Writers Guidelines

Below are some general guidelines for your monthly column. So that we can plan and produce the maga- zine as efficiently as possible, please review the following guidelines:

1) Please try to limit articles to 750 words or less. If you include a photo, please reduce the word count somewhat. This word count equals approximately one page.

2) The deadline for articles is 6 weeks prior to the publication date of the issue for which it is intended.

3) To avoid copyright infringement, please use the NIV or KJV translations unless there is a specific reason you wish to use another. Also, please note whether you are using NIV or KJV. The KJV is public domain so we can use that as much as we’d like, and the NIV seems to be the most widely used modern translation. The NIV, along with almost all the other translations, has specific guidelines for usage. It would be very confusing and cumbersome to try to keep up with all of them. We check Scripture passages for accuracy and will replace other translations with the NIV as we do so unless you let us know that it is preferential to use another.

4) Copyright is a very misunderstood concept and certain areas can be vague. Our policy is that a sen- tence or two from a published work or internet source, properly credited, is acceptable. Since we do not use footnotes, attribution should be given within the article. If you wish to use more than a sentence or two, permission must be granted by the publisher, author or web site and submitted along with the article to be put on file. Gaining this permission is not usually difficult (it can often be done by e-mail), but it is your responsibility.

5) If quoting someone (author, speaker, etc.) please give some basic information to identify that person. (For example: “…wrote John Piper, well-known author… or “according to James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family…”) Don’t assume that the reader will be familiar with the person, no matter how well-known they are.

6) If you use any guest columnists, please make them aware of these guidelines and also have them include a short biographical sketch, less than 50 words, to identify them to our readers.