Frequently Asked Questions

Submitting Writing

Where do I send meditations for possible publication?
How many meditations can I send at one time?
Is one time better than another to submit my work?
Why do you ask for writers' social security numbers?
What format should meditations be in?
When will I know if my writing is going to be published?
Do you pay for the meditations you publish?
Do you reprint material from other publications?
Can I submit someone else's work for publication?
What is The Upper Room magazine's copyright policy?
Can material from The Upper Room be reprinted?
How does The Upper Room differ from other devotional magazines?
Are your readers and writers mostly from one denomination?
Should writers avoid mentioning some topics?

The Screening and Editing Process

What happens to meditations when they are submitted?
Should writers avoid some topics?
How do you evaluate meditations?
Are there subjects you try to address in every issue?
Who decides what will be published?
Do you change meditations before publishing them?
What do editors do?
Do you provide evaluations to writers?

Reasons material is returned/pitfalls to avoid

What are some reasons meditations are not used?
What can I do to increase my chances of being published?
What writing traits cause problems for translators?
What is the most common error that writers make?
What subjects do you most need?
What subjects should writers avoid?

International Considerations

Are there some subjects that you can"t use?
What makes material unusable in translation?
Can we quote hymns and poems and similar sources?

Questions about use of the Bible in meditations

Do you prefer one translation of the Bible over another?
Why don"t you quote paraphrases of the Bible?
Who chooses the scripture verses that appear with meditations?
Do you ever change the Bible passages suggested by writers?



Where do I send meditations for possible publication?

By U. S. Postal Service: Send them to the Office of the Managing Editor, The Upper Room, P. O. Box 340004, Nashville, TN 37203-0004.

By e-mail, send them to TheUpperRoomMagazine@upperroom.org. Include the meditation as the body of the message, not as an attachment, since our anti-virus software sometimes strips out attachments or garbles them. Be sure to include your postal address as well, since we will need to correspond with you if we want to publish your work.

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How many meditations can I send at one time?

Send as many as you like, since not all you send will probably be accepted. We publish any one U. S. writer only three times a year, so if you send a dozen wonderful meds if will take us four years to use them all.

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Is one time better than another to submit my work?

You always want to send in your work when the editors are in a good mood. Just kidding. We need good meditations all the time, so submit your work whenever you wish. If the content is seasonal, the meditation will be filed for the appropriate issue. We prepare meditations a year in advance of use date to allow for simultaneous publication around the world, so seasonal meditations (Christmas, Easter, etc.) should reach us 15 months before use. If they do not, they will have to be held in our files even longer before being considered for use in a specific issue.

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Why do you ask for writers' social security numbers?

We do not need a social security number in order to evaluate your work, and submitting your writing without including the SSN will not prejudice us against choosing your work for publication. However, once your work is chosen for use in a specific issue, we will ask for your SSN. Federal law now requires that we withhold 28% in taxes from payments to writers if we do not have their social security numbers on file. If you don"t want to give us your SSN, that's your choice, but we will have to withhold 28% from your payment when checks are issued. The form bearing your SSN is returned to our finance office, and the information is kept in our secure financial system.

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What format should meditations be in?

We read every meditation that comes to us, whether it is typed or handwritten, single- or double-spaced. But typed, double-spaced material is easier to read. Ideally, we like your work to come to us on white paper, typed. Your name and address should appear on every page you send, not just on a cover letter, in case the pages become separated from one another in handling.

Meditations that you submit should include all the elements that appear on a meditation page in the magazine -- a title, a suggested scripture reading, a quoted verse from the Bible, a story/anecdote from your life, a prayer, a "Thought for the Day" (a pithy, summarizing statement), and a Prayer Focus (suggestion for further prayer). Meditations should be about 250 words long, including all the elements listed above.

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When will I know if my writing is going to be published?

Postal-mail Submissions: We do not acknowledge receiving these submissions unless you include a stamped, self-addressed postcard asking us to let you know we have received your work. However, if your work is being considered for possible publication, you will receive a postcard from us within about four to six weeks after we receive your work. If you do not receive a postcard, your work has not been placed in our "possibles" file and is not being considered for publication.

E-mail or Web submissions: If you send your work via e-mail or the web, we will send an acknowledgment via e-mail that your work has reached us. This e-mail is only an indication that your work has reached us. If your work submitted via e-mail is being considered for possible publication, you will receive a postcard via postal mail.

All submissions: If we choose your work for publication in a specific issue, you will receive a letter and a form to complete and return to us. Since we send these via postal mail, your postal address should appear on each meditation you submit. It may take up to a year for a final decision about publication to be made. This letter and form will come to you about a year before the meditation actually appears in print.

