The life cycle of a Japan Harvest article

What happens to an article after you write it and submit it to Japan Harvest? Today I want to demystify the process. But let’s start a little earlier.

Planning the magazine

This Spring magazine issue began its journey two years ago when our editorial team decided on a theme. Then, in October 2021 I sent an email via the JEMA email list asking people to submit proposals.

We first ask for proposals rather than completed articles for three main reasons:

• To shape the magazine in a way that best serves our audience. Based on what people plan to write, we can prioritise content that’s written from a Japan-based context and is most relevant to our readers. We can also work to avoid repetition. For example, if we have two proposals about the same topic, we can either direct authors towards different angles on the topic or turn down one of the proposals. If necessary, we can also give potential authors more information about our audience to assist them in writing.
• To avoid wasting your time and ours. It’s easier to shape an idea before someone writes an article than it is to change it afterwards. So I often give people some guidance about their proposed article before they write it. For example, if someone proposes to write about a large topic, I might suggest a smaller focus.
• To help with planning. If we don’t have enough people planning to write, our team can find more articles before the due date. If we’ve received too many article ideas, I can save some people time by telling them we don’t need them to write this time. I also give guidance to authors about the length of their article. For example, since we had many proposals for this issue, I was able to ask four people to write one-page articles (around 800 words), instead of longer ones. That way we were able to fit more into the magazine.

We generally receive around the right number of proposals for a 40-page magazine. We usually publish about 8 regular columns and 10–16 feature and general articles. Features are about the issue’s theme. This article is a “general” because it’s not on the issue’s theme. On occasion, we receive too many proposals and must reject some. I said no to five article ideas for this issue.

Everyone who sends a proposal gets a reply. If we can potentially publish their article, we tell authors when to submit it, how long it should be, and provide other guidelines like the ones I mentioned above.

Editing stage

After the article is submitted, I read through it before sending it off to one of our seven-member editing team. I include information to help the editors with their editing, like whether the author is writing in American or non-American English. If necessary, I make suggestions to the editors, like “this is too long” or “it needs subheadings.”

The article is edited by two different people, one after the other. They look at a range of things, from the big picture issues (does the article make sense, is its structure sound, is it biblically accurate and in accordance with JEMA’s statement of faith, is the tone appropriate), to issues like grammar, spelling, and word choice.

Sometimes an editor will ask me to contact the author. The reasons could be to ask for a rewrite, to seek more information about a certain point, or to expand an introduction or conclusion.

Referencing and fact checking

It’s an author’s responsibility to provide references for material they quote or facts they refer to in the text that aren’t widely known. We reference because:

• We want people to be able to look things up further if they wish.
• It shows integrity. We are careful about this because the magazine reflects the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association.

Our referencing style is based on the Chicago Manual of Style. You can see more in our online Japan Harvest style guide.¹ We are not an academic or theological publication, therefore we try to keep referencing to a minimum while still meeting the above goals.

A fact checker also examines the article. This person looks at what Bible versions are quoted and ensures that any quotes used are correct. They check names, measurements, terms, websites, and if there are assumptions that need confirmation. It helps us if the author does their best to double-check their own references and facts, this includes indicating which Bible version(s) were quoted from.

Checking with the author

After these three people have completed their jobs, they send the article back to me. I read it through carefully to check for anything amiss. I also make sure it adheres to our style manual (capitalisation, punctuation, romanisation of Japanese terms, etc.).

I ensure that the article has a suitable title and standfirst. These are at the top of each magazine article and their purpose is to hook the reader. It’s important that they are informative and attractive and also that they aren’t repetitive (it’s best not to have several similar titles in the same magazine).

Six to eight weeks after the author submits the article, I email a “clean” copy to the author for approval. By “clean,” I mean the author sees the final edited text. I keep a copy of the text that has all the details of changes editors made, which is something I can refer to if there are questions about the editing. However, it is usually best for an author to first look at the plain text. If the author is concerned about a specific change, they may ask me about it. Editors don’t have time to explain every edit, but if an author has a specific question, we should be able to explain.

Editing is mostly an art, not a science. Some things that are changed are clearly right or wrong, e.g., a capital letter at the start of a sentence. Many other things aren’t so clear-cut. Often when an author comes to me with a disagreement about something that we’ve changed, I’m usually willing to change it to what the author suggests.

At this point, I also ensure that we have a short bio from the author and ask them to agree with our rights statement: “I grant to JEMA Japan Harvest first rights, multiple use permission, and electronic rights for the use of this work.” And I also confirm that anyone who is recognisable in photos they’ve submitted has given their permission for the photo to be published.

Design and proofreading stage

Once I’ve got the author’s approval, the article is sent on to our designer, who uses Adobe inDesign to create the final magazine. She often has questions for me about the text, but hopefully by that stage, they are easy questions like, “Why is ‘rest’ italicized in this sentence—it doesn’t look like it should be?” She also asks questions like, “Can you get me a larger photo/different photo from the author?”

Then we go into the final stage of checking: our proofreader reads through every article and makes comments. I make final decisions on all these comments. Our designer makes those changes and creates a full electronic version of the magazine.

Using that version, both the proofreader and I read through the whole magazine one last time, looking for final errors. It isn’t unusual for us to find more than 50 errors in this last stage of checking. This still astounds me—since at this stage the article has been seen by two or three editors, a fact checker, the author, designer, and proofreader!

People often tell me that the magazine looks good these days. I always thank them and credit my team. Together we produce a better publication. We also wouldn’t be able to do this without people who are willing to write. We don’t have a team of writers who can write about all topics. We rely on the JEMA community to write for us and are thankful that you continue to do so.

1. Japan Harvest Magazine, “Referencing” https://japanharvest.org/guideline/referencing/
Photos by Karen Ellrick