  As the author of an article published in The Parking Professional, your insights will endure, and generations of parking executives will thank you.

Direct all inquiries and completed manuscripts to: Editor, The Parking Professional, IPI, 701 Kenmore Avenue, Box 7167, Fredricksburg, Virginia 22404.  If you have any questions about submitting an article, please call (540) 371-7535.

Style Rules The Parking Professional's style guidelines ensure that its articles are uniform and accurate.  Here are some rules we would like you to follow: When you refer to an association, corporation, or business for the first time, use its full name, followed by its acronym in parenthesis, and include the city and state in which the association is headquartered.  For example, " the National Associations of Widgets (NAW), Washington, D.C."  In subsequent references, either use the acronym or say "the association". Capitalize titles when they precede a person's name ("Executive Director John A. Doe, Jr., says..."), but lower-case them when they follow the name ("John A. Doe, executive director of...").  Make sure names and titles are complete and accurate. Use a person's full name and job title in the first reference, in subsequent references, use last names only.  Titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., and Dr. are not used either on first or subsequent references. Academic degrees and other credentials may be referred to if relevant, but should not follow a name. Spell out the numbers one through ten, from 11 on, use Arabic numerals.  Use Arabic numerals for addresses and dates. In numbered addresses, use the abreviations St., Rd., Ave., and so forth.  Use two-letter state postal abbreviations in numbered addresses, but spell out state names in text. Paragraphs are composed of two or more sentences that develop a single idea.  No paragraph should be longer than half a page. Seperate or highlight key points with numbered or asterisked (*) lists. Use the serial comma (for example, "red, white, and blue" -- not "red, white and blue").

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