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Do you pay for the meditations you publish?

We give an honorarium; currently it is $25 per meditation. This small amount is more recognition than payment. The checks come the month before the date of the issue in which the writing is published. For example, people whose writing appears in the July-August issue are usually paid in early June; those whose writing appears in the September-October issue are usually paid in early August; and so on.

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Do you reprint material from other publications?

We do not use material that has appeared in other publications because we want to feature as many different perspectives as possible. If a person's writing has been published already, we choose to give those whose work has not been published a chance to have their witness made public.

One exception to this is material that has been published for a very small circulation, such as in an individual church's newsletter. We publish some meditations from these sources, especially from special Lenten or Advent devotional guides prepared by a local church for its members. We always need material that addresses these two seasons of the Christian year.

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Can I submit someone else's work for publication?

Since we must contract directly with each person whose work appears in the magazine, we do not want third-party submissions. Work submitted to us should come from the writer of the material.

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What is The Upper Room magazine's copyright policy?

All material that appears in the magazine is copyrighted. We buy the right to use each meditation in one issue of the magazine, in all its editions and forms, and in compilations of material from our magazines should we choose later to include it in a compilation. This is a non-exclusive right, meaning that writers can also offer their material for publication in other places. If writers want to re-publish their meditations as part of a collection or in some other publication later, they automatically have the right to do so, since we contract only to use a meditation in one issue, as stated above. (Writers should always indicate on the first page of a submission if the piece they are submitting has been previously published.) We ask that writers not publish meditations in other places within a year of the time the meditation appears in The Upper Room.

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Can material from The Upper Room be reprinted?

Material can be reprinted from The Upper Room magazine under these conditions: 1) Reprinted material must be used exactly as it appears in the magazine, without editing and with the writer"s name included. 2) When reprinted, the material must be accompanied by a copyright notice containing this information: This material is copyrighted by The Upper Room, Inc., P. O. Box 340004, Nashville, TN 37203-0004, copyright (date of issue) and is used by permission of the publisher. 3) Material cannot be used in connection with fund raising or in resources that will be sold. 4) Two copies of the reprinted material must be sent to The Upper Room magazine, P. O. Box 340004, Nashville, TN 37203-0004. One copy is for our files; the second copy is for the writer whose work is being re-used.

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How does The Upper Room differ from other devotional magazines?

Our magazine is unique in several ways. First, the meditations in the magazine are written by our readers from around the world, not just by professional writers and theologians. These readers/writers are from many different Christian denominations, and therefore their perspectives are diverse. Second, the magazine is translated into 43 languages other than English and is published in 72 editions for simultaneous use around the world. This means that material we choose must be usable in translation, not just in English. In its many editions, the magazine circulates in more than 100 countries and is read each day by almost three million persons (in addition to being broadcast by radio in many areas). Third, the magazine uses religious art on its covers. This art represents many schools and eras of art, both classic and modern, and includes many media.

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Are your readers and writers mostly from one denomination?

We do not know the denomination of many of our readers and writers, but we know that many are Methodist. We also know that many are members of other denominations. The Upper Room magazine is owned by the United Methodist Church and operates under its oversight, but it is separately incorporated and does not receive subsidies from The United Methodist Church or any denomination. All its income is from sales of magazines and books. Since its beginning the magazine has been non-sectarian and directed to an interdenominational audience. Our title page describes the magazine as "International, Interracial, Interdenominational." We seek to build on what we have in common as Christian believers, not on the points of doctrine that divide us, and we welcome diverse perspectives. We believe that our diversity is one of our riches within the family of God, and we seek to reflect that diversity in our publications.

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What happens to meditations when they are submitted?

Meditations are stamped with date received. A first reader looks at the meditations and culls the ones that are obviously inappropriate for us -- too long, too short, completely wrong kind of writing (prophecies, poetry, fiction). Those that remain are sent to an editor for reading. At this point nine out of ten are eliminated from consideration. The meditations that we consider a possibility for publication are filed by subject with other similar material that arrives about the same time. We consider material in the order it is received. That is, what comes to us first is considered first for publication. Every two months, we go to our files to collect a set of meditations to be considered for a specific issue of the magazine. To choose these, an editor reads again all the similar meditations. For example, all the meditations about forgiveness that we received in one two-month period are read as a group. From each subject group, the editor chooses the most effectively written meditations. If several are based on the same scripture passage, the editor chooses the best of these and eliminates the others. If there are two or more meditations by the same writer, the editor chooses one of these and eliminates the others. The world editor then reads and chooses the meditations that will be edited. The edited meditations go to a group of editors who look at them one by one and discuss whether each would be helpful to readers. These editors decide by consensus what will appear in the issue.

