Submissions

Writer's Guidelines

We wish to publish articles in the spirit of personal essays, something like idea-driven narratives. Confessional, open, and literary. Book reviews are acceptable. Stories are good. Humor is always a win. Memoir, why not? We might even publish an engaging sermon. The audience will be primarily Anabaptist men, most likely in the 20-40-year-old demographic. 

We like articles between 1,000 to 3,000 words. Articles much beyond 2,500 words don’t read well online and will need to be split into two (or more) installments. 

Write what delights you, irritates you, or humors you. The pursuit of truth is inseparable from the pursuit of God, and in this thought we wish to publish essays that are striving toward truth even if they do not use explicitly biblical language. Cliches obscure perception and block insight. Show us what it means to pursue vitality by embodying it in writing.

We reserve the right to reject any submission. We cannot pay at this time. We will reprint essays if we have permission from the previous publisher and author. 

Please send submissions to pete@kauffman.cc with the subject “Trailhead Submission” in the subject line. If possible, please send articles in .docx or .odt file, with your name, email, and phone number at the top of the title page. Allow a month to six weeks for response on your submission.

Photo submissions

We accept photo submissions for feature photos and photo essays. They must be original. Please send them to pete@kauffman.cc in .JPG file with “Art Submission” in the subject line.