The original natural family living magazine, founded in 1976. Reader-supported
and trusted by thinking people around the world who want positive alternatives
to high cost, high consumption lifestyles for themselves and their families.
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Contributors' Guidelines Natural Life's audience is made up of families around the world who want progressive, trustworthy information about natural family living. Our articles contain a strong how-to component with information that will help our readers apply green living principles and practices to their daily lives. If you are change-maker who knows your stuff, we'd love to hear from you after you read the conditions below. We are looking for articles written by people who are involved with and have first-hand knowledge of their topics, rather than by professional writers. Knowing your topic is more important than being a great writer; we can help you with the "how" if you know about the "what." We are looking for contributors who can write simply and clearly, in concise, non-academic prose, rather than as professional "experts." Our style is friendly but not folksy, professional but not academic. We don't mind being controversial, but aren't sensational. Most of Natural Life's readers are quite knowledgeable about green living and natural parenting issues, so articles should not be presented at a basic or "entry" level of sophistication. We are looking for in-depth coverage either of topics that aren't covered in other magazines or media or for a new perspective on green living or natural parenting topics. For a profile of our readership, please see this survey. Articles should reflect Natural Life's international focus; we have subscribers and newsstand buyers in our home country of Canada, across the United States, in Australia and the UK, and in many other English-speaking countries around the world. We are always on the outlook for how-to articles about green living, attachment and non-coercive parenting, self-directed and democratic education, sustainable housing, eco-travel and organic gardening, as well as interviews with and profiles of ordinary people who are making a difference in these subject areas. We occasionally accept well researched articles on natural health, but not about natural health products. Since we are not a naturalist magazine, we seldom accept articles about Nature experiences (unless they are about getting children involved with Nature), animals (endangered or otherwise) or conservation projects. From the education perspective, we are especially looking for real-life personal experiences of people of all ages who have learned on their own; articles about democratic schools and progressive education. We are not interested in homeschooling articles that discuss how adults control children's learning or that involve curriculum. We favor first-person experience pieces by parents and learners of all ages who are living a self-directed learning lifestyle. (Our sister online publication Life Learning is devoted entirely to unschooling and self-education so you should consider publishing there as well.) From the natural parenting perspective, please note that we are pro-breastfeeding and adhere to the World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. Gardening, farming and landscaping articles must focus on organic, biodynamic, permaculture or other natural methods and not employ agricultural chemicals or polluting machinery. They should use the principles of re-using and recycling where at all possible, and not promote specific products. Food-related articles, including recipes, should not contain unhealthy ingredients (which includes sugar, food colorings and other additives). Nor should they contain references to specific products, brands or companies. They should be vegan or vegetarian in nature. Any health claims made must be backed up with evidence of research. We do not publish event notices or articles about events that have occurred, nor do we publish poetry. We tend not to publish articles about environmental or social problems, or public policy issues, unless the problem is presented in the context of offering solutions that individuals can implement. We do not publish "advertorials" or articles profiling or intended to promote specific products, services, businesses or organizations. In fact, we seldom mention products or companies by name in our articles. We do not publish product reviews. Here is more information on our ethics policy. Please do not send us general "I'd like to write for you, give me some ideas" letters. When you have an article idea that you think would be suitable for Natural Life Magazine, query us by email with a detailed outline of the proposed article; do not send finished articles unless requested to do so by the editor. We are not able to accept phone queries. In order to help us decide whether or not your proposed article would be suitable for publication in Natural Life Magazine, we would like to see a 50- to 200-word synopsis of your proposed article that highlights the points you intend to make. Tell us how the article will benefit our readers, why the topic is timely, how it differs from other articles on the topic that we have recently published, and why you’re the appropriate writer to discuss the topic. Then explain your unique angle or perspective, and the tone or style you plan to use. Tell us about the lead or "hook" for your article, what will it focus on, what examples you might provide, and how you are going to interest readers in your article. Lastly, identify your type of sources: if you’ll be writing from personal experience, if you will be interviewing primary sources or researching the topic in books and on the Internet. We appreciate knowing if your article has been published elsewhere in the past, or if you have submitted it to other publications recently. We also need to know if you have any business affiliation with any person, organization or company mentioned in the article. We prefer to correspond via email; such queries are usually responded to within a few days. Regular mail queries will be responded to within two months of receipt, but only if accompanied by a self-addressed envelope and sufficient return postage (from Canada). Sorry, but we are not able to deal with telephone queries. Optimum length for articles is 2,500 words, with a maximum of 3,500. Most articles in Natural Life Magazine are accompanied by sidebars, which provide additional how-to and resource information about your topic. Sometimes, we will extract that information from your article; other times, we will compile the information ourselves and incorporate it in the layout. Your submission should, where appropriate, include resource suggestions for these sidebars, such as book titles, websites, organizations, etc. We do not pay contributors, except in copies of the magazine. (We like to barter, so feel free to make us a proposal.) We can give you a platform to communicate with a unique group of knowledgeable, engaged, passionate readers. Articles are accepted for one-time use in a particular issue of Natural Life Magazine. That means we require your permission to publish the article one time in the magazine and to have it appear in that context on our website and in a PDF version of the magazine, which may be made available on our website, and as part of third-party CD/DVD versions or compilations of the magazine. Writers retain all other rights to their work, and are therefore free to contribute their articles to other magazines or websites without our permission. However, we ask that you not publish the article anywhere else internationally while the issue of Natural Life in which your piece is running is current. We also ask that the editors of other magazines credit Natural Life if the article has first appeared here. Once your article proposal has been accepted by the Editor, you will be required to sign a contract describing the above copyright conditions. If you wish to submit photographs to accompany your article, they should be high resolution (300 dpi, 6-inches largest measurement minimum) electronic files in TIF format. Please include photo credit information and suggest captions (although we may not caption the photos). If the photographs have been taken by someone other than the writer, we require a release signed by the photographer. If you are submitting photos that include recognizable individuals, you should have a release form on file signed by those recognizable individuals or a parent/legal guardian. We reserve the right not to include your photos if they don't fit with our layout or are not of sufficient quality. Here are some general copyright guidelines that we have prepared for the use of all Life Media authors. Your article will be edited for spelling, punctuation, grammar, clarity, space and consistency in tune with the editorial style of Natural Life. If major renovations are required, your article will be returned to you for reworking. We use gender-neutral language and appreciate our writers structuring their work to avoid referring to all people as "he" (accepted articles will be edited to reflect this policy if necessary). Prospective contributors are encouraged to read an issue or two before querying us. Copies of Natural Life are available on some newsstands, or directly from us at either of the addresses below for $6.95 (plus taxes where applicable). PDF versions of some back issues are also available on this website. Articles must be submitted by email or on CD in text or Microsoft Word format. Hard copy submissions are not accepted. Please do not format articles in any way (fancy fonts, embedded photos, tabs, etc.) A schedule of upcoming editorial deadlines can be downloaded here.
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