Right after Joshua J. Perkey taught a class on how to write for the LDS Church magazines, a woman writer said to him, "My first rejection was from the Ensign." She is in good company. Every month about 400 people get that same feeling when their submission is rejected for publication in one of the official magazines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Perkey is a senior editor at the Ensign magazine, but as an after-work-hours writer of epic fantasy novels, he also knows a little bit about rejection. That might be one reason why he was so excited to tell a session at last April's LDStorymakers Writers Conference the secrets of getting published in the church magazines.
Because he works at the Ensign, most of Perkey's examples apply directly to that publication. But the principles also work for submitting articles to the international Liahona magazine, the youth's New Era magazine and the children's Friend magazine.
1. Read the church magazines.
"This is the number one thing you can do to learn how to write for the church magazines," Perkey said. "But you'd be surprised how many submissions we get where it seems to us that the people haven't read the church magazines."
For example, if you want to write about a missionary or conversion experience, Perkey said, pick up the last six issues and see how similar stories are presented. "I'm not saying you have to copycat it," Perkey said. "We like unique voices."
"Know our style and our tone and our voice and our approach. Know our audience and our purpose."
2. Do not submit talks.
"Talks don't translate into the printed word in the magazine without being fixed," Perkey said. "If I have 50 articles that are good I'm more likely to pick one of those." Don't submit sacrament talks. Turn it into an article first.
3. Write in your area of expertise.
"Unless you have an academic background you are probably not going to write a church history article or an analysis of scripture that involves study of the Greek lexicon," Perkey said.
4. Don't be preachy.
This is a matter of tone. In a ward, a Relief Society president can tell the sisters, "This is our job and our duty." "But if you are doing it to the whole church, it's not your place to talk like that," Perkey said. "That doesn't mean the message can't be there."
5. Keep sacred things sacred.
There can be articles about patriarchal blessings, but they should not be revealing to the church the personal and sacred wording of the blessing. Keep your dreams private as well. "Your dream was for you, it wasn't for the church," Perkey said.
6. Fix your own work.
Don't expect the magazine editors to make major changes to make your article work. Submit your best efforts.
7. Develop your story.
Many submissions that come in are merely plot summaries. "It has to be engaging and interesting. It has to have a character arc — a beginning and an end," Perkey said. There must be a central idea that holds it all together. There has to be something that changed — something that made a difference in your life.
8. Think about the magazine's needs.
Look for departments — those magazine sections that are repeated frequently like "Family Home Evening Ideas." If a department appears frequently, it needs more submissions. For example, a new section called "We Talk of Christ" features 500-word articles about the Savior. "We've done a lot of narratives, but we are actually looking more now for things that are a little bit more doctrinally involved."
9. Answer calls for articles.
Look for the magazine's call for articles. In the June 2010 Ensign, for example, in the page 3 table of contents, is a call for pioneer stories under the headline "Do You Have a Story to Tell?" The Ensign website, ensign.lds.org, has a link also titled "Do You Have a Story to Tell?" That link has a longer list of requested articles. There are similar links for the other church magazines.
10. Be doctrinally sound.
"Is it really true? Is it really doctrinal?" Perkey said. Quote from the scriptures or a general authority. Avoid controversial topics.
11. Do not assume readers will understand you.
Perkey told about a great article that used a few sarcastic jokes. He told the author, "We have almost a million subscribers for the Ensign. They are not going to get the jokes."
The author was dumbfounded and then horrified. The jokes were cut out.
12. Are you the right person to tell the story?
Many rejected submissions are from a missionary telling someone else's conversion story. They are great stories. "But whose story is it, really?" Perkey said. "Who is the more powerful storyteller for that story?"
On the other hand, an article could work if the focus is on the missionary's experience and how the Lord helped her teach the investigator.
13. Make your story universal.
"This is a question I want you to ask yourself over and over and over again," Perkey said. "'Why should the entire church read (my) article?' … What's the benefit going to be if somebody in Zimbabwe picks this up and all it is really about is snowball fights?"
14. Be humble.
"You really need to make sure the Lord is involved when you try to write for the magazines," Perkey said. Your submission may never be published, but the process of writing for the church magazines should bring you closer to the Lord.
"We need superior submissions. We don't accept a whole lot," Perkey said. "We get 400 a month. We buy about five."
One person told Perkey how her husband, who was not a Mormon, read a conversion story in the Ensign that influenced him enough to take the missionary discussions. The article was one that Perkey wrote. "I went to the baptismal service," Perkey said. "That's why we write in the magazines. … It's not because it is the coolest thing ever, even though it is. It's because we have a chance to change the world."
e-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com