Lifetree Writer Submissions

Send all proposals and submissions to puorgbus@group.com

Lifetree resources
Lifetree is an imprint of Group Publishing that focuses on serving individuals in their everyday faith walk. Group Publishing is a nondenominational publisher who has served churches with resources for Sunday school, vacation Bible school, Bible study, mission trips, and more for over 40 years. To learn more about Group, visit group.com. Or, if you would like to be considered to write resources for churches, please visit the Group submission guidelines.

We’re always open to proposals for compelling, relevant devotionals, Bibles, books, online articles, guest blogs, and programs that reflect who we are and fit our lineup.

Take a look at the following information to get to know us, our audience, and how to submit a proposal better.

Who we are
Lifetree is a faith-based life and family resource provider seeking to share the voice of real people who love Jesus and others. We understand firsthand that relationships are tough work, and we want to encourage spouses, parents, neighbors, friends, children, and Jesus-followers with real stories about what love and adventure look like in everyday life.

In other words, we’re real people—our voice is casual, funny, and hopeful (not professional, preachy, or judgmental). We believe that story matters, and that pronouncements of what people “should” do usually don’t accomplish much (except make people feel extremely guilty). We tend to favor authors who walk through tough issues with people, not those who simply point and offer shame if readers don’t shape up.

We’re currently tightly focused on helping others (and ourselves) be centered on Jesus as we navigate our daily lives, and also on deepening our friendship with God. And we’re exploring how to make discipleship less a discipline and more of a joy as we engage the heart of Jesus.

Our audience
The most important thing to us in our content is that it relates to our readers, so here’s a little bit about the children, youth, and adults who buy and use our products and read our online articles:

• They’re spiritually open and are attracted to Jesus.
• Most of them are Christians, but not all. Some are exploring faith and are drawn to conversations about faith and values, especially as it relates to their relationships.
• They love the things you love: TV, sports, food, exercise, video games, coupons…
• Like you, they’re busy—and struggle to find balance in their lives.
• They worry about their families and want the very best for those they love, in every way possible.
• They’re experiencing highs as well as lows in everyday life, and many are going through challenges right now. These challenges sometimes make them feel alone and discouraged.
• They love to laugh and especially enjoy a refreshing poke of fun at life to balance out the stress.
• Many are married and raising kids of all ages.
• They represent a mix of traditional and blended families.
• They like pizza. (Well, we assume they like pizza. We haven’t conducted a survey on this, but we’re pretty sure about it.)
• They love to have fun—especially kids! If kids aren’t having fun as they learn, they tend to wander off to find something else to do.
• The kids we serve have people who love them (moms, dads, aunts, uncles, friends, and grandparents) who buy them resources intended to help kids know, love, and follow Jesus. Or have fun. Or both. So if you’re submitting something to us please make sure it lives at the intersection of “Faith” and “Fun.”

What are we looking for?
Following are some topics we’ve addressed lately in our resources and online content (articles, Bibles, devotionals, craft books, storybooks, journals, planners, and more). If you have something fresh to say about these topics that will connect with our audience and that reflects the Lifetree vibe, we want to know about it. Or, if you have a new topic you know this culture needs, we’d love to see that, too!

• How it looks and feels to follow Jesus in everyday life
• Creative stories about how faith has transformed our perspective or changed our relationships
• Fun and useful ideas and activities for creating lasting memories as a family
• Creative ideas for raising kids
• Spiritual growth and character development
• Time management, setting priorities, and finding your unique rhythm as an individual and/or family
• Courageous stories about traveling through hard times
• Hope and humor for marriages
• What it means to have a friendship with God (and that God wants a friendship with us)

What aren’t we looking for?
We’re not acquiring young adult or romantic fiction, fantasy or science fiction novels, general Bible studies, poetry, or autobiographies.

Questions to ask while writing
We know not everything will apply, but these are good questions to ask yourself while you’re writing:

• Is this relevant? Will the reader think, “Yeah—this person totally gets how life/marriage/faith/parenting/discipleship/loving Jesus is for me.”
• Are you giving readers helpful advice/insight/ideas for how your content applies to their situations?
• Can I offer a tool or resource that a reader can print/purchase/paste on the fridge? Or a (non-cheesy) activity to do as an individual or family?
• Is this real and honest about the struggles and challenges of everyday life? Does this reflect how things truly are for you rather than how you think they should be?
• Will this make the reader feel something? Will it make a reader laugh…cry…debate…forgive…etc.?

Print Submission Guidelines:

Considering creating content for print publication? Keep this in mind...

• It all starts and ends with the audience so write with the reader in mind. Be clear and conversational, never professorial or patronizing.
• We value practical insights rather than complicated theological constructs.
• Write to people, not at them—come alongside readers as you share with them.
• Stories—we love stories. Readers love stories. Incorporate stories.

Sending in your proposal…
You know all that stuff you’ve heard about proposals needing to be one page and one page only?

Not around here.

Around here we want you to take whatever space you need to clearly and concisely answer three questions:

What is it you want to write?
Give us a solid description and also a table of contents and chapter or two, if possible. You’re asking us to decide if this is something we want to pursue; show us what you’ve got.

Who are you to write it?
Are you a published author already? Do you have a unique perch from which to address your topic? Do you have information or insight that’s available nowhere else?

Who’ll buy what you’re writing?
We assume you’re writing with your reader in mind. Who’s that reader? And saying “This is for everyone” isn’t an answer, by the way.

Some questions to consider and include in your proposal:

• Is your idea original? Is the idea for this resource yours alone?
• What makes you the best person to write this resource?
• Is this resource practical? At Lifetree we’re not big on publishing theoretical resources; our readers are looking for something that scratches an itch, not something that considers the various theological positions of itching.
• What can you do to help sell this resource? How are you uniquely positioned to market it? What kind of platform do you have that would help its sales? Include links to any websites, resources, or blogs that help us know more about you and what you’ve done.
• Does it reflect biblical principles? Group is an interdenominational Christian publisher and everything we produce reflects that perspective. That means we want to always be biblically accurate, but we don’t want to reflect a specific denomination’s point of view.
• Is there anything else out there like what you want to do? What’s the competition for your resource? What else has been published that is similar to your idea, and how will yours be superior and unique enough that people will buy it over anything else?
• Is what you’re creating clear and easy to use? Does it make its point concisely? If there are instructions involved—if you’re writing a family craft book, for instance—are they clear and the supply list simple and inexpensive?
• Have you already written it, have a sample, or a table of contents? Send it!

Online Submission Guidelines:

Please note that we are not currently accepting new online content. However, you may still submit your content and we will review it for future projects.

Qualities of good content for articles and blogs:
When it comes to online content, here’s what we want to see:

• 500-800 words (1,000 words max)
• Quality structure (aka your story needs a clear beginning, middle, and end. Bullet points are welcome.)
• A catchy headline that draws people in (example: 6 Situations I Never Imagined I’d Face as a Parent and How I Dealt With Them)
• A compelling question or action that invites the reader to engage
• If you include other sources or quotes, please cite references.
• If we select your article to be included on our website, you’ll receive the following:
  • a photo + byline with links to your website/blog and social media accounts

Additional Submission Guidelines:

• Submissions should be included as an email attachment as a Word document. Please feel free to submit multiple ideas/posts in one email.
• Please be sure the body of your email includes your name, address, phone number, and email address.
• Include a brief (2-3 sentence) bio. If you have a photo, send that too! · Send your submission to puorgbus@group.com—it will be passed along to us quickly and efficiently. And you can expect a reply back from us once we have reviewed your submission. Please allow 1-2 weeks for a response.