SermonNews™ is a co-operative website of new and true sermon illustrations from the world's headlines submitted by and for Christian communicators. You can contribute stories of your own and earn a commission for each one that is approved.
- How do I become a member?
- What kind of illustrations do you want?
- Where do you find stories for illustrations?
- How do I submit an illustration?
- How many stories can I submit a month?
- What happens to my illustrations after they are submitted?
- How do I get paid for the illustrations I submit?
- Why would you not approve an illustration?
- How do you determine which illustrations get the bonus money?
- Can't someone just keep viewing their own illustrations to increase the odds of it getting a bonus?
- How can I increase the likelihood of my illustrations getting a bonus?
- When do I get paid for the illustrations I submitted?
- How do I search the site to find illustrations?
- How do I save a story?
1. How do I become a member?
To become a lifetime member of SermonNews™, you must register on our website and then make your membership payment through our payment processor, PayPal™. Once there, you will be asked to make a one-time payment of $39.95 to SermonNews.com.
After you have completed the payment process, you will be automatically redirected back to SermonNews.com and given unlimited access to all of the SermonNews™ stories for life. For more information about becoming a member, click here.
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2. What kind of illustrations do you want? The illustrations need to be …
- New - The newer the better. Look for stuff that happened this week, month, or year. But we will accept any story that happened within the past few years. (No more illustrations from the Civil War, Christopher Columbus, or about that guy who crossed Niagara Falls with a wheelbarrow!)
- True - The story needs to be true. The source of the story must be cited. If we discover that a story isn't true, then we'll remove it. (No more made up preacher stories - "There was a boy in a Sunday School class. blah, blah, blah"!)
- You - You may submit an original story written entirely by you as long as it is factually based. If a story was written by someone else, you must re-phrase a substantial part of it in your own words. No copyright infringement! You may quote sections from the original source, as long as you cite the source. (See #2 above.)
- View - A Christian view that is. The illustration needs to have a perspective that helps Christian communicators teach the truth. Feel free to quote biblical references.
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3. Where do you find stories for illustrations?
Everywhere. Besides personal experience, most of them come from news, newspaper, and magazine websites. But some also comes from TV, radio, music, and the web. The easiest way to find ideas is by using our free RSS news feed.
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4. How do I submit an illustration?
You must be a member to submit an illustration. Click on the "Share Stories" tab at top. Fill in the appropriate fields. When you are done, click the "Save" button at the bottom.
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5. How many stories can I submit a month?
In order to keep our content diverse, we limit the number of stories individual members can submit. Once you have had fifty stories approved in a given month, you cannot submit anymore stories until the next month. But even though you may have reached your limit for the month, any stories waiting approval can still be approved the next month. And of course, you can submit additional stories then as well.
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6. What happens to my illustrations after they are submitted?
Your illustrations go through a three step approval process.
- Submitted
- Edited or Declined
- Approved or Removed
When you submit an illustration, a Senior Editor will review the illustration and edit or decline it. Many stories are "edited" without any changes being made because none are needed. When the Editor declines a story, he will add comments to the bottom of the story explaining why. If your story is declined, you will have the option of either editing it or leaving it declined. Once a story has been edited, either by the Editor or by you, the Editor will approve or remove it. If a declined story has not been edited by you within a few days, the Editor will usually remove it. Once a story is removed, it's gone for good.
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7. How do I get paid for the illustrations I submitted?
All contributors must have a PayPal™ account. You will get paid through this account.
You will earn $1.50 per approved illustration. At the end of each month, illustrations that are especially popular will earn a bonus of $3.00. So, it is theoretically possible to get $4.50 per illustration (though most likely you will get $1.50 for some and $4.50 for others).
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8. Why would you not approve an illustration?
Probably for one of these 6 reasons:
- It's not new.
- It's not true.
- It's not by you.
- It doesn't have a Christian view.
- We already have a story like it.
- It's poorly written.
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9. How do you determine which illustrations get the bonus money?
The members of the site determine it. When an illustration is viewed, the Story ID, the view date, and the viewer type are recorded in a database. The viewer type can be either a member or a non-member. Only illustrations that are viewed by members more than the average of the total new illustrations will get a bonus. For example, if all the new illustrations are viewed by members an average of 50 times in the month, and one of your illustrations was viewed by members more than 50 times, that illustration will get a bonus.
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10. Can't someone just keep viewing their own illustrations to increase the odds of it getting a bonus?
No. While it is true that all views are counted to determine an illustration's overall popularity, the views of the contributor, SermonNews™ staff members, and visitors are subtracted before calculating bonuses. Only member views count. You can see how many member views your illustrations have on the My Account page.
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11. How can I increase the likelihood of my illustrations getting a bonus?
Illustrations that are submitted earlier in the month and that are tied to a timely topic (like illustrations about thankfulness in November) are more likely to get the bonuses. Also stories that are included in the weekly newsletter get a significant boost in views. Stories are chosen to be in the newsletter based on their ranking in the Top Ten page. The three most viewed stories over the last seven days are usually sent if they weren't sent earlier. The newsletter is typically sent on Tuesday or Wednesday, and stories that are posted right after the newsletter has been sent have the most time to add views before the next week's newsletter is sent. Clear as mud?
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12. When do I get paid for the illustrations I submitted?
You will get paid at the beginning of each month for the previous month's approved illustrations. For example, if you submit 10 illustrations in April, and 9 are approved, you will get paid for those 9 the beginning of May. (You will earn at least $13.50, more if some of them get a bonus).
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13. How do I search the site to find illustrations?
Visitors can see the five newest illustrations that are on the home page. They can also search for illustrations with the keyword search at the top of the page, or they can browse by topics, holidays (occasions), and the calendar. But visitors will only see the first few sentences of these stories. Visitors also have full use of the RSS feed.
Logged in members can see the 50 newest illustrations by browsing through the home page. They can also search for illustrations with the keyword search at the top of the page, or they can browse by topics, holidays (occasions), and the calendar. When they click on the title or "Get the whole story" they can see the entire illustration.
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14. How do I save a story?
Members can print, download, and email stories easily by clicking the icons (printer, Word doc, and envelope) at the top right hand corner of each story.
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