Questions and Answers
We will be taking a break from the print publication of Miroir Magazine this year. We will be doing interviews with artists for our blog. Feel free to get in touch if you have an interest in being featured.
Q: As a contributor, will I get any free copies of the magazine?
A: We are a print on demand publication. The print company, MagCloud (a Hewlett Packard company) charges us by the page, and the selling price is based on that. Contributors will have an opportunity to buy the magazine at cost. The staff of MIROIR Magazine will be paying the same price for their copies as you pay for your copy orders. Unfortunately because we are not doing a press run of hundreds of copies at one time, we will not have affordable extra copies that we can give away. Everyone who takes part in MIROIR will have the opportunity to order their own copies. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to buy copies for our artists, no matter how much we love them, or appreciate what they do. Putting together MIROIR is a labor of love for the staff.
Q: How much does the magazine cost for print on demand through Magcloud?
A: The average cost is determined by the number of pages in the total magazine. The average cost of MIROIR Magazine on MagCloud is $28.00. Sometimes there are seasonal discounts offered by the MagCloud company allowing anyone to purchase copies at a reduced rate. Orders to MagCloud of 20 or more issues are always discounted at 25% off the cost of the order. Although we wish the cost was lower, we make no apology, we are thankful that this form of printing is available, which allows us to bring together the work of so many exceptional artists, and we hope that the magazine will be something our artists are proud to be a part of. Each issue is certainly a thing of beauty.
Older themed issues, with more pages, will be different prices. The cost is determined by how many pages are in each issue. Newer themes have a set page count.
Q: What is the print quality of the magazine?
A: The quality is exceptional. So far we have been impressed with the color and print quality. The heavy weight of the paper and the “perfect” binding creates a very professional impression, and MIROIR feels more like the quality of a fine art book or Museum catalog than a typical magazine. The layout and design is excellent in terms of a clean consistant visual aesthetic. In a way MIROIR is quite different from other magazines, and should more accurately be called a portfolio collection and a visual anthology. MIROIR prefers it’s format of keeping all pages formatted as full page or double page spreads, rather than dicing pages up and compromising the presentation aesthetic.
Q: Will Miroir pay usage fees for my images?
A: We are a submission driven publication, what that means is that we put our portfolios together using contributed art. We are not producing this magazine to profit on your art, we are doing it because we love the art and want to be supportive of the artists. For this reason we offer bigger portfolios, full page portfolios to properly showcase your talent. The downside is that we can’t pay usage fees, and there are no freebees.
Q: Why do I need to send files through Drop Box?
A: The digital image files need to be large for print, which means they are often too large to attach to an e-mail. We use Drop Box because it is easy to install and use and it is a free on-line service that allows the transfer of large image files. Once you upload your images to drop box you just need to send the editor an invite and Miroir can access the images for your submission. Here is the link to get Drop Box.
We will also accept files from:
Hightail
We Transfer
We Send It
If you are invited to take part in the magazine you will be given the editors e-mail.
Q: What size should my images be for the print magazine?
A: The magazine is a standard size of 8.5 X 11 inches, 2550 pixels wide and 3300 pixels tall. For a double pages spread the images need to be 5100 pixels wide. Please see our Submissions Guidelines for further details.
Q: Will I keep copyrights to my art and writing?
A: Yes of course, all copyrights are retained by the artist. We ask our contributors to sign a release agreement giving MIROIR limited usage rights for printing in the magazine and for use on our website and social media. To see a copy of these releases please go to this link: http://miroirmagazine.com/releases/
Q: How do I sign and return the Artist agreement?
A: The Artists or Writers Release forms are now fully digital, you can sign them on line at this link: http://miroirmagazine.com/releases/
Sign with your finger or stylus on a touch screen or with your mouse on your computer. Please keep in mind that we do need your agreement to publish before we can put your work in print.
Q: Why do I need model releases?
A: In order to publish images of recognizable living people, a standard model release is required to prevent the model or average person in your photograph or art from suing the magazine for damages. Unfortunately we live in a litigious society, which makes this a necessity. We do not need you to print copies for us, but we need your word that you have them.
Q: What are your requirements for a fashion editorial?
A: Unlike other magazines that print fashion, we are primarily an fine art publication. For this reason our expectations are a little different. Our emphasis is on art, anything avant gaurd, unusual, over the top, wild and wonderful is of interest to us. We love having designers showcased in Miroir, but we will also print fashionable images using vintage clothing or carefully mixed labels from great wardrobe stylists.
