Circus-Maximus.com Submission Policy & Requirements:

Circus-Maximus, Inc. Standard Terms and Conditions

These Standard Terms and Conditions (“Standard Terms”), made and entered into as of the date of the signature, govern the relationship between Circus-Maximus, Inc. (“CM”) and Writer with respect to Writer submitting articles to CM for the purpose of being published. (Capitalized terms not otherwise defined shall have the meanings set forth in Section 1 below.) By signing the Standard Terms, Writer is expressly agreeing to comply with and be bound by all the terms and conditions set forth in these Standard Terms.

1. Definitions. As used herein, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

a. “Agreement” means, collectively, the Standard Terms and Conditions.
b. “Articles” means, collectively, those articles that Writer is submitting to CM for the purpose of being published.
c. “CM” means Circus-Maximus, Inc., a Virginia corporation.
d. “Publication” means CM ’s websites or other media.
e. “Writer” means the party who wrote the Articles and who is submitting the Articles to CM for the purpose of being published.

2. Grant of Rights. Writer hereby irrevocably grants, conveys, and assigns exclusively to CM, forever and throughout the universe: (i) all right, title, and interest in and to the Articles, and any and all parts thereof, free and clear of any and all claims, liens, and encumbrances, including interactive media rights, Internet rights and book rights, and the right to utilize, reproduce, and exploit any of the foregoing rights; (ii) the right to utilize, reproduce, exploit, advertise, and promote Writer’s name, likeness, photograph, and biography in connection with the Publication, CM’s main web site located at www.Circus-Maximus.com, any other web sites owned by CM, and any advertising and publicity relating thereto; and (iii) the right to edit the Articles in any manner CM deems appropriate.

3. Rights Reserved to Writer. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Writer reserves the nonexclusive right to use and reuse the Articles in any form, manner, and media that Writer determines, so long as Writer does not use or reuse the Articles in connection with or for the benefit of any online or print media that competes with the Publication. CM will have the sole discretion to determine whether media competes with the Publication. Except as set forth in the foregoing sentences, Writer reserves no other rights of any kind or nature whatsoever in or to the Articles, all such rights being granted to CM pursuant hereto.

4. Writer’s Representations and Warranties. Writer hereby represents and warrants to CM that: (i) Writer has full and complete right, title, and interest in and to the Articles, has not sold, granted, conveyed, or assigned any of Writer’s right, title, or interest in or to the Articles to any person or entity and has the full power, capacity, and authority to grant to CM the rights granted herein; (ii) no liens, encumbrances, claims, proceedings, and/or litigation presently exist or are pending with respect to the Articles; and (iii) the Articles are wholly original with Writer and shall not infringe upon or violate any statutory copyright, common law rights, proprietary rights, or any other rights whatsoever of any person or entity.

5. Writer’s Indemnification. Writer indemnifies, defends, protects, and holds harmless CM and each of its members, managers, employees, licenses, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns, as well as any third parties claiming rights through CM, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and costs of any kind resulting in connection with or otherwise resulting from the breach by Writer of any of the foregoing warranties.

6. Writer’s Release. Writer releases, discharges, and acquits CM and each of its members, managers, employees, licenses, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns, from any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and costs of any kind that Writer may now or hereafter have against CM, whether for defamation, invasion of privacy or publicity, or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with the exercise of any rights granted hereunder.

7. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement among the parties and supersedes and cancels any prior agreements, representations, warranties, or communications, whether oral or written, among the parties to this Agreement relating to the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or the subject matter herein.

8. Miscellaneous. This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia (without regard to conflicts of law principles), and the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia and Federal courts located within Loudoun County, over all matter relating hereto. In the event of any litigation between or among the parties arising out of this Agreement, the successful or prevailing party will be entitled to recover its reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs in connection therewith. This Agreement may not be amended, modified or supplemented except pursuant to an instrument in writing signed by each of the parties. This Agreement may not be assigned by any party without the other Party’s prior written consent, and any attempted unauthorized assignment will be null and void.

All submission evaluation and approval is at the sole discretion of Circus-Maximus.com.

Requirements:

What sort of material are we looking for?

The Circus-Maximus.com staff wants writers who are passionate about strategy & most especially VGA Planets. Therefore, we hope that prospective writers would be able to generate their own story ideas. You can write about anything you want, as long as it is VGA Planets related. If you write it, we’ll find a place to fit it in. This doesn’t mean you should just engage in long diatribes about your fantasy team or anything of that nature. We want to emphasize that submissions should appear professional and similar to something you would find in a newspaper. Analytical pieces should be well researched (with corresponding citations) and written, while humorous pieces should actually be funny.

Length?

There is no length requirement, but size does matter. Articles should be long enough to cover the subject in some detail, but not so long that you're just repeating yourself. You can look at about 800-1200 words as a general guideline, but don't get into a counting panic; the quality of the article is far more important than how long it is. Excessively long articles will be broken up into 2 or more parts by the Circus-Maximus.com staff and posted as a series of articles.

Format?

Prior to writing and submitting articles, we ask that prospective writers contact the Circus-Maximus.com staff. We want to know what your story is about, when you expect to send it to us, and approximately how long you expect it to be (rough estimates are fine).

All submissions should be e-mailed to Submissions. Please, attach the article as a MS Word document that includes the body of the article and a short hook. If you have any pictures or graphics that you want included in the article please attach them to the e-mail, but only if you own the rights to the images.

Article submissions should include the name that you wish to be known as on your by-line.

Columnists

Interested writers should inquire about becoming full-time columnists. Circus-Maximus.com envisions that people who are interested in writing on a weekly basis can be elevated from Staff Writer (guest columnists) to a full Columnist. Please e-mail Jobs if you are interested.