If you want something to be read, it has to be legible. We're in the business, though, of helping each other make things legible, so the starting material will not always be in the best shape. Let's pay attention to these basic things, though, and it will be at least a little easier in the earliest rounds.

• Columns of text should be no wider than 12 words and no less than 7. Wider columns make it harder to find the next line and shorter ones makes the reader stutter at every line break. This rule is squishy at the edges, of course, but not at the extreme.
• Use distinct section and chapter headers. Make them bigger, or bold, or something. Chapters traditionally start on a right hand page. Section headers traditionally are larger than text but not as big as chapter headers.
• Use page numbers. Ha ha that's obvious rightNO. We shouldn't have to put up with, “I know. I'll put on page numbers later.” If you want people to look at pg. 17, bottom sidebar, throw us a bone. If you don't know how to do page numbers with your particular software, look online. If you still can't find it, ask here before submitting.
• Submit your texts as PDFs. Everyone can read them, your fonts stay, they look accurate under close scrutiny, and your charts and illustrations will look like they should. Do not submit Word files, MS Publisher files, InDesign files, or giant JPEGs of your text. (JPEGs of illustrations are, of course, fine.)
  Link to the file in your submission.
• Make charts and tables carefully, then insert them into context in your text. Don't put them on different pages unless you must. Information is best understood in small chunks of contextually relevant material.
• If your publication has unusual features — a board, weird pieces — take pictures of prototypes instead of just describing them. If you can't find some or can't make prototypes out of cardboard or by taping other parts together, consider how hard it's going to be to make them in bulk. If you're making a couple of sets to play at cons, consider that you can't make them at all.

I… I'm sorry, Josh, but I can't help but feel that your forum is biased towards some idea that designers should know how to do layout. Frankly I think that's ridiculous. I'm not terrible at it, but I don't have any particular skill, either. My point is that I honestly can't personally imagine a text so messed up in presentation that I could not read it well enough to give critique. I've critiqued games presented in ASCII text sans paragraphs. Contrary to urban legend it will not make your eyes bleed. 

     Wouldn't it suffice to just say, “present it as well as you can?” No? Folks have to be counting words in their columns? What do I pay Matt Snyder for? 

All of what you have are good suggestions. Sure, it'll improve the chances of a critique, and the critique may even be more cogent.

     But rules for submission? 

Mike

Windows doesn't do PDF by default.  PDFCreator is free, open-source, and works well.  It creates a “printer” that actually saves PDFs, so it works with any program you can print from.  I use it and like it.  In addition, some software can specifically save PDFs; OpenOffice leaps to mind.

On Linux, modern distributions provide a PDF “printer” by default, and many programs do it directly as well.  Worst case, install a generic postscript printer (it doesn't not actually have to do anything), print to file, then use ps2pdf to convert it.  I might be able to assist if anyone has specific programs on Linux they need help with.