Top Publications for Personal Essays on Medium
Disclaimer: All personal essay publications are listed in no particular order and are subjective.
As far as I could tell, personal essays are the most popular niche here on Medium, and I’m on board with it.
Although I think Medium should cater more to other niches like creative fiction but that’s just me.
One of the reasons why I like writing on Medium is I can write whatever the hell I want and still make a couple of bucks from it.
Yes, no matter how personal it is.
I don’t know any platform that offers the same freedom. If you do, feel free to tell me on the responses. I always love new websites to tinker with, provided it’s actually good.
Here are my top publications for personal essays on Medium:
Human Parts
I’m going with the biggest publication for personal essays first. I have tried submitting twice on Human Parts, both rejected but it’s all good. It’s still one of the best there is.
Human parts is an in-house publication of Medium. As per its page, Human Parts is Medium’s home for personal stories and perspectives. From the mundane to the extraordinary to the downright weird, they’re there to explore what it means to be human.
They’re currently not accepting new writers but are still on scout patrol for well-written articles/stories that fit their pub — thank you to Stephanie Ulrich for the heads up!
They have over 130k followers on Medium. You can read their submission guidelines here.
P.S. I Love You
If I’m remembering things correctly, this is the second publication I’ve gotten into when I first started writing on Medium.
Here’s the piece that got into the pub for your reference:
They accept pieces that generally have a love element to them — family, sex, friends, etc.
They have over 140k followers, although currently, they’re not accepting new writers but I still think they’re worth mentioning.
If they do open up in the future, here are their submissionguidelines.
The Ascent
This is the first publication I’ve ever been accepted into. I owe a lot to this pub for helping me get my writings out there when I didn’t have personal followers in the beginning.
And, it’s fairly easy to get into.
The Ascent is a community of storytellers documenting their journey to happiness and fulfillment.
It’s kind of a half and half of self-development and personal essays, but my first few submissions were purely and deeply personal.
They have over 70k followers; here’s how to submit to The Ascent.
Live Your Life On Purpose
As per its guidelines, if you have a story that relates to the following:
- Health & Fitness
- Life & Learning
- Personal Finance
- Productivity & Purpose
- Individual Success
then you’re a good fit for the pub.
The owner of the pub Steve Spring is super nice too.
They have almost 6k followers; here are thecomplete submission guidelines.
Publishous
PublishousNOW is a cutting-edge publishing house that produces the works that we think will resonate with you best on the topics of:
- Growing your faith
- Improving your health and well being
- Empowering you to be more productive
- Teaching you how to improve your writing
Publishous has over 20k followers on Medium. Here are theirsubmission guidelines.
The Bigger Picture
As per their Facebook page, The Bigger Picture is a Medium publication featuring stories and articles that are entertaining, thought-provoking, and relatable.
Writers combine life experiences with popular topics to explore the deeper meaning of issues — “the bigger picture.”
By sharing the lessons they’ve learned, they hope to connect with readers and start much-needed conversations.
I’m putting this publication on my top list because I consistently like the quality of writings they accept and the general concept of writing about ‘the bigger picture’.
They have over 14k followers; You can submit your writing to biggerpicturemedium@gmail.com.
Most of the publications listed above are pubs that I can personally attest to but a couple I think are generally good from what I heard and see from writers I admire.
If you have anything to add to the list feel free to do so in the responses. You’ll never know who you’ll help by just a simple act.
Hey! If you’re looking for a platform to start your writing journey on and get paid for it, Medium is one of the best places to start. Sign up here to get unlimited access to stories on Medium.
Signing up using my link gives me a small commission, and as a freelance writer, it’s always appreciated.
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I hope this article helps a few people and don’t forget to
