Creating a Brave Space for Writers to Flourish

Editorial Guidelines for Article Submission

 

  1. Read through this Writing Collective Framework document and our website to gain a sense of the collective vision that informs our writing, the story of Missio Alliance and our work in the world, and recently published pieces.
  2. Prayerfully listen to the Holy Spirit while reflecting upon what God may be inviting you to write. Prayerful discernment is critical to the creative writing process!
  3. Submit a potential title, thesis statement, and short abstract (summary of your big idea) paragraph of no more than 100 words to the Editorial Director via the online submission form. This does not have to be a final draft version. Dialogue with the Editorial Director over your big picture concept.
  4. If approved for article writing by the Editorial Director, you will collectively decide a publication date (when your piece will go live on our website or Substack), and a corresponding ‘solid first draft’ submission date 5 weeks prior to your publication date. Submitting your draft earlier than 5 weeks is encouraged for deeper editing.
  5. Begin researching, crafting, and editing a piece of 750 – 1,500 words in length (~3 – 6 typed pages). You may request up to a 2,000 word count (~8 pages) piece from the Editorial Director, but consider that as an absolute upper limit unless your piece is split in two or is a part of an ongoing longform series (again, an Editorial Direction decision). Submit a ‘solid first draft’ that includes footnotes, quotation and website citations, and has been checked for spelling and grammatical errors.
  6. Missio Alliance’s Style Guide may be requested from the Editorial Director, but in general, we follow the Chicago Manual of Style (also known as Turabian Formatting, a simplified version of the Chicago Manual of Style primarily used for academic writing).
  7. Complete the Missio Alliance Author Profile form, including a short bio, all relevant social media handles, and a high-quality, recent headshot.
  8. The Editorial Director will return ‘quick rough draft edits’ approximately 1-2 weeks prior to article publication as necessary. Turn around requested edits in a timely manner.
  9. You will receive a preview link and ‘live’ article link approximately 1-2 days prior to article publication. Read through your piece one final time for any last minute changes!
  10. In general, articles are published twice a week at 9:00am EST. Once live, please share your piece on social media while tagging Missio Alliance (@missioalliance) so we can re-share!