Classified and Circle Ads for the print magazine.

The procedure for submitting a text-only classified ad is simple. Write your text, calculate your cost based on the number of words (see Classified Ads for information about counting words, and the Ad Rates Chart for cost per word). Then contact us and submit your ad. All you need to do is write the text of your ad into your email. If you are paying by check, mail the check along with a copy of your ad. If you are paying by credit card, please call us at 608-232-2922 with Visa or Mastercard number, expiration date, security code, and billing address information. We do not recommend emailing credit card information. Our voice mail, however, is only available to us, so it is safe to leave that information in a voice mail message if you do not reach us (listen for our message so you know it's us!).

The procedure for submitting a Circle Ad is the same as for Classifieds above, but the cost of a Circle Ad is a flat rate. See Circle Ads for more information, and the Ad Rates Chart for cost.

All text ads, including Classifieds, Circle Ads, and Business Box ads are on sale for a limited time! See Ad Rates Chart.

Placing a Display Ad in the Print Magazine

A Display Ad is any ad with a photo or other graphic, or any ad larger than a Circle Ad.

Step 1. Decide on a size.

Display Ad sizes range from a Photo Square to a full page or more. Your decision will be based on the impact you want your ad to have, the amount of material you have to put in the ad (text, photo(s), logo), and your budget. For impact, bigger is usually better. To see how much material will fit in a given size ad, it is helpful to look at past issues of Sport Horse MARKETPLACE and look at how much other advertisers have fit into their ads. Also, simply look at the material you have. For example, if you type up your ad text and it fills a half page, and you also want to include two photos, it probably won't fit comfortably in a 1/8 page ad size! If you are not sure how much will fit, email your materials and an idea of what you are aiming for in size/cost, and we can give you a pretty good idea of what size you will need. See Ad Rates Chart for ad sizes and costs.

Step 2. Reserve your ad space.

Please check the deadlines chart and try to let us know what size ad you want by the space reservation deadline. We will then reserve your space in the best position available at the time of reservation. A Note About Deadlines from the ad designer: I allow myself about 3 weeks after the stated deadline to create ads and put the issue together. We normally continue to accept ads during that time. You are welcome to call (608-232-2922) or email and ask if there is still space and time to get an ad in after the deadline; however, you take your chances with space availability, placement, and possible late fees. I try also to keep the space availability posted on the home page of this website.

Step 3. Decide who will create your ad.

You can have us create your ad or submit a finished ad. If you want us to design your ad, skip to Step 5. If you prefer to design your own ad (or have a third party create your ad) go on to Step 4.

Step 4. Creating your own ad: file formats.

You can create your own ad, or have someone create it for you. The finished ad must be in a format we can use. These are the formats we can accept:
4a. PDF. Make sure that all elements (photos, logos, and type) of the ad are converted to CMYK color before the ad is output as a PDF. We cannot accept a PDF that has any element in it that is not CMYK; it will freak out the printer's imagesetter (and we don't want that). Make sure the ad dimensions are exactly right for the size you want. PDFs come in a whole range of qualities; make sure you choose a quality that will work on a printing press. We print at 300 dpi. Choose "Press Quality" or "X-1a" or the highest resolution available. Also, remember that with a PDF, if a typo is found, or something needs to be changed later, you will need to change the ad and re-output as a new PDF and resubmit it to us. We cannot change PDFs.
4b. Adobe Photoshop file. We can accept ads built in Photoshop and saved as .psd, .tif, or .jpg. Please be sure that the file is saved in CMYK color and that the resolution is high enough to avoid being disappointed in the print quality of your ad. We print at 300 dpi. That means the photos will look good at 300 dpi, but if you have text and artwork with sharp lines, the overall resolution should be higher if you want the text and line art to be really sharp. 600 dpi should give good results.
4c. Note on jpegs: The jpeg format compresses the "information" it contains. For best results, use the smallest amount of compression possible (use the highest quality setting).
4d. Adobe Illustrator file. We can accept ads built in Ilustrator and saved as Illustrator documents (.ai) or .eps files. Text: make sure all text is converted to outlines (do not just embed fonts) before saving in final form. (Select all the text and go to the Type menu and choose Create Outlines.) Graphics: Make sure your starting document is in CMYK color, and make sure all graphics are in CMYK (select all elements on the page, go to the Edit menu, choose Edit Colors, and choose Convert to CMYK from the submenu).
4e. Adobe InDesign document. We can accept an ad as an InDesign file. Please be sure to Preflight your file and Package it so it includes all fonts (Mac OS compatible) and graphics as separate files.
4f. We cannot accept Microsoft Word documents or Publisher files as finished ads.

A note about photos: if you use a professionally-taken photo, you must have the permission of the photographer to use the photo in advertising.

5. Getting your ad to us.

We prefer that you submit ads by email; phoning to make sure we know it's coming is a good idea, since email is not flawlessly dependable. We can accept ads sent by FTP, and prefer that for very large files; we have very successfully used an FTP transfer site called YouSendIt.com, which is free and has very clear directions. If you use YouSendIt, please send a separate email or call to let us know to expect a file. We can also accept CDs by mail.

6. Payment.

Payment must accompany ad; we accept checks and credit cards (Visa and Mastercard only). If sending a check, please be sure to identify what ad it is for. If paying by credit card, please phone 608-232-2922 with a Visa or Mastercard number, expiration date, security code, and billing address. We do not recommend emailing credit card numbers.

Thank you for advertising in Sport Horse MARKETPLACE! If any of these recommendations is unclear, or if you want additional help, please call us at 608-232-2922 or click here to Contact us. We are always happy to answer questions.