The Jellied Eel
A short guide for writers
First, thanks for your help – without voluntary contributors like you we wouldn’t have a magazine.
In return, we hope you get what you want and need out of the opportunity of tens of thousands of people across the
capital seeing your work.
This is a consumer magazine…
Not a third-sector report, university paper or newsletter for a small clique of people with detailed knowledge about any
particular subject.
We want share the good stuff with, and highlight some of the not so good stuff to, a broad range of Londoners. As
such, please keep it relevant and readable! Please, PLEASE write in real, everyday English, avoiding jargon and
acronyms. Keep it unpretentious, light (even conversational) translate any gobbledegook and show what it all means
for people in their everyday lives
Though your piece must be well-researched and factually correct, it doesn’t need footnotes and citations - a simple ‘X
said’ or ‘in her 2013 book Y, Z wrote…’ will do.
Local, ethical
The Jellied Eel is the magazine of London Food Link, which is part of the national food and farming charity Sustain.
By promoting independent artisan producers, socially conscious eateries, sustainability initiatives and people who
stand at the forefront of all things ethical, our mission is to empower and inspire readers to seek out and enjoy the
best of London’s local larder….or even start supplying it themselves. But again, that’s not how we’d write it in the
magazine!
When writing for The Jellied Eel, please remember that it is the ethical eating magazine for London. As such, it is
always important to keep an eye out for the sustainable/ethical angle to any story.
In no particular order, always look to see if there’s a story to be told about food production/distribution that’s:
 healthy
 local
 seasonal
 sustainable
 animal/fish friendly
 fairly traded
 small-scale artisan
 community focussed
If in doubt whether a particular food is a bit controversial, double check with the editor if we have a position on it –
farmed prawns would be a good example.
To get a feel for what we’re about and our style/tone, please have a look at back issues and extra articles on our
website, as well as our sustainable food guidelines:
www.thejelliedeel.org
www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood/
Imported food
As there are so many great stories to be told about people growing and producing food in and around London, there
really has to be a very strong case for us featuring anything imported.
For example, a tea, coffee or chocolate company would have to have a London production base (not just a registered
HQ here) and be able to demonstrate clearly that it’s working to decrease the negative impact (on people and/or
planet) it has and, preferably, having an actual positive impact. Fairly traded, worker-owned cooperatives, organic
production are all great starting points but as (happily) many companies now tick these boxes, we’re really looking for
enterprises that are taking even more steps.
Real people’s voices
What really brings a piece to life is ‘hearing’ someone’s voice. Londoners actually involved in what you are writing
about put real people’s ‘faces’ to what might otherwise be an abstract story – particularly if you get photos of them in
action to help illustrate your feature. It is also a way of getting opinion into a piece, as long as you make it clear it is
that - and note that any offensive or misleading/untruthful quotes will hit the editing room floor. They hopefully will also
give you facts you didn’t know and perhaps even help your research by giving you more contacts or sources of
relevant information.
Usually we will know some of the best people to speak to already, so have a look at the list of Jellied Eel stockists on
our website, look at what projects Sustain is running, and chat to the editor and/or London Food Link coordinator to
check out who we know. Aim to speak to anything from three to half a dozen people per feature, depending on length.
Accuracy and impartiality
A basic rule of good journalism is to get your facts right. If you make a sweeping statement, please be prepared to
back this up with evidence. This isn’t a scientific journal, so we don’t need citations in footnotes and an ‘according
to…’ note in the text is usually fine.
While we love to champion people we believe are doing good things, our features aren’t advertisements. Not matter
how fab people and enterprises are, please steer clear of hyperbole. We also encourage you to flag up other people
and enterprises doing similar good work in the particular field, either in the body text or as short snippets we can run in
a boxout.
Images
Though we do sometimes manage to find photographers to contribute images as well, it would be a great help if you
could get a few shots for our designer to choose from to help tell the story – either by taking them yourself or asking
for pictures from the subject(s) of your piece.
Shots need to be in focus, light and not blurry.
As a glossy, full-colour magazine, we need images of higher quality than you can get away with on screen. Ideally
they should be at a resolution of 300dpi (dots per inch) - web pictures tend to be under 100dpi, which will appear
blocky in print.
.
Though the latest phone cameras are starting to get quite good, many still produce lo-resolution images and have
small, not fantastic lenses that won’t result in a sexy shot, however many megapixels it has.
Sustain’s email system tends to fall over under emails with large attachments, please send any image (or set of
images) that are larger than 5mb by a file transfer site, eg wetransfer.com
Please also let us know the photographer to be credited – using a photo without the permission of the photographer
could land us in all sorts of copyright problems.
Regular features/columns
Shopping Basket
A hamper of new goodies from London producers. Please ask the supplier if they would be happy to donate the
featured product for us to give away in a subscribers’ competition/prize draw, which is part of our incentive to people
to subscribe.
(av. 80 words per item plus product image)
Bulletin
News snippets from the London, local ethical food scene.
(av. 80 words per item. Most should have an image to illustrate)
Around Town
More news, each bite focussing on a different part of the capital by postcode.
(av. 80 words per item plus product image)
To Market
Full page feature on a local food market and its stallholders. Please focus on small, local to London producers, who
are doing something a bit different and have a demonstrably ethical edge (organic, biodynamic, social enterprise, food
waste reuse, certified sustainable fish, Real Bread etc. No coffee, tea or chocolate). Please cross reference the
market’s list of stallholders with our list of stockists and London Food Link members - chat to the editor or LFL
coordinator about the latter.
Intro of around 250 words, plus around 100 words on the featured stallholder.
Photo-wise, a few choices of general views of the market (though try to avoid recognisable photos of customers), plus
the featured stallholder at his/her stall. Make sure we can see the smiley face properly – unless you adjust exposure
for the shade under the canopy you might have to bring the person in front of the stall.
The Eel Loves
A full-page snapshot of the ethical/local food scene of a neighbourhood, picking out restaurants, cafes, producers,
markets, box schemes, breweries, retailers…
(300-500 words. Short intro on the area, then 50-80 words each on up to about ten enterprises. Please take photos of
at least a few of them for our designer to choose from)
On The Menu
A look at one of London’s ethical eateries
(300-500 words, plus a selection of images of the place)
Star Stockist
A profile of one of the 150 or so eateries and retailers that stock The Jellied Eel.
(300-500 words, plus a selection of images of the place)
Local to London
Full page feature on a London food producer.
(500-700 words, plus a selection of images of people and product(s))
What’s On
Diary of classes, networking events, open days, food festivals…
(Max 40 words per item, with URL)
Other features
One page features run from between about 500-700 words and double page spreads can be up 800.
We’re always happy to receive feature idea pitches from would-be contributors.
Editing
We often edit items to fit the magazine, both spatially and stylistically, so please don’t take it as any criticism of your
work.
In some cases we will send it back to you for a redraft or polish and/or for fact checking and will give you a steer of
what we need if we do.
To reduce the amount of pruning you or we need to do, please keep within the word count you’ve been given