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Should writers avoid some topics?

We do not avoid mention of the sacraments or of concepts such as salvation, but we do avoid mentioning details that would cause readers to exclude themselves from the spiritual truths our writers seek to convey. For instance, we edit out mention of the mode of baptism or the frequency or manner of receiving Holy Communion. In general, we avoid theological terms because most readers find such language unclear and therefore unhelpful. We prefer that writers talk about their personal experience with God in everyday life.

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How do you evaluate meditations?

We look at each meditation first to assess its potential helpfulness to our readers around the world in their Christian life. Content is the most important consideration. Then we look at the meditation's use of scripture, length, and the writing style. We do this to assess whether a particular meditation will require more editing than is feasible with our staff limitations. If, for instance, a meditation is much too long, is missing many of the elements needed for our format (a suggested Bible reading, prayer, "thought for the day"), or has many grammatical errors and unclear statements, editing it to fit our needs may require too much staff time to justify publishing it.

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Are there subjects you try to address in every issue?

We do not attempt to address a specific list of subjects in each issue. However, we evaluate each meditation by reading it alongside the other material that comes to us at about the same time. To do this, we sort meditations into subject categories. The subjects are:

  • Spiritual Disciplines
  • Forgiveness
  • Relationships
  • Evangelism/Witness
  • Nature/Animals
  • Personhood/Uniqueness
  • Trust and Obedience
  • Biblical Story Retold
  • Christian Action
  • Family
  • Healing/Illness/Death
  • Struggle/Growth through Hard Times
  • Personal Relationship with Christ
  • Catholicity of Faith
  • God's Love/Grace/Praise

We do not aim to address all of these topics in every issue. The subject divisions simply help us to sort and evaluate what comes to us. We look at similar meditations as a group in the editorial session to be sure we address subjects in a balanced way. For example, we would not want all the meditations about healing and illness to show every person being healed or no one ever being healed, or those about spiritual disciplines/prayer to discuss only intercessory prayer and never any other kind. The subject headings help us internally to manage the volume of meditations we receive.

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Who decides what will be published?

Preliminary readings by editors eliminate the meditations that are obviously not useable -- those that are much too long, much too short, not clearly written, or do not use scripture responsibly. The final decision about what will be published is made by a group of editors. This group includes laity and clergy, male and female, people from various denominations, people of various ages, and people from more than one cultural/ethnic group. In addition, persons new to our staff in any capacity are invited to participate in the group editorial session, to help them learn about how we choose material for the magazine. Decisions are made by consensus. If the entire group cannot come to agreement that we should publish any particular meditation, it is not used.

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Do you change meditations before publishing them?

All meditations that appear in the magazine are edited. The most common reason for editing is that the meditation is too long. We have to cut out words or rearrange material to fit the meditation on a page of the magazine. We also edit for correct grammar and for more forceful style and to make meditations understandable in other countries. We verify all matters of fact (spellings of place names and proper nouns, heights of mountains mentioned, facts of nature such as animal habits) and correct/change the meditation when necessary.

We also sometimes change the suggested scripture reading or quoted verse in order to avoid duplicating them within an issue. However, many times the content of the meditation is so closely tied to a particular scripture passage that no other will do. (We like meditations that are closely linked to scripture.) In those cases, we defer publication of the meditation to a later issue if necessary to avoid duplications.

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What do editors do?

Basically, the editor's job is to help writers look good. Editors help writers:

  • Say it well (clearly and concisely)
  • Say it correctly (help with grammar, spelling, etc.)
  • Tell the truth (by verifying facts -- names, dates, scientific information such as the temperature at which water boils or the height of a mountain)
  • Tailor writing to the audience

A good editor preserves the writer's unique voice (amplifies and tunes it; removes "static") and cuts the material to fit the available space without changing meaning. The editor takes out words or ideas that might be perceived as static by the reader, anything that obscures the writer's point or distorts the writer's voice. At Upper Room Ministries, we celebrate the diversity that characterizes the worldwide community of believers. We want to help writers tell their stories in the most effective way possible. All material that we publish is edited.

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Do you provide evaluations to writers?

