Personal essays are one of the best ways to break into new publications. Typically, you write the entire essay and then send it in on spec. Yes, writing on spec is something I don’t typically recommend, but this is how personal essays work because editors can’t usually judge an essay based on a pitch.
But how do you know who accepts personal essays? By researching a publication (look for columns written in first person), checking guidelines (often on the publication’s website or on mediabistro.com), and networking with other writers and editors.
Writer Abroad aims to make your life easier, so, for five publications, I’ll do this work for you. I can only speak to what I know, so below you'll find five personal essay markets that have published my work, along with their guidelines (if available), and a link to the essay that was published. It’s important to also read other essays in the publication you are pitching to have a better idea whether your essay (and writing style) would be a good fit. Make sure you also pay attention to word count. An 800-word essay column does not want your 2,000-word essay.
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper based out of Boston, USA. It now publishes in a weekly magazine format.
Personal Essay Section: The Home Forum
Essays: An American at Swiss Gardening Boot Camp
Skirt! Magazine
Skirt! Magazine, if you can't tell from the name, is a women's magazine. Based in the southeastern United States, it typically publishes several personal essays each month.
Essay: Expat
National Geographic Glimpse
Glimpse is a global program aimed at helping young writers, journalists, photographers, and filmmakers share their stories.
Essay: A Raging Party Turned My Neighbor Into My Friend
Note: This publication typically does not pay for stories, unless you become a correspondent, which was my approach. The age limit has now been lifted for the correspondent program (It used to only be open to writers 18-30).
Chicken Soup for the Soul
A classic series of feel-good books. But, as my experience shows, they are open to humorous essays.
Essay: On Preserving the Family Plastic (click to preview the book and you can read the essay.)
Design Your Own
A harder, but possibly more rewarding approach.
Guidelines: Pitch a personal essay or an essay column to an editor. Make sure you've studied their publication in advance. It helps if you have met the editor in person (or have a connection to them via a friend), have previous writing experience, and can point out a need that the magazine isn’t serving. This is how I pitched a personal essay column to Swiss News, a monthly English journal in Switzerland. The column is just celebrating its two-year anniversary this month.
Here are a few installments:
One more tip: don't give up easily. For example, I probably sent about 10 essays to Skirt! Magazine before they published one. (Yeah, I'm a bit insane, but we're writers–sometimes insanity works).
Have you published any personal essays? What markets have you found success with?
I always pitch my idea first, then write the essay if an editor expresses interest. This has worked for The Frisky and looks to have worked w/ Salon (assuming the editor likes the essay I send her; she dug my pitch). The only exception seems to be Skirt! I've sent them stuff too w/ no response but I'm not giving up :) Thanks for the CSM tip! I had been wondering how to submit an essay there but just hadn't gotten around to investigating it.
ReplyDeleteHey B, it's great to hear that sometimes pitches can work for personal essays too. I guess it depends on the publication and also how well you know an editor, etc. Once you're "in" it's much easier to be less formal.
ReplyDeleteJust stumbled across your blog, and I love it! Just thought I'd drop a note to let you know.
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!
I too just stumbled across your blog. I like what I see--and this information about personal essay markets. I've published a few essays in Chicken Soup, and I have a memoir that's in the lineup with a publisher in early 2011. Good luck with YOUR memoir. It sounds like it'll be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnn
Hi Ann, thanks for stumbling by. Congrats on your Chicken Soup and of course, your memoir. That's fantastic. Look forward to hearing more.
ReplyDelete