Write For Us

Articles should be no more than 1,000 words in length. Articles between 500 and 700 words are encouraged. Stories frequently reflect a Lutheran-Christian perspective,
but are not intended to be “lecturing” sermonettes. Popular stories show how God has intervened in a person’s life to help solve a problem. Also needed are seasonal and special interest stories and stories reflectingGod’s presence in nature. Seasonal stories should be submitted at least 6 months in advance of possible publication date. Please review the following schedule when submitting holiday pieces:

Issue              Topic              Submit By
Fall           Thanksgiving       April 15
Fall           Christmas             April 15
Winter      Easter                    July 15

-Stories with premises such as: “I was walking my dog (watering the lawn, washing the dishes, etc.) when I suddenly thought about how God takes care of my daily needs (gives us nourishment, washes away our sins, etc.)”
Personal tributes to deceased relative or friend are seldom used unless
the subject of the article is well known.
-Stories about the moment when an individual personally accepted Christ.

Scripture references, which should be included for any Biblical quotations, should be inside the final quotation mark. [Example: “God so loved…life (John 3:16).”] Also, the first letterof all pronoun references to God and/or Jesus should be capitalized

Front page–In the upper-left corner include your name, address and phone number. In the upper-right corner, note the word count. Title should be centered and printed in upper- and lower-case lettering, 1/3 down the page, followed
by your byline. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, with paragraph indentations and spacing between paragraphs. A short, one-line biographic sketch should follow the article. Please do not submit more than three or four articles every three months.

The Lutheran Digest prefers to receive email attachments in Microsoft Word format. Response to, and return of, manuscripts that are not accepted will occur only if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. We take no responsibility for lost or damaged manuscripts. Our preference is to not receive simultaneous submissions, but they will be considered. Please notify us of the manuscript’s simultaneous submission status.
Manuscripts submitted by email should comply with the Manuscript Mechanics section above. We regret that the number of unsolicited submissions we receive makes it impossible to respond to everyone. Therefore no responses to manuscripts submitted by email will be made unless a manuscript is accepted for publication. Emailed manuscripts should come as separate attachments and not be included in the body of the email text. Acceptable email attachment formats are Microsoft Word documents or .pdf (portable document format) files suitable for viewing with Acrobat Reader. Manuscripts that come in any other format will not be reviewed.

The Lutheran Digest generally pays $35.00 per article on acceptance, plus a complimentary copy upon publication.

Authors are encouraged to submit previously published articles for which they have retained reprint rights.  Payment is generally $35.00 on acceptance plus a complimentary copy upon publication. [Note: As a professional courtesy, the last publication to feature the article will be acknowledged via a credit line. Be sure to include the name/publication date of that publication.]

The Lutheran Digest accepts a limited number of short poems each issue. We’re most likely to accept poems of one or two stanzas that will fit into a single column of the magazine. Only two full-page poems are used each issue. Subject matter is open. There is no payment for poetry, however, a complimentary copy is sent when the poem is used.

We are interested also in seeing poems that can be sung to the melodies of familiar hymns. We do not publish poems that are depressing or express the poet’s despair with life or with God. Please do not submit more than three poems in a month.

FILLERS: Items such as “Recipes Lutherans Digest” and jokes may be submitted. A Complimentary copy of the magazine will be sent on publication.

The Lutheran Digest buys one-time rights for original material or one-time reprint rights for previously published items. We also ask that authors allow us to grant limited reprint permission to individual churches for use in their congregations. (Commercial inquires
are referred to the author.) Articles accepted for print may also be considered for our website (www.lutherandigest.com). If we include your article on our website an additional payment will be made.