We do not usually return meditations that are sent for consideration. If you send a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your work (one for each meditation, since they are evaluated and filed separately), it may be returned. If your work makes it through several steps of the evaluation process and then is eliminated, it will be returned to you with an encouraging letter asking you to try again. We are serious about this invitation; nine out of ten of those who submit their work do not get this far. If we encourage you to try again, we really think you will be able to write for us, but for some reason (see question #18) this particular meditation did not make the cut. The letter includes a list of possible reasons that otherwise good meditations may be eliminated.

However, because we receive several thousand submissions each year, it is not possible to provide individual evaluations of meditations. We do not have enough staff members to do this.

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Reasons material is returned/pitfalls to avoid

The most common reason is that the meditation is not clearly written -- it may be so general as to be vague and not give readers anything specific to "see." However, even some well-written meditations cannot be used. Here are some of the reasons:

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What can I do to increase my chances of being published?

  1. Study the Bible and listen for how it connects to your daily life. Then include those insights in a meditation to help others connect scripture with their life.
  2. Study less-well-known parts of the Bible for insights that you can share with our readers. We get more meditations based on the New Testament than on Old Testament/Hebrew scripture. Since we try to balance New Testament and Old Testament readings and quoted verses, basing meditations on Old Testament books of Law and prophecy puts writers in a smaller pool of writers. However, we receive many more meditations based on the Book of Psalms than we could ever use.
  3. Write about current events and what constitutes Christian response to them.
  4. Write in a conversational way, as if you are talking to a friend. Don"t try to be literary or eloquent. Just be yourself. We want real people to talk to other real people about what it means to live their faith in specific situations.

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What writing traits cause problems for translators?

We do not use material that has appeared in other publications because we want to feature as many different perspectives as possible. If a person's writing has been published already, we choose to give those whose work has not been published a chance to have their witness made public. Almost everything written in English seems to be longer in translation, so anything that requires explanation in addition to actual translation is a problem because it takes up more space. Here are some examples:

Allusions to familiar hymns or stories cause problems because translators have to explain the content of the hymn or summarize the story in order for their readers to understand the connection between the illustration and the spiritual insight and its application to daily life.

Geography For people familiar with the United States, mentioning moving from Florida to Oregon as an example of long distance is fine, but that would require translators to explain where these two states are on the continent; mentioning North and South within the USA as culturally different would require explanation for readers in other countries. Similarly, when writers from any other country refer to local geography or topography, translators and editors must add to the meditation to explain the meaning of the reference.

Similar-sounding words Building a meditation on confusion or similarity of two words (cents and sense or scents; presents and presence; sun and son) will not work in translation. Many meditations about children mispronouncing words or saying cute things fall into this category.

Structures such as repetition of a sound that writers use effectively in English can cause problems for translators. For example, a meditation that relies on "the power, the promise, the possibility" as a framework for moving from paragraph to paragraph within the meditation would be a problem because three words equivalent in meaning in another language would be unlikely to have the same beginning sound. Quoting rhymed poetry is always a problem, both because of copyright issues and because keeping rhyme is seldom possible in translation.

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What is the most common error that writers make?

Many writers fail to move from their particular story to a wider, general spiritual truth that applies to all readers. Most people need help in order to see the link between someone else's experience and their life.

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What subjects do you most need?

We do not use material that has appeared in other publications because we want to feature as many different perspectives as possible. If a person"s writing has been published already, we choose to give those whose work has not been published a chance to have their witness made public.

We would like to include more meditations that discuss how relationship with Christ begins, particularly those that do not show a dramatic beginning. Many people come into relationship with God gradually and quietly rather than abruptly and dramatically. We would like to offer helpful models of that. We also need more good meditations on how we can share our faith/evangelize. And we rarely get good meditations on the subject of tithing; we want meditations that do more than just say, "You should tithe because the Bible says so." And finally, though times of struggle or crisis are often times of growth, we also need meditations that are positive, that focus on praising God and rejoicing in God's grace and love.

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What subjects should writers avoid?

First, though no subjects are taboo, some subjects are too big to approach in only 250 words. Controversial and complex theological subjects can seldom be dealt with adequately in short meditations. On the other hand, our goal is to help readers reflect on the meaning of scripture for their daily lives and to respond to God"s call to them. If there is some aspect of a difficult subject that can be dealt with as it relates to everyday life, in a way that deepens personal responsiveness to God, we would be glad to have a meditation on that subject.

Also, there are some subjects that do not cross cultures well. For example, people in the United States consider their pets to be almost as important as human members of the family. Dogs and cats are allowed indoors; we grieve when they die and spend money on medical care for them. However, in some cultures dogs and cats are sources of dietary protein. In many countries, animals are valued primarily because they are tools in earning a living. Therefore, meditations that make pets central characters are often not useable. Meditations on subjects like dating or dieting are often so specific to first-world, affluent cultures and so foreign to other cultures that they would be unusable without extensive changes

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Are there some subjects that you can't use?

