Submitting an Ad, Step by Step

Submitting Classified and Circle Ads
(ads with no photo)

The procedure for submitting a 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 email your ad to anna@sporthorsemarketplace.com. 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.

You may also submit your Classified ad, Circle ad, or Photo Square ad online by following this link [temporarily unavailable. Please email us.].

Submitting a Display Ad

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 deadline chart and try to let us know what size ad you want a little ahead of the deadline. We will then reserve your space. 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 magazine 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. Submitting a finished ad.
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." 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 CMYK tiffs or jpegs. Please be sure 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 attach all fonts and grahics as separate files.
4f. We cannot accept Microsoft Word documents or Publisher files as finished ads.

Step 5. Submitting materials for us to create your ad.
If you would like us to create the ad, email us the text and graphics, and let us know what size ad you want. For costs, click here. Here is what to submit:

5a. The text for your ad. Email all the verbiage you want in the ad and remember to include contact info!
5b. All photos and other images (logo, clip art,etc.). Digital photos and other images can be submitted by email. They should be submitted in print-quality resolution to print clearly (see number 3). If you have only a print image, you can send it by regular mail and we will scan it and return it to you for an additional charge.
5c. Digital photo resolution and quality. We print at 300 dots per inch, so your photo, at the size it will be in the publication, should be 300 dpi to come out looking its best. For a chart of photo resolutions at different sizes, click here. For more information, read on. For example, if your photo is supposed to be 1" across in your ad, see what the width is in pixels in your photo program (multiply dpi times width in inches) and make sure it is 300 pixels (= dots) across (or more). If your photo needs to be 2" across in your ad, it should be at least 600 pixels wide and so on. As an example, if your photo is at 72 dpi and is 6" wide, it is 432 pixels wide (6" x 72 dots/pixels). It will print best if it is not more than 1.44" wide (432 divided by 300 dpi) in your ad. To go the other direction, if you want to run a 4" photo in your ad, it should be 1200 pixels wide on your computer; that would be 16.68" wide at 72 dpi. Note: If your photo is 4" across on your computer but only has a resolution of 72 dpi, changing the resolution to 300 dpi will only make a bigger file; it won't make the image look better at a print size of 4". You can't make the photo have more information than it had to begin with.
5d. What version of photo to send. If you have more than one version of the photo, sending the earliest version is usually best (the largest file, with the fewest edits). We prefer RGB color photos to be submitted in RGB color, and we will convert them to CMYK color for printing. We will also optimize them for print, which includes adjusting the darkness, resizing for the ad, and cropping them if we feel that will improve the ad.
5e. Permission for professional photos. Make sure you have permission to use all images. If you use a professionally taken photo, include permission to use the photo and also how the photographer wants the photo credit to read.
5f. Your idea of how you want the ad to look, if you have one you like. Simply describe it. You can also draw or print out your ad idea and fax it to 608-232-2923 (no cover sheet needed, but make sure we know who it's from). If you work in MS Word, you can email a Word document to show us how you want the ad to look. We cannot accept a Word document as a finished ad, but we can use it to see your design idea. We cannot accept Publisher files. If you don't have a specific idea, and would rather we design the ad entirely, we'll be happy to do so. Design time in excess of one half hour will be billed in addition to the ad cost, but that would typically apply only to ads with more than five images and a lot of text.

Step 6. Payment.
Payment must accompany ad. Please send a check, or, if paying by credit card, please phone 608-232-2922 with a Visa or Mastercard number and expiration date. We do not recommend emailing credit card numbers.

You may also submit your Classified ad, Circle ad, or Photo Square ad online by following this link [temporarily unavailable; please email us].

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 email us. We are always happy to answer questions.