“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
1 Peter 4:10 ESV

Artist Submission Guidelines
Thank you for your interest in SHARING YOUR WORK WITH US
We are delighted that you wish to share your art with our readers. We are looking for artists who share the vision of The Joyful Life and who desire to use their God given talents and gifts to bring glory to Him. We look forward to viewing your lovely work!
about the joyful life
THE JOYFUL LIFE is a quarterly lifestyle print publication for Christian women seeking the authentic JOY found by inviting JESUS into our everyday lives.
Our goal is to help women find the joy and see the beauty in every area of their lives – – Home, Work, Marriage, Motherhood, Family, Friendship, Fellowship, and Community. It’s a publication about REAL LIFE…as raw, vulnerable, beautiful, fragile & joyful as it is.
We hold fast to the truth that Christ is the only source of true and authentic JOY and that it’s only by walking closely with Him that we are able to rejoice and be glad in each and every day and circumstance. We lean on this truth as the foundation and guiding principle of our publication and company.
We believe joy can be embraced by every woman and we aim to be a treasured source of encouragement, inspiration & community in your journey toward living a joyful life.
Join Our artist List
We are currently specifically looking to connect with artists, creators, and makers in the following genres:
– photographers
– illustrators
– hand letterers / calligraphers
– chefs / bakers / food artisans
– graphic designers
If you are an artist of a different genre and you have an idea for how you might wish to collaborate with us, please contact Kaylie to share your thoughts. We would love to hear from you!
We communicate most effectively with those subscribed to our artist list. Requests for specific image genres, illustrations and other artistic content are shared with our artist list first, as well as advanced notice of themes for the print publication and the blog. If you’d like to be included on our artist list, please sign up below.
*IMPORTANT NOTE — Upon joining our Artist List you will immediately be sent our Welcome Email. If you do not receive this email within a minute or two of submitting the form — please check your junk mail. The Welcome Email contains very important information about our communication process with our contributors. Adding our sending email address to your contacts will also help in making sure that our emails are delivered to your inbox in the future.
General Guidelines and expectations
The Joyful Life is committed to providing new and original content (both written and artistic) to our readers, both in our print publication as well as on our blog. All published content must be exclusive to The Joyful Life.
– We accept original content only. The guidelines for artistic submissions are a bit looser than for written content. For images and illustrations, we look for work that has not been widely published elsewhere and has not been shared via stock image websites of any kind. Images that have been shared through your own personal channels are accepted, so long as they have not been made available for purchase, for free use by the public, or published in any other publication (print or online).
– We specifically look for images that are inspiring and inviting, but without a feeling of perfection that leaves readers feeling inadequate and unable to relate. We invite image submissions of elements of everyday life that draw the reader in and inspire, but also offer a sense of relatability.
– We look for images that tell a story, whether through a grand scene, a sequence or in the intricate details.
– We look for a strong emotional connection between the subjects shown in images, as well as images that offer a powerful ability for viewers to connect with and relate to the subjects as well.
– We prefer neutral tones in the images that offer a sense of timelessness. We like a sense of nostalgia in the images as well, and prefer a slight film quality over a highly saturation image. We love detail shots including hands, food, decor elements, especially those that combine qualities of both old and new.
– All submissions will be simultaneously considered for both the print magazine and the blog. Whether a submission is selected for publication to the print magazine or to the blog will be at the discretion of The Joyful Life.
– If your image, illustration, or other art submission is selected for publication, we request 30 day exclusivity from the date it is published. If selected for our blog, we would love for you to share a brief excerpt of the post on your blog and/or social media platforms linking to the full post on The Joyful Life.
– Artists selected for publication on the blog will receive a ‘Featured on The Joyful Life Blog’ badge that they may include on their blog with a link to The Joyful Life. Artists selected for publication in the magazine will receive a ‘Published in The Joyful Life Magazine’ badge.
– All published art work will be credited and linked (when applicable) to the artist’s blog and social media platforms.
– Please note that submissions are on a volunteer basis and at this time we are unable to financially compensate for submissions chosen for publication.
– We ask that you allow 30 days for a response to your submissions, during which time you do not submit your work for publication elsewhere, in the event that your work is accepted for publication with The Joyful Life.
