Most magazines for short stories and poetry are secular. Because of this, I have two questions:

Should Christians submit to secular magazines that publish clean stories and poetry?

Should Christians, as a form of evangelism, submit to secular magazines that also publish stories and poetry with objectionable content?

I would say, "yes" to both questions.

Others might disagree with me on this, but I don't think that all secular media is sinful. Especially a family magazine, that prints good, clean stories. For a Christian, who wants to evengelize the world, this would be a good way to get your message out without the stigma of the Christian label.

(I'm not saying we should be afraid of what people think of us being Christian, only that if something is labeled that way, it can sometimes turn off the people who need to read it most.)

And to the second question, that's more difficult, but still fine, I think, as long as you aren't lowering your standards in order that the magazine publish you.

I definitely agree to the first one. As Willow said, I don't believe there is anything wrong with submitting to a decent magazine that doesn't have a Christian label. A Christian label is not required to be wholesome. I think of it this way - if I were a publisher, I may or may not give my magazines Christian "branding," but they would still have Christian ethics.

I am interested to hear what others say on the second question.

I see nothing wrong with submitting to a secular magazine that is clean. If a story has a Christian message, it is evangelism. Even if the story has no Christian message and is merely clean, it may inspire people to read your other works.

However, in the case of magazines that have objectionable content, wouldn't any evangelistic intent be negated by the likelihood of exposing readers who enjoy your work to other works that are objectionable?

That's a valid view.

However...

We are called to be in the world (but not of it) so I'd have no problem selling a story to such a magazine. No matter what, God could still use it to reach the people who read the other content.

That's true. What I'm concerned about are Christians who might read a magazine because a Christian author is in it, only to be exposed to the objectionable content in other stories.

It's a tough issue, and I think some of it might depend on the specific magazine in question. If I'm submitting to a secular magazine, I have to accept that I won't agree with every single story they publish. A couple of stories I find mildly objectionable (or just "not my type") probably won't stop me from doing business with them. If, however, they routinely publish a large amount of stories that I disagree with, I probably won't do business with them.

I also think it depends on "how" bad the magazine is and in "what" way. If, for instance, the magazine publishes fairy tales, and some of the fairy tales have dark magic - well, that may or may not prohibit me from publishing my "clean" fairy tale there. If, however, the magazine is known for publishing stories with high language and adult content, I certainly don't want to publish there.

I think you have to ask yourself - would you read the magazine in question? What kind of reputation does the magazine have? Do you want that reputation associated with your writing?

All of this comes second to prayer and Spirit's leading, of course.

I'd also dare to guess that the most vile magazines, the ones you absolutely don't want to be associated with, probably won't accept your clean stories anyway.

Hm... I think that publishing anything in a secular magazine would be fine. But if it has questionable content, I wouldn't recommend the magazine to people even if it has your story in it, or, only recommend your story not the magazine. That way people would know you didn't entirely approve of everything in it.

And you never know who God will move because of what you've written.

Pretty much what everyone else has posted before me.

But what about friends and fans who might read it without being warned about the other content? And wouldn't it be uncomfortable to be unable to recommend the magazine you're in?

Depends on how desperate you are to be published in it, I guess. I'd pray about it... ask God for guidance. I've received my best answers that way.

1. Yes
2. No
((I think that any magazine that has "trashy" things in it is definitely not worth reading.))

The latter is the type of content I was referring to.


This actually isn't true, since bad content has become so accepted in society that a magazine would not find anything incongruous about publishing a mix of some clean and some immoral stories.

*wonders where this topic has been hiding all this time* Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Jonathan!

I found it while poking around in forgotten threads, and saw that a reply was needed.

I have a widget on my blog for writing tips, and today's tip reminded me of this thread, so I thought I'd share it:

No book or magazine article is for "everyone" so know your audience then target them with your writing.

I guess with whatever we are writing, we are best off publishing it where it will reach our audience the best. Just a few thoughts.

Interesting thought for me...because my audience is everyone. Really. That's why I write so many vastly different things. I'm touching on every corner of the market I can, to reach the widest audience I can.

That's a really good point, Matt. I guess that's the amazing thing about your writing is that your writing really does appeal to a large audience, and can go so many places.

Yes, but each of your pieces targets a different audience, Matt. As a whole you touch on a wide variety of topics which interest a wide variety of people, but each piece you do appeals to a certain audience.

Of course, that's what I meant.

So no matter what the magazine, I'm likely to have written/be interested in writing something that would fit. Of course mine would be cleaner than most...

Ah, I was confused then, about what you meant.

I'm not a [Christian fiction] writer, I'm a [Christian] fiction writer. My work reflects my values and beliefs, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. But it's not an evangelistic tool. I don't object to that sort of fiction; I may even some day write it. But I think there is a place, too, for fiction, by Christians, that is not designed as a proselytizing vehicle. As such, while I do have certain standards (I would not publish in magazines that also publish pornography or erotica, for instance), I certainly do not object to publishing in secular magazines. In fact, Christian magazines would likely view my work as too secular. As for "objectionable content," except for a few extreme cases, I view the definition of "objectionable" as audience-dependent. I offer no life guarantee that even my own work will be suitable for all audiences; I certainly will not refuse to publish with a magazine because other fiction published there is not. Nor do I think that we are limited to publishing with any given magazine "as a form of evangelism."

I hold the same view.

I've noticed that explicit sexual content is the norm in secular publications now. Publishing in the midst of most other things (swearing, dark worldview) is not likely to damage a mature reader who seeks out the magazine due to a Christian author's story, but coming across casual porn (as it could be termed) is more troublesome.

Actually, most magazines I've ever considered state very firmly that they don't accept explicit material. Although, most magazines I've read seem to have a rather broad interpretation of what constitutes explicit...

Exactly.