Welcome

Greetings from The Voice magazine's editorial team. We have compiled this document to help you understand our editorial process, style sheets, content formats, templates and delivery schedules.

We look forward to working with you to advance shared conservative and Christian values.


The Editorial Process

Story Pitches
Story pitches are always welcome at any time during the editorial process for consideration in an upcoming issue. In each pitch, please include: working title, justification for including the story in the magazine, a word about the timeliness of the topic, list of primary sources (if applicable), and a brief description of the revelations/strategies to be covered.

Accepting Assignments
When pitching a story, we may agree on a deadline together. However, assigned stories will be distributed with deadlines attached. Please be sure that you can meet this deadline before accepting the assignment.

A Word about Deadlines
We must receive content from you on the appointed days in order to meet our deadlines. Of course, you are always welcome to turn your stories in early.

We are on a tight schedule to deliver content to our Art Director for layout and subsequently to the printer. Deadlines are absolutely critical. If you anticipate, for any reason, filing your story late, then please contact your editor immediately. The more forewarning we have, the better our chances to find a replacement solution.

Rewrites
It may sometimes be necessary for you to complete rewrites to fine-tune the article for our audience or to offer additional clarity on the subject. Rewrites must be turned around in 24 hours in order to meet our deadlines, unless otherwise indicated. However, with solid communication, rewrites should be minimal.

When articles are sent back to you for rewrites, you'll find questions and comments in blue inside the file. This will allow you to quickly find areas in the story that need attention. By the same token, when you make your changes/additions, please use blue text so that the editor can find them quickly. Please do not make any additional changes to the non-highlighted text - add or change only what is specifically required.


Content Requirements

The Voice magazine - Advancing Christian Life and Culture. The magazine's purpose is to provide a platform for what the Spirit of God is saying about today's Culture and Christian Life, equipping believers with information, revelation and inspiration to be this generation's reformers and change agents.

Our editorial board is searching for truth on various topics including news events of interest to conservative Christians, Christian living, health and healing, money, culture and leadership.

Our mandate is to advance Christian life and culture into society.

Sources
If your article requires outside sources other than the Bible then submit your sources and references. This is not a platform for legalistic debate, but a platform for presenting Christian shared values in a public forum. So, in almost every case, any writers or interviewees should have a firm grasp on conservative Christian values.

Do not rely on previously published sources or other web sites for the Stepping Stones department - or any other department. These sources won't tell us anything new, and will not make your articles original. If you're successful in finding the right sources, readers will learn from the examples and anecdotes in your articles, and will be able to transfer that revelation knowledge directly to other believers.

Topics
If a topic has been covered somewhere else, let's either find a new angle or a different topic. Ask yourself if the information you're providing is common knowledge to most or has been covered at length already. If not, you're on the right track. We always want to be on the cutting edge. We want to publish what says the Spirit of God to the Body of Christ in this time and season; not what He said last year. Every article should be approached from a Christian point of view. It should all relate back to the needs of Christians and conservatives today.

When you're finished writing a piece, ask yourself if the reader will learn anything new from the article. Your articles should be rich in Christian values, truth and/or strategies to help believers succeed in both life and ministry. In some cases, such as Department articles, a list of standard questions will be forwarded to you so that we can ensure a story that is complete. However, these are only the basics and you will also need to ask whatever else you see fit that might enhance the story.

Additional Guidelines
If specific guidelines are required for a particular department or column, then your editor will furnish that information along with the assignment outline.


Style Guide

This section contains some basic “dos” and “don'ts” in regard to editorial style. Please adhere to these requirements when preparing your stories for submission. Your writing should be compelling, informative, helpful, and motivational.


DO…

Use 12-point Garamond font.

Insert only one space after a period.

Use block style paragraphs with no indents.

Justify the text.

Use “says”, not “said”, in all quote attributions and identify every person quoted with their title, ministry and location. (i.e., “…the ministry,” says Prophet John Doe of Equipping the Saints Ministries in San Diego, Calif.)

Spell out “percent” instead of using “%.”

Use curly (“, ”), instead of straight (", "), quotes and apostrophes.