Q: What credits do you require?
A: We ask that you give us the names of all members of your creative team, designers, models, stylists, assistants, location or site credits, anyone who took part in creating your submission. We like to give credit to everyone.
Q: Why don’t you use all of the text I sent you in the magazine?
A: MIROIR is primarily a portfolio style publication, with full page visual content. Sometimes there is not enough space to print the full interview or all of the text that an artist sends us in the print issue, in that case, we do run the full interview on the Miroir website. We also do not print information with specific dates such as upcoming shows in the print issue, but we will be happy to post those on our social media pages.
Q: Why is the submission process by invitation only? I know an artist I want you to publish, will you invite them? Why don’t you have an on-line submission like other magaiznes?
A: Miroir Magazine is mostly by invitation only at this time simply because we are short staffed. It is not a matter of excluding anyone.
Submissions: Our Curator, Nina Pak, generally sends out invites to artists she feels will fit the theme of each Miroir publication. We do not have a big team of people who can address every inquiry. However, if you feel you have art that fits our aesthetics, she is willing to take a look. You can send Nina a link to your website, or you can send samples to: Miroir.curator@gmail.com
Be aware that if she gets overwhelmed by requests you may only hear back if she is interested in publishing your work.
Samples should be in JPG format and 800 pixels on the long side.
Put the theme which your art would fit, in the subject line.
Q: When do we need to submit our work for a theme we have been invited to publish in, can we submit early, and what if we miss that deadline?
A: The due date for art is now on the 15th day of the month before we publish, the print issue comes out on the 1st day of the next month. If you have your art ready by the 15th you will be included. If you miss the deadline another artist will take the space that was saved for your art.
If you have your art ready sooner, you can send it at any time before the due date, just be sure to put the theme you are submitting to in the subject line.
Everything you submit needs to have your name on it, as it is downloaded into a project file, which is shared will all the other artists work. If for example, your interview does not have your name on it, then it will not be used in the print issue. Your art needs to have your name and the title on each image so that it is clearly indicated that it belongs to your submission.
Q: I sent my interview but it was not used in the print issue, what happened?
There are missing credits in my submission, why?
Not all of my artwork was used, why?
A: In nearly every issue we have artists submit their interview, art or credits document which is titled Miroir Magazine instead of titling it with their name. Or they title it with the theme, but not their name. Once your art is downloaded into a shared project file, if the various things you send are not labeled with your name it can get overlooked or deleted. So if you have taken the time to do an interview, prepare your credits, and images, please be sure to put your name in the subject line.
Art should be labeled with your name and the title. (or some of it might be lost and not used in the submission)
Photo editorials should be titled with your name, and a numerical sequence. Example: Sue-Jones_001
Text documents should be titled with your name and the theme: Sue-Jones_text_theme (text includes all credits, website, and titles, if you list titles for art please list them in the order shown in your sample).
Interviews should be titled with your name and the theme: Example: Sue Jones Interview-theme.
If you are missing any of these elements of your submission it slows down our layout process, while we fact-check, look up titles, websites, or try to contact the artist in question to get that information. If we are on a tight schedule and can not gather the necessary information, the credits, websites, or titles might be left out. Or your entire submission might be excluded. Please be sure you have all your information right, especially for photo editorials where other team members need to be credited.
Q: Why was my submission pulled from Miroir Magazine?
A: If we do not have your art in time for our release date or if you forgot to send your artists release, we will unfortunately have to pull your submission. We don’t feel it is fair to keep other artists waiting. If possible we will find a way to include you in a later issue if your art fits another theme. We try to give our artists advance notice so there is plenty of time to prepare and send the submission.
Other reasons why your art might not be used for print: sometimes the samples we have of your art look great, but when we get the high-resolution copies there are issues that need correction, we usually will try to contact the artist and see if they can fix them, but if there is not enough time then they are pulled.
Common issues include the following:
- Watermarks on the image, please make sure your images do not have them. We add text during the layout process.
- Poor editing techniques, please make sure that blemishes are removed and there is a good skin quality to your model’s faces.