– Photos submitted for consideration must be your original work only and you must be willing to sign a contract releasing your work for publication by The Joyful Life, as well as have obtained the proper legal model releases if applicable.
– We require that all of our artists agree with our Statement of Faith. We are committed to transparency in our beliefs and in our intention as a company to point women to Christ through our content. Because of this commitment we exercise caution when considering artists to partner with and will only accept submissions from those who stand in agreement with our Statement of Faith.
– The best way to describe the style of images we prefer would be ‘Modern Nostalgia’. We long to bring a sense of peace and deep connection to our readers through the images in The Joyful Life. Images they can relate to in the present, but that also fill them with the peace of a simpler time. We encourage you to view our Pinterest Aesthetic Vision Board to see a helpful sampling of the style of images that we are looking for to compliment our publication.

formatting your submission
– You may submit a maximum of 12 images at a time.
– Image files should be submitted as low resolution .jpg files, 72dpi, 1800px on the longest side, and no more than 1MB in size. If your images are chosen for publication, we will contact you to request the high resolution files.
– All files should be named as follows:
LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_TODAYSDATE_01
LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_TODAYSDATE_02
TODAYSDATE should be written in the following format:
20180101
– Submissions must be sent via our SUBMISSION FORM.
For questions regarding submission format, please email Kaylie.
Response time and EDITING process
You will be contacted within 30 days if your submission is accepted for publication. If you have not heard from us after 30 days, please feel free to contact us at submissions@thejoyfullifeco.com with the subject line “Request for Submission Update”. If your submission is still under review and being considered we will let you know quickly. If it has not been accepted, we will let you know that as well and at that time you are free to submit or post elsewhere.
editorial TOPICS
We are looking for images, illustrations, or other artistic contributions to compliment written work that falls under one of our general topical categories.
HOME | Relating to making your home a haven for your family and a warm, welcoming and comfortable place for practicing hospitality. DIY projects and crafts, inspiring decorating ideas, cooking, recipes, gardening, hobbies, homemade crafts, inspirations in homemaking, etc.
WORK | Relating to work outside or inside the home, entrepreneurship, or ministry, work/life balance, home office inspiration, etc.
MARRIAGE | Relating to overcoming common struggles, communication, finding joy within, romance, forgiveness, personal testimony of victory through a difficult season, etc.
MOTHERHOOD | Relating to overcoming common struggles of overwhelm, anger, disappointment, and guilt. Finding joy in the midst of the mundane, celebrating our calling as mothers, seeking Jesus through the pain of parenting wayward children, grace for parenting in today’s digital world, stories of intentional and sacrificial choices for the sake of your children, parenting children as they prepare for college and adulthood, etc.
FAMILY | Family fun, traditions, rituals and rhythms, shared activities, crafts with kids, personal testimonies of God’s grace in difficult seasons, adoption stories, fostering children, serving together as a family, etc.
FRIENDSHIP | Relating to developing deep personal connections, recovering the lost art of true friendship, letting others into our lives on a personal level, being real, connecting in a disconnected world. Overcoming envy, the fear of transparency, and the fear of trusting, etc.
FELLOWSHIP | Relating to growing in our relationship with Christ with other women, accountability, serving, ministry, intentional hospitality for the purpose of fellowship, etc.
COMMUNITY | Reaching out to the community for the sake of glorying God, being the hands and feet of Christ in a hurting world, serving the lost, showing the joy of Jesus to the world, etc.
deadlines
We are currently accepting submissions for our Premier Issue of The Joyful Life Magazine | The ABIDE Issue as well as for The Joyful Life Blog. The premier issue will be released during the Fall in 2018, so holiday themed submissions will be heavily considered as well.
The deadlines for submission to the print publication are as follows:
Issue 00 | Premier Issue, ABIDE | Published in November 2018 | DEADLINE – – JUNE 30, 2018
Issue 01 | Spring | Published in March 2019 | DEADLINE – – OCTOBER 31, 2018
Issue 02 | Summer | Published in June 2019 | DEADLINE – – JANUARY 31, 2019
Issue 03 | Fall | Published in September 2019 | DEADLINE – – APRIL 30, 2019
Issue 04 | Winter | Published in December 2019 | DEADLINE – – JULY 31, 2019
Click HERE to be taken to the SUBMISSION FORM.