Use a long dash , i.e., - instead of two hyphens, i.e., --, to represent a dash.

Use a lower case “c” when describing the local church.

Use a capital “C” when discussing the Body at large.

Capitalize Word of God.

Capitalize Body of Christ.

Capitalize Scripture, Scriptural, etc.

Capitalize Bible

Capital the first letters in movements, i.e. Apostolic Movement, Faith Movement, Pentecostal Movement, Voice of Healing Movement

Put Scriptures in quotations if you are quoting the whole verse literally.

Put period after end of Scripture reference, e.g. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Spell out the proper name of the book you are quoting from, e.g. Ephesians 4:11.

If you are quoting Scripture from any translation other than the King James, then include the translation information after the Chapter and Verse, e.g. Ephesians 4:11 (NLT).

Please include full name, ministry name and ministry city and state for all sources in your article. Use journalistic abbreviations for states, i.e. Calif. or California instead of CA.

Double-check key facts with the source to avoid potentially embarrassing errors. During the interview - prior to writing the articles - confirm and reconfirm all name spellings, titles, full ministry names and any other pertinent information with your sources. At the conclusion of the interview, ask the source's permission to call back for fact-checking or follow-up questions.

Include a byline on every piece of work you submit that reads as follows: By XX. Note: Write your name as you would like it to appear in print. Please note: we do not run ministry titles in the bylines.

Please include a brief bio of you to include at the end of the article. This should be no longer than 50 words and may be edited to fit content needs.

Always proofread and spell check your work.

Promptly meet your deadlines.


DON'T…

If your article includes interviewed sources, then do not allow your biased opinion to shine through in your reporting work. (i.e., It's a shame that most churches don't understand the role of apostles today.) Let your sources do the talking in non-teaching articles.

Refer to research or expert opinions without citing examples. (i.e., “Studies show that only 22 percent of Christians today vote - with no reference to any such study.”) Also, don't offer facts and percentages without attributing them to the source (i.e., “Forty percent of pastors are close to quitting the ministry.” -- with no reference as to where that number came from.)

Rely on quotations from other published sources. Your source material must be the result of original research and firsthand interviews.

Don't use discretionary commas (last comma in a series). Use the following style when listing items: a, b and c. Use discretionary commas after the third item: a, b, c, and d.

Leave your punctuation marks outside your quotation marks. Tuck all punctuation marks inside the quotes.

Replace articles without first checking with the editor. If a story falls through, which they sometimes do, ensure that your editor knows about it and approves any replacement article.

Template

We have taken the time to assemble a story template for your convenience. This documents will help you to better understand exactly how your article should appear when you file it with your editor. Please follow this template step by step when compiling the elements of your article.

Headline (describes article)
Subheadline (gives more detail about the crux of the article)
Byline (your name)
Pullquote (Pull out two of the most compelling quotes here)

Example:

An Apostolic Gang
Ex-Gangsters Take the Gospel to the Streets
By Jennifer LeClaire

Pullquote: “We take teams because this work is too big for one man to do it alone. The bigger the team the more we can do for God.” - Pastor Sonny Lara

Pullquote: “We do not send believers out into the bad neighborhoods until they are fully equipped because the devil would chew them up and eat them for breakfast.” - Pastor Linda Lara

Please submit articles in Microsoft Word format for delivery via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If you do not have Microsoft Word, then please paste the article into the message portion of the e-mail. If you have any questions about these requirements, please address them with your editor.


Photo Guidelines

Please be sure to request photos from your sources during the interview. If we can get the photos before the story is completed, that is ideal. Please give your editor the appropriate contact information so that we can deliver a photo request form.

Copyrights

In most cases, you will be asked to sign an editorial agreement. Unless the content is a book excerpt or some other previously published work, this agreement gives Jonas Clark Comunications or agents first rights and reprint rights, which include the rights to subsequent use of the material in future issues, compendiums, digital archives, electronic, special editions, promotional materials, and other periodicals we may publish. Spirit of Life retains the exclusive right to decide whether and in what form to publish the material. The agreement releases the above-mentioned content copyrights.