WRITER'S GUIDELINES

New Life Journal is growing, and we encourage contributions! We are accepting articles, news, and features for our upcoming issues. We also encourage submissions of original art, photos, or photos of art. Take a moment to read through our editorial guidelines for writers.

1. Self-promotion/bylines: Although the Journal functions as an advertising medium for health practitioners and green businesses in western North Carolina, upstate South Carolina, and northern Georgia, our articles are purely informative. We accept only articles with practical and documented information, not advertisements thinly disguised as articles. This means articles cannot include case studies or mention the writer’s practice/product/business. Instead, the article will be a gift to the readers, providing them with valuable and practical information and showcasing the writer’s expertise.
   A byline will be included at the top of each article, along with a two-sentence bio, which can include contact information, at the end. (See #7, below.)
   
   
2. Originality: We do not accept previously published articles.
   
   
3. Content: We encourage articles exploring new therapies and treatments, as well as articles offering our readers how-to information (e.g. an article on acupuncture illustrating points to hold to reduce headache pain, or an aromatherapy article with a recipe for an herbal bath). New Life Journal will cover the following subjects: alternative healing, therapies, and healers; holistic nutrition; environmental issues affecting human health (toxic dental materials, pollution, environmental sensitivities); health & nutrition news (government actions regarding supplement labeling, genetically engineered food, organic laws, etc.).
   
   
   Accepted articles may, but are not required to, fit into one of the following departments:
   
   • Herbal Healing: can include coverage of the healing benefits of a specific herb, the use of herbs for a particular condition, instructions on preparing herbal remedies or body care products, etc. Provides the reader with practical knowledge that they can apply in their own life.
   
   • Strong Roots: This can be an interview with an elder or coverage of the wisdom of a living traditional culture which provides us with greater appreciation of ways to connect with nature and one another. This is a celebration of ancestral wisdom and the mystery of life. This is normally not a solicited article, but article submissions to this department will be considered.
   
   • Digging In: gardening how-to articles emphasizing organic growing
   
   • Healthy Home: articles covering all aspects of sustainable building and holistic relationship with living environment. These articles often include how-to information.
   
   • Breath & Movement: practical description of a breath or movement therapy, or question and answer about an aspect of breath or movement therapy (e.g. instructions on how to do a certain yoga pose). This department always includes instructions for movement therapy, bodywork, meditation/breathwork that the reader can try themselves.
   
   • Soul Kitchen: Each issue has at least one article containing seasonal whole foods recipes.
   
   
4. Word count: Contributed articles can range in size from 350–1500 words. Please contact us for space limitations if you are writing for a particular issue.
   
   
5. Voice & Audience: Although we're not afraid of being political, New Life Journal is a positive publication. If you submit an article about cellular telephones' potential for causing childhood leukemia, please include information readers can use to take action on the issue, places to send letters of support or protest, action groups to call, etc. End on a positive note, indicating that we can all make a difference to change our lives for the better.
   
   
   We have a wide readership, ranging from health practitioners to confirmed healthy eaters to the curious general public. Please tailor articles to people who understand the basics of alternative therapies and whole foods, but who want to know more. In other words, don't get too technical, but don't be too elementary, either.
   
   
6. Spiritual Topics: We are not a new age publication. We enjoy presenting alternative therapies and ways of living in a manner that is accessible to all our readers. Although we cover some very translatable, grounded aspects of spirituality and the mind-body connection, our focus is to cater to a wide variety of people who have an interest in natural healing and sustainable living. We make a concerted effort not to distance readers because of a spiritual slant or opinion in an article, and articles will be rejected if they express strong spiritual opinions that may be offensive to some portion of our readership. We realize that we can never please everyone, but our focus is to maintain openness and translatability in our articles.
   For example, we will be glad to accept an article on meditation or a grounded coverage of energy healing, but we will reject articles about channeling, psychic reading, or angelic contact. Conversely, we will also reject an article teaching about Christian prayer. Discussion of these subjects may work in an opinion piece for placement in our Commentary department. Contact us if you have an idea for such an article.
   There are more appropriate publications for esoteric spiritual articles, such as Spirit in the Smokies in the Carolinas and the Aquarius and the Oracle in the Atlanta area.
   
   
7. Compensation: New Life Journal cannot provide payment for contributors. However, we do provide a two-sentence bio that goes with each article, and our advertising costs, both online and in our print magazine, is very reasonable. Also, if you sign our Contributor Agreement, your article will be distributed to millions of readers and researchers throughout the world on the websites and CD databases of EBSCO Publishing and the Gale Group. New Life Journal is an excellent showcase for your writing talents and a forum in which you can share your knowledge, express your interests and concerns, and make yourself, your talents and expertise known in your community and across our region and the world.
   
   
   Please note: If you do not provide a bio with your article, New Life Journal will create one for you.
   
   
8. Format : Articles and illustrations can be provided by email or on IBM-compatible disk (virus-free, of course). Hard copy manuscripts and illustrations will also be accepted. Please include an SASE with adequate postage for materials you want returned to you. Materials should be sent to New Life Journal, PO Box 18667, Asheville NC 28814 or emailed to submissions@newlifejournal.com. Please include your phone number and a return address.
   
   
9. Regional Writers: Articles for New Life Journal are only accepted from writers who reside within our current distribution area. Occasionally, at the editor’s discretion, articles will be accepted from authors or teachers visiting our area to teach workshops or hold seminars.
   
   
10. Publication of Submissions: Submissions are welcomed; however, publication of your article is never guaranteed. Editing of articles is at New Life Journal’s discretion; please realize that your article will be put through the editing process prior to publication.
    Please email submissions@newlifejournal.com or call 828-251-9289 if you have any questions about our writers’guidelines. Your submission should be sent to this email address.
    

Contact the editor with your article idea. Be sure to call 877-290-8768 x 901 in about a week to follow up on your email.