Writing Guidelines
Articles
Can I submit an article to the Friend?
Yes. The Friend publishes unsolicited material, particularly letters and articles of the correct length and on an appropriate subject. It is helpful when unsolicited material has already been carefully fact-checked by the writer.
It is often very helpful to email or talk to the editor about an idea before submitting a contribution.
What kind of material do you like to receive?
Any report, reflection or comment on the life, worship and witness of Quakers in Britain is welcome.
We especially welcome contributions from younger Friends, personal reflections on spiritual matters, reports of individual and cooperative witness, and pieces on the faith and/or practice of what it means to be a Quaker.
How should I submit my contribution?
Submissions received by email, as a Word or Open Office attachment, are preferred. Please send your article to editorial@thefriend.org.
You can submit written or printed material to: the Friend, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
What word count should I work to?
The standard word counts for submitted articles are:
▪ One page: 600 words
▪ Double page spread: 1,200 words
One page articles have a much greater chance of being published. There are always hundreds of unsolicited articles in the ‘pending file’ and many of these are too long or on inappropriate subjects.
What is the best advice you can give a potential contributor?
Read the magazine carefully, and regularly, and get a sense of what kind of material is accepted for publication. This is the best advice for anyone who wishes to be published in a magazine.
Do you pay contributors?
Only on rare occasions for some commissioned pieces, as agreed with the editor in advance. All contributors receive complimentary copies of the issue in which their contribution or photograph appears.
What information should I provide?
Please provide your name, address, daytime telephone number and Local or Area Meeting (if applicable).
If you are writing on a specialist area, and have a background in it, such as an academic position, or are part of a relevant association or organisation, it is helpful to know this.
Will you correspond with me about my submission?
The editor is not always able to correspond with contributors about their submissions. If you wish to know the status of your submission, you can contact the office (0207 663 1010) and make an inquiry. Many articles, particularly those that are not time specific, may be held for a considerable time – there is always a significant backlog of unpublished material.
Do you edit articles?
Yes. All articles are subbed, proofed and fact-checked. A consistent house style is applied to all material published.
Do you issue proof copies?
We do not, generally, send proof copies of material to contributors due to the pressures of a weekly production schedule.
Who writes for the Friend?
Contributions from members and attenders of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are given first priority. We encourage subscribers of the magazine to contribute, especially to the letters pages.
However, appropriate material from non-Quakers, particularly on subjects of concern to Friends, is sometimes published.
Letters
Letters are very welcome and are an important and valued part of the magazine.
The maximum word count for a letter is 250 words.
Letters for publication are chosen by the letters editor. Letters may be edited.
Please ensure that your letter includes your name and address. It is helpful to indicate whether you wish to have your Quaker Meeting, email or postal address printed with your name if your letter is published.
We do not have time to correspond with contributors of letters that have not been published.
News
News stories are written by our staff journalist, Rebecca Hardy, and she is always keen to hear from Friends about potential items for the news pages. Please use the ‘Contact us’ form or email news@thefriend.org to reach out to her with your idea or information.
Eye
The Q-Eye page is a home for light-hearted and community-focussed stories that don’t have a home elsewhere in the magazine. Elinor Smallman, our production and office manager, welcomes all ideas. Pleas reach out to her via the contact form or by emailing eye@thefriend.org.
Reviews
Reviews of cultural activities, events, performances and books are welcome.
Photos
We welcome photographs, particularly of Quaker witness and activities in Meetings, and request that they be sent as high resolution jpg files, ideally the original file from the camera.
It is very important that people who are included in a photograph that has been submitted for publication have given their permission for their image to be reproduced in the Friend. We will not use photographs unless this permission has been sought and given.
Illustrations are also accepted for publication if appropriate.
Poetry
Poems are welcome, but poems that do not fit easily on one page are rarely published.
We receive considerably more poems than we can print; please be patient and be prepared to accept that your poem may not be published.
Obituaries
The Friends does not publish obituaries of Friends. We encourage Friends to contact the recording clerk’s office of Britain Yearly Meeting at Friends House in London. ‘Testimonies to the Grace of God as shown in the life of…’ are always an important part of Yearly Meeting.
However, notices of Friends’ passing can be published on our Friends & Meetings page. Please use the Contact Us page, or email ads@thefriend.org, to reach out to our Advertising department for more information.
Copyright
The copyright on material published in the Friend is held by the writer/contributor .
Please be careful when quoting from other works. This can cause copyright problems.
We do receive requests from other publications (almost always Quaker ones) to republish articles. We always contact the contributor concerned where possible and invite them to respond to the request directly. We do not send out contact details of contributors.
The Friends Quarterly carries serious, thoughtful and spiritual articles about Quakerism and matters of interest to Quakers. These pieces are longer than those in the Friend, typically between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Many arise from the author’s own studies, but this is not an academic journal as such. Analysis of historical concerns to Friends and current theology sit alongside personal experience and witness.
Drafts should be submitted as Word documents, with the very minimum of formatting. They can occasionally include charts or diagrams. Sources and references should be shown as footnotes, using the Word referencing tools. The editor welcomes suggestions for pieces, but naturally cannot guarantee publication until a full draft text is received.
Articles or enquiries: editor@friendsquarterly.org
FQ Writing Guidelines
We invite you to consider contributing an article to Friends Quarterly. Friends Quarterly is a long-read British Quaker journal published four times a year, and we are looking for articles between 3,000 and 3,500 words. Please read through the information below and let us know if you would be interested in submitting an article.
Themes
Each edition has a theme and the essays reflect individual interpretations of this – with breadth and depth appreciated. Articles are due in about two months before publication date. After submission we then spend two to three weeks reviewing the articles and sharing editors' comments with you, before sending the revised articles on for layout and printing.
What we need from the article:
1) 3,000-3,500 words submitted by the deadline.
2) Simple layout in Word document or similar with no indentations, bold text, formatting, etc.
3) Any quotes to have academic style referencing in the footnotes; i.e. author first name and surname, title of piece (publisher: year of publication). [website link if applicable]
4) It is useful to make some reference to current day issues (Quaker or global) - and readers always appreciate personal experiences.
5) We also ask you to consider the Yearly Meeting commitment to being an anti-racist faith community, a spiritual imperative of our time. Please be sure to include quotes or sources which help demonstrate the diversity and inclusion we aim to reflect.
In addition to the essay you would also be asked to supply:
a) A short autobiography (between 55 and 65 words), which can include a website link.
b) Your postal address, so that we can send you six complimentary copies of the FQ edition in which your article appears.
c) Two or three possible questions linking to your article for the discussion page, which is designed to help individuals and groups of Friends explore the topic.
If this is not a call for you at this time, please do feel to suggest other possible authors who we might approach. We very much look forward to hearing from you!
