Writer’s Guidelines

Guideposts magazine features true, first-person stories about everyday people who have been changed, in ways large or small, by an experience they’ve had. Narrators face challenges in their lives that they resolve through leaning on faith and God. The challenge can involve everything from day-to-day relationships to close calls to life transitions such as caregiving, divorce, retirement or job loss. Our stories deliver hope and inspiration with a clear spiritual point that readers can apply to everyday difficulties in their own lives.

A story should be told as a first-person narrative, constructed through scenes that make readers feel they are there as the story is happening. You can write a story for someone else, as long as you have their permission. Other tips:

• Tell the story from the perspective of the person who is changed most through the experience. Focus on one specific event or point in time rather than an entire life story.
• Give all the relevant facts so the reader can clearly understand what took place.
• Show the specific change the narrator undergoes as a result of the experience, a message or insight that readers can apply to their own lives.
• Study the magazine and how stories are told.

Payment is made when the story is accepted for publication. We publish full-length stories (1,200 – 1,500 words), shorter features (300 – 600 words) and departments such as Mysterious Ways and What Prayer Can Do. Please do not submit essays, sermons, testimonials, fiction or poetry. We don’t evaluate book-length material. Send stories to submissions@guideposts.org.

Angels on Earth magazine is filled with true, first-person stories of heavenly angels and earthly ones who find themselves on a mission of comfort, kindness or reassurance. Contributors have received angelic messages in dreams and daydreams, during mysterious encounters or random run-ins, from a strain of music heard by chance or a gust of wind on a still day. Angels take surprising forms as they deliver God’s messages, and the unique situations add variety to our pages. Please follow the Guideposts guidelines above. Send angels stories to submissions@angelsonearth.org.

Learn about our online course “How to Tell a Great Story: The Essential Writing Course from the Editors of Guideposts.”