Program Book Submission Guidelines

Writers’ Guidelines for Program Books

Who We Are

Download the Program Book Guidelines here. (PDF, 39 KB)

Download a sample skit here. (PDF, 101 KB)

Thank you for your interest in writing for Standard Publishing’s program books. Each year we produce five books of ideas that people can use to plan holiday and seasonal worship services and programs for their churches.
Standard Publishing’s program books are:

Church Programs for Special Days* (New for 2009!) (64 pages)
Easter Programs for Children (New for 2009!) (48 pages)
Easter Programs for the Church (48 pages)
Christmas Programs for Children (48 pages)
Christmas Programs for the Church (48 pages)

*Church Programs for Special Days includes resources for:

What We Need

1. We accept unsolicited manuscripts for these books. Following are the types of works that we purchase for program books:
   1. Dramas & Plays (productions with a serious tone or subject; 20-30 minutes running time)
   2. Ideas for special services and programs, such as recognitions or times of year when one needs to find a fresh addition to the worship service
   3. Monologues (dramatic sketches performed by one actor)
   4. Poems (compositions in verse)
   5. Readings & Recitations (short works designed to be read aloud, not memorized)
   6. Skits (humorous stories or sketches)

What We Offer

1. Payment is on acceptance. We pay $25 per poem and 10¢ per word for all other manuscripts.
2. Authors will receive one contributor’s copy of the book in which their work is published.
3. We will make every effort to let authors know whether or not we are purchasing any of their submissions within four months of the submission deadline.

What We Require

RIGHTS

1. We purchase ALL rights to your material. We do not accept previously published work.
2. We require all authors to sign a contract if their work is accepted.

DEADLINES

1. We accept Easter and Special Days submissions during the month of March.
2. We accept Christmas submissions during the month of October.

PREPARING YOUR SUBMISSIONS

1. Please read and carefully follow these guidelines before you submit your material.
2. We only accept electronic submissions. Attach your manuscripts to an e-mail.
3. Save each of your manuscripts as a separate document rather than putting several manuscripts together in one document. It is fine to send us one e-mail with multiple manuscripts attached.
4. Please name your manuscript attachments the same as the titles of your submissions. If the names of your submissions are “Home for the Holidays,” “A Sailor Remembers,” and “The Best Pastor of All,” then your attachments should be named the same (for example, Home for the Holidays.doc).
5. Send all program book submissions to: programbooks@standardpub.com.
6. Prepare your submissions in MS Word.
7. At the top of the first page of each manuscript you submit, be sure to include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. Also tell which program book and/or special day your manuscript is meant for.
8. Line and word counts:
   1. For Church Programs for Special Days:
      Maximum count for poems is 30 lines.
      Maximum count for all other submissions is 900 words.
   2. For the Christmas and Easter program books:
      Maximum count for poems is 30 lines.
      Maximum count for all other submissions is 2,100 words.
9. Within two weeks of our receiving your e-mailed submission, we will send you a quick e-mail letting you know that we received it. If you do not get a confirmation note, your submission may not have reached us. Please send it again. Always keep a copy of everything you send. Standard Publishing cannot be held responsible for lost manuscripts.
10. All quoted Scriptures must state the reference and translation from which they were taken. We prefer the International Children’s Bible® for children in preschool and the New International Version® for elementary children, teens, and adults.
11. Standard Publishing follows Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and The Chicago Manual of Style.
12. We use sentence style for poetry, so please punctuate poems accordingly.

Dramas & Plays, and Skits must be submitted in the following format:

1. Title
2. Author
3. Summary
4. Characters: list in order of appearance; cap and small cap; descriptions in regular type
5. Setting: lowercase first item unless a complete sentence
6. Props: lowercase first item unless a complete sentence
7. Running Time: list number of minutes
8. Speakers’ Names: cap and small cap throughout skit
9. Stage Directions:
   • If not a complete sentence: italics, brackets, first letter is lowercase, no punctuation
     JAMIE: [looking at map] Look what I found.
   • If a complete sentence: italics, brackets, first letter capitalized, use punctuation
     [LUKE walks onstage with a road map.]
   • When introducing a new scene: italics, no brackets, first letter capitalized, use punctuation
     LUKE walks onstage with a road map.