Secular Work in the Religious Market

Secular Work in the Religious Market Do you believe that religious magazines such as Catholic Digest, Mature Years Magazine and Parenting Teens only want religious material? Think again. Believe it or not, many religious magazines downplay theology, leaving that to theologians. Many religious magazines want general-interest articles that appeal to both the churched and unchurched. For example, a recent issue of Todays Christian Woman had an article titled â€Å"A Worn-Out Womans Guide to Good Sleep,† while Jewish magazine Tikkun publishes literary fiction and poetry. This means lots of opportunities for freelancers. Here are five tips to crack religious markets with secular material: 1. First, find magazines that you enjoy reading and study the content. Writing for religious markets involves the same process as writing for secular markets. Just like what you do with secular publications such as Time, Wired, and, yes, The Christian Science Monitor, study the themes and style of the articles in religious magazines. Some magazines are conservative, some are liberal. Just like you wouldnt submit social-justice pieces to Mature Living Magazine, you wouldnt submit travel pieces to Sojourners Magazine. 2. Submit either unusual or evergreen material. In addition to attracting nonbelievers, religious magazines want to entertain. So submit material that only you can create, or submit evergreen materials on health, family and holiday traditions. For example, I cracked a Catholic family magazine 3. Keep it family friendly. Submit unusual material, but dont forget that religious magazines, both conservative and liberal, have their limits. For example, a how-to on having a Fifty Shades of Grey type of relationship will definitely get rejected. Religious magazines prefer subjects that are appropriate for both adults and children. 4. Let the pastor, rabbi or imam talk about God. While religious magazines steer clear of explicit sexual content, they also reject journalistic work thats too parochial. In other words, dont sprinkle your work with religious jargon. Most religious magazines want to attract both believers and nonbelievers, so they steer clear of work that may offend non-religious sensibilities. For example, magazines like Guideposts have wholesome themes, but go lightly on using words like God and the Bible. Read your potential publication to get a feel for their particular style. 5. Prepare to wait a short time . . . or a long time. Depending on the circulation of the magazine, and its popularity among professional and non-professional writers, waiting for a response may take days, weeks or months. Read submission guidelines to get an idea of how long editors hold your query or submission. Here are five religious markets currently seeking writers. Call the magazine or Google-search to find out the name of managing editor. Todays Christian Woman todayschristianwoman.com/help/writers-guidelines/todays-christian-woman-writers-guidelines.html Childrens Ministry Magazine group.com/customer-support/submissions America http://americamagazine.org/contact/submissions Insight Magazine insightmagazine.org/guidelines/ Tikkun tikkun.org/nextgen/submission-guidelines