- The overall texture (for example, of the skin) should be consistent, we often find part of the image will be smoothed with a blur tool, while other parts show the natural pores and skin texture. We have also found this issue when people are trying to fix background problems as well, make sure the color and texture of the background corrections are uniform or homogenous.
- Improper use of textural layers The texture layer should be the same size as the image layer, if it is too small for the image, stretching the texture to fit the image will cause anomalies, over pixelation and artifacts.
- Masking has similar issues, when using a texture or background layer, please be sure that the masking covers the areas that you intend, it is helpful to look at the image at the “actual pixel” resolution to see if there are any problems with your masking.
Please look closely at your editing over-all before sending it for publication, these differences do show up in print, and I am sure you want to make the best impression when you share your work with the Miroir audience.
Q: What do I need to include in the Drop Box for my submission?
A: Your art/ image files, in the correct size for print. Also your text file, this can be in a Word Document or any other kind of text file. This should have your name, the issue you are submitting to: month and theme, your submission title (unless the title is your name). Titles of your art, credits for your models, designers and other members of your creative team, (if this applies). Your bio and/or artist statement or interview questions. Any links to websites or current shows that you want added to the Miroir website.
Q: How do I get an interview for the Miroir Magazine Website?
A: If you would like to answer the interview questions please just let us know, we would be happy to send you the questions and then post the interview on the website with samples of your art.
Q: Do I need to send only “never seen” or “never published” art?
A: For our publication this is an unrealistic expectation, we accept art that has been published or shown elsewhere as long as the artist is not violating lease agreements with other publishers. We of course would be honored to have first publishing rights to new art that you create if you would have such work available, we would be delighted.
For fashion editorials, if you have published the work elsewhere, we request that you chose a different selection of images from the same shoot to edit for our publication, if possible. However in some cases, it does not matter, as the type of publication and the audience may be quite different from where you published before. But of course we are always happy to have new work.
Q: Does it matter if I have shown my images or artwork on Face Book or other social media sites?
A: This is generally not a problem. We are fine with publishing art that has been seen. However, if you know you will publish with us in advance and have new work for us to debut, we ask that you wait to put it on social networks until after we publish. This just ads to the impact of the issue and makes for an impressive presentation of your artistry.
Q: Will you crop my art in the magazine?
A: Not if you don’t want us to. If we do a full page, or double page bleed some of the edges will get cropped during the printing process. We like to do full bleeds when possible. It looks great and has a strong impact. However we do not choose to do this unless the art is right for a bleed. Otherwise we will float the images on the page with a white or black background. Some cropping usually needs to be done with the cover image, however the art will also be in the layout.
Q: What makes an image good for a bleed?
A: To use an image in a full page bleed, the important elements of the art need to be toward the center on a single page, or on either side of the center if it is a double page bleed. The concerns are both the edges of the art or photo, and the centerfold. If you are editing a photograph with the intention of submitting it to a magazine, keep in mind that you need to leave some space at the edges that can be trimmed off. No hands, feet, heads, noses or other important elements should be too close to the edge. For a double page, do not have objects of interest or faces in the middle of your image, remember there will be a fold there.
Q: What size images does Magcloud display?
A: The largest size of preview on Magcoud is 814 pixels by 1058 pixels or 2.713 inches by 3.527 inches at 300 DPI.
It looks bigger on screen but when I did a screen grab, cropped it and sized it, that was the actual size. This is not a print quality image if copied.
Q: I would like to know what you think of my art and if it does not meet your expectations or aesthetics, what I need to do. And how I can get published. Can the curator give me a detailed review of my submission or of my art in general, if I send links to my website or artists pages?
A: The curator hesitates to critique your submission. Even if it is not what she is looking for or when she feels it is not right for the magazine, she will not want to disparage your efforts. Quite the opposite, the team at Miroir present this magazine to encourage and support artists, both those who have found success and those who are still unknown.
The Curator has been asked this question in various ways, often of late. By artists who are either producing lovely works which are not exactly what we publish, or by developing artists and students. For this reason, we have decided to give you this answer:
Yes, she is willing to give her opinion or explain her decision, however, keep in mind, her view of your art is only one assessment based on her criterion. Furthermore, she will not open an on-going dialogue about it or argue the points presented. It is the sincere hope to publish your art, if it fits with the aesthetics of Miroir and the current theme. When you submit your art, if you want it reviewed, please request it, remain open-minded and remember that anything said is with her best intentions.