Share Your Article with Our Readers!
Click here for a printable version of these guidelines

Many times we hear people say that New Spirit Journal is a special place, one where they feel at home. We believe the reason they feel this way is because New Spirit Journal is a community newspaper that consists of the thoughts, feelings, dreams, and expertise of the spiritual community. This community cares not only about their own evolution and growth but that of the entire planet and this is expressed in the articles we publish.

All the articles we print are written by people in the community, people who want to share what they know and what they have experienced. This makes the energy of the publication very special, one not to be found elsewhere.

If you would like to share with our readers, read on and find out what we’re looking for, how to submit an article, and other tidbits of information you’ll find helpful.

We are interested in material which will help the readers create a happier, healthier world where all of us can live and grow. We are looking for practical, hands-on, “how to” sorts of articles about career, health, finances, relationships, and spiritual growth.

Whatever the topic you choose to write about, be sure you give the readers something they can do with the information. In today’s world, people are looking for ideas they can actually apply to their daily lives, not just more theory. As you write, think of the practical application people can make of what you’re telling them and be sure to share it.

Articles should be 500 to 1000 words in length and all are subject to our editing requirements. Please see below for an explanation of our editing policies.

We do not accept simultaneous submission of articles and we prefer to print original material. There are so many people with something to share that it does not make sense for several publications to print the same material at the same time in the same geographical area. This is a disservice to the readers. We also prefer to use material from authors who are not currently in print with other local publications for the same reason.

If you want us to consider your article, please submit it to us and await our response. If we do not accept it, then send it to a different publication and await their  response.

We do not pay for articles, but you may include up to 40 words about yourself at the end of the article and give people contact information should they wish to get in touch with you. Please add this to the end of your article when you submit it to us. We do not pay for articles because if we did only professional writers would be heard.

We sincerely believe that many people have wonderful ideas to share but not all are professional writers. We are a community forum where many voices can be heard, not just those of professional writers. Having said that, we welcome submissions from professionals as long as they realize they will not be paid.

We also accept inspirational photos and art. Please provide us with high resolution full color jpeg files via e-mail or on disk.

You can submit material for our consideration by e-mailing it to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

We look forward to you joining the voices within New Spirit Journal!

Our editing outlook:

Like every professional newspaper or magazine, when it comes to punctuation and grammar we use a style guide for reference. This helps us maintain consistency throughout the paper and allows us to apply the same yardstick to every article. The two most used stylebooks are New York Times and Associated Press. The one we use, which is probably the most used throughout the U.S., is the Associated Press Stylebook.

One of the biggest issues we face with editing is that many people in our community want to capitalize words in order to emphasize them or in order to indicate some sort of spiritual belief. For instance, capitalizing the word "self" when referring to a person’s higher self. Or wanting to make words such as sun, moon, etc. capitalized when they are not proper nouns. In these instances, we follow the rules in the stylebook and will change them accordingly.

There are a number of reasons why it's important for publications to stay consistent with grammar and spelling. One of the main reasons that New Spirit Journal tries diligently to maintain consistency is so that the folks who are kind enough to write for us are respected. We treat everyone's articles and their ideas with care and respect. That's why we don't edit content, but we do edit spelling and grammar. Good grammar and spelling put a rich polish on writing.

What about copyright?

We copyright the entire publication so it is not necessary for you to put your individual copyright on your article. You retain all rights to your article. We will not use it in any way other than within the print and internet versions of New Spirit Journal without asking your permission.

How we decide what to print

First, is the piece well-written, original, unpublished and not submitted elsewhere?

Second, does it inspire, inform, educate, and/or challenge the reader to live a happier and more productive life (whatever that might mean to them)?

Third, do we have room for the article in a particular issue? Because this is a free newspaper, we are supported financially by advertising and can only print the amount of articles that the advertising income warrants that month.

If you do not see your article in print right away, do not despair! It is “in the hopper” and will appear in due course. This only means that other articles were submitted prior to yours or that another piece fit the physical space we had available that issue. If the article does not make it into the next issue, please do not change or resend the article. Once we have accepted your article, a lot of work has gone into making it print-ready and we won’t accept an amended version.

Advertising and articles:

Sometimes people ask us if we can coordinate their article with an ad they want to run. Articles and advertising are two separate ways to reach our readers. Although we certainly encourage you to advertise in New Spirit Journal, we cannot accept or print an article because you advertise with us. This would be similar to selling editorial space which we don’t do.

If you do advertise and an article you submit is accepted, we do try to give you the best exposure possible with both. This does not always mean putting them on the same page, although it could. This is the area of layout and graphics expertise where we ask that you trust the process and recognize that we will always have your best interests at heart when we design the layout of the publication.

Thank you for inquiring about our writing policies and we look forward to hearing from you.