Thank you for your interest in writing for Holy Joys. Please carefully review our writing and submission guidelines.
Guidelines
- Length: 1000–1200 words. Contact us before submitting a longer article.
- Formality: Moderate. Articles may have a conversational tone, but they should not read like a Facebook or blog post. Use proper writing conventions.
- Clarity. Clarify your main idea and stay focused throughout the article. Avoid long sentences. Rewrite sentences that are hard to read.
- Flow of thought. The body should flow from the introduction, and the thought flow should be sequential (intra- and inter-paragraph).
- Section headings. Add section headings every three to five paragraphs to break down the article.
- No indenting. Do not indent paragraphs. Do not adjust spacing. Use one empty line between paragraphs.
- Short paragraphs. Short paragraphs of no more than eight lines are recommended.
- One space (not two) after sentences. Do not use two spaces between sentences.
- Italics. When italics are used inside quotations, please designate “emphasis added” or “emphasis original.” Do not italicize entire Bible verses or quotations.
- Footnotes. Avoid footnotes by including a URL to an online bookstore that provides publishing information for the work cited. The URL will be hyperlinked by our editors. For example, “John wrote, ‘This is an example.'” If footnotes are necessary, include them in brackets with a corresponding numbered list at the end of the article. For example, “John wrote, ‘This is an example.'”[1]
- Scripture references. Use in-text citation for Scripture references (John 3:16). Do not hyperlink to the Scripture text; we have a plugin that does that automatically.
Submission
- Email. Email a single-spaced Word or Pages document to articles@holyjoys.org.
- Headshot and Bio. Include a high-resolution headshot and a short, professional bio at the end of your article. For example, “Rev. John Doe is Senior Pastor at Evangelical Church in Chicago, IL, where he lives with his wife Jane and three boys. He earned an MA in Theology from Evangelical College. You can connect with him on Twitter @pastordoe.”
Publication Rights
We retain the right to thoroughly edit and retitle your submission. Significant changes will be sent to you for approval before publication.
After revision, your article will be assigned a header image, formatted with headings and block quotes, and shared on our website and social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). Your article will enter a searchable database and be assigned to categories with similar content. As our readership grows, your article will be republished to reach new people. By submitting content to Holy Joys, you represent and warrant that the content is your original work, you hold all copyright in it, and it does not violate any right or law.
We ask that you do not republish your content for two weeks following its initial publication on holyjoys.org. After two weeks, you are free to republish the content elsewhere, with the request that you note that it was first published at holyjoys.org (hyperlinked). All rights related to the content are retained by you.