We do not use material that has appeared in other publications because we want to feature as many different perspectives as possible. If a person's writing has been published already, we choose to give those whose work has not been published a chance to have their witness made public. Some subjects do not cross cultures well. For example:

  • People in the United States consider their pets to be almost as important as human members of the family. Dogs and cats are allowed indoors; we grieve when they die and spend money on medical care for them. However, in some cultures dogs and cats are sources of dietary protein and animals are valued primarily because they are tools in earning a living. Therefore, meditations that make pets central characters are often not useable.
  • Dating is a practice unknown in many cultures, and meditations about relationships between unmarried men and women are often problematic for many of our editors and translators.
  • Meditations on dieting are so specific to USA culture (and so foreign to other cultures) that they may be unusable without extensive changes. In most of the world, the problem is not eating too much food but not having enough food. On the other hand, people in all cultures eat together, and we like meditations that give our readers glimpses into the practices of other cultures.
  • Meditations built on word plays or acrostics (M-O-T-H-E-R, where each letter begins a sentence or is the initial in a word) do not translate and therefore make those meditations unusable.
  • Using quotes from hymns or assuming knowledge of familiar hymns usually makes meditations unusable.

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What makes material unusable in translation?

Meditations built on word plays or acrostics (M-O-T-H-E-R, where each letter begins a sentence or is the initial in a word) do not translate; these make the meditation containing them unusable.

Slang words and phrases are often difficult or impossible to translate. Using standard English helps to assure that material can be translated and will in ten years still mean what it means today.

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Can we quote hymns and poems and similar sources?

Using quotes from hymns or assuming knowledge of familiar hymns often makes meditations unusable because these require additional explanation for readers in other countries. This makes the meditations too long in translation.

Poetry is a problem for translators because the structures that make it poetry in English do not survive translation. In addition, use of as little as two lines of poetry requires specific permission from the copyright owner and often payment.

Quotes from secondary sources can be included provided they are verified and the copyright owners do not require payment. Writers should submit with the meditation a photocopy of the quote from the printed source and the copyright information for the source. Meditations containing quoted material that is not verified cannot be used.

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Do you prefer one translation of the Bible over another?

We quote from four translations of the Bible: the New Revised Standard Version, the Holy Bible: New International Version, the Good News Bible (Today's English Version), and the King James Version. We have to limit the number of translations we quote from, so we limit ourselves to these because they are widely known and available and are the versions our readers use most often.

Since we are required to publish copyright information for each translation we quote and our magazine is very small, using many translations would require us to use an entire page in each issue for the copyright information. The limit grows out of our space constraint.

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Why don't you quote paraphrases of the Bible?

We do not use paraphrases because of translation and international concerns, as well as because of space constraints (see above question). Paraphrases may illuminate the meaning of scripture, but they often do so by elaborating on meanings of the original languages. In many places around the world only one translation of the Bible is available, and the ideas found in paraphrases may not be even hinted at in that one available translation. Meditations that build on the overall meaning of a scripture passage, rather than a single word that may not appear in translations, are easier for translators to deal with.

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Who chooses the scripture verses that appear with meditations?

Usually, the suggested scripture reading and the quoted verse are chosen by the writer and included on the meditation when it is submitted to us. We prefer that writers write every element in each meditation; this makes for greater unity of ideas and tone. If a writer does not include one or more of the elements, an editor will have to add them. However, the editor may introduce ideas that the writer did not intend, so we prefer that the originator of the meditation write all of it.

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Do you ever change the Bible passages suggested by writers?

We do sometimes change the suggested reading or the quoted verse, for one of three reasons. First, we do not duplicate suggested scripture readings or quoted verses within an issue of the magazine. If two writers suggest the same reading or quote the same verse, we change that element on one of the meditations. Second, writers may misinterpret or misconstrue the meaning of a scripture passage. For example, the Bible verse "Blessed are the pure in heart" refers not to moral purity but to having a heart that is filled with only one thing -- essentially, it refers to having a focused heart. In cases where a writer make a point that is not intended in the scripture passage, we change the reading or quoted verse. Third, in many settings, each day's meditation is read aloud/heard. The quoted verse must be understandable and be a complete sentence without the context of the full scripture reading, since this is usually not included, so we may change the quoted verse if the writer quotes only a part of a verse.

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