In this guide, you will find five platforms that publish various genres and styles of writing, ranging from prestigious and competitive options to new and developing options.
Ready to get started? Here are where to submit your writing works:
1. Your own website/blog
Once you start writing more and have more published work, you should consider opening up your website or blog to publish your personal essays, flash fiction, literary journals, creative nonfictions, and more. Your blog is the reflection of your writing style, writing genre, and overall writer personality. In addition to work published on other platforms, your website and blog is a great place to build your brand identity, interact with fans, and announce updates/news about potential up and coming pieces
There are several websites and blog platforms that you can design from: WordPress, Wix, Webflow, and Squarespace. These platforms have either free or paid options, depending on your personal needs.
2. Community-based websites
With the rise of new platforms every month trying to get writers to post their work, community-based websites are also a great option for writers of short stories/fiction who want to submit your writing and get feedback from other community members or just get more fans. Below are some examples of sites you can publish your story online:
- Medium.com: Medium is an online publishing platform, where writers can share their writing on any topic. The community on Medium is relatively small and high-quality, which means people are willing to spend time to read and give quality feedback. Topics range from arts & entertainment, culture, equality, health, industry, personal development, politics, to programming, science, self, and technology. Medium also provides you with Audience Insights with information that help you increase your audience or write similar pieces that will draw your audience’s attention.
- Tumblr: Tumblr is the place where fiction will thrive and go viral across the Internet. People consider Tumblr as a hidden gem or a hub of culture. If you have some sort of fiction like fanfiction, you can take advantage of this platform and post something viral-worthy. Then, remember to link your own website so people can learn more about you!
- WritersCafe: WritersCafe is an online writing community, where writers can post their work, get reviews, connect with other writers, and enter writing competitions. WritersCafe has been around for a longer time than other platforms; therefore, it may feel old-school for younger writers.
- Young Writers Society: The Young Writers Society is designed for young writers ages 13+ and features short stories, novels, and poetry. The community is semi-active; therefore, you will not see a lot of comments on your post.
3. Newspapers / Magazines
If you are interested in publishing your work to a broader and broader variety of audiences and are hoping to get more exposure to your work, a newspaper or magazine is an excellent platform for you to submit your writing.
- The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times. All major news outlets in America allow you to submit your writing as an op-ed. An op-ed is an opinion essay written by a staff columnist or an outside contributor. It’s different from short stories, fiction, and nonfiction because it is opinionated to educate readers about current events or incidents. If you’re interested in contributing your opinions for a chance to be featured in a digital or physical newspaper or news magazine, each outlet provides email for writers to story submissions.
- New York Magazine, POLITICO, WIRED are examples of magazines publishing an op-ed. There are different requirements depending on the outlet you submit your writing work. Therefore, please remember to check each website for its submission guidelines.
4. Magazine with novel/story submissions
Some magazines provide opportunities for more novel-related submissions. Examples include:
- The New Yorker: The New Yorker features journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. The magazine’s submission pool is highly competitive, as editors have to evaluate 2,000 to 4,000 new stories per month. Author David. B. Comfort calculates that an outsider has a chance of .0000416% of breaking into America’s last premier short fiction venue. It’s worth a shot because there will only be two outcomes: you either get published, or you don’t. To learn more about story submission, please visit the contact page of the New Yorker.
- The Antioch Review: The Antioch Review is one of the oldest continuously publishing literary magazines globally. The magazine accepts submissions of nonfiction essays, fiction, poetry, and reviews. Young writers can have an opportunity to get published because it’s definitely less competitive than The New Yorkers.
- Boulevard Magazine: Boulevard Magazine is a biannual literary magazine based in St. Louis. Boulevard strives to publish only the finest in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. While the magazine frequently publishes writers with previous credits, it is very interested in less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise.
Above are examples of outlets that you can submit your writing work. Depending on your location, you will be able to find other local or regional newspapers that accept story submissions. For more information about the platforms, you can refer to this great article written by The Write Life.
5. Competitions
For high school students, you can also submit your writing work to different regional and national competitions to get recognized and published. There are more than 27 competitions happening year-round for you to choose from. Participating in these competitions, you will earn a chance to be published, be rewarded with prizes and scholarships for your college application, and so much more. Highlighted competitions include Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards, John Locke Writing Contest, etc. We’ve identified 27 competitions through this infographic for you!
Students will learn the nuances of language, including figurative language, effective structuring, and specific forms to apply to their own piece(s). Students will work directly with both literary and media texts to plan and write their piece(s). This class will also help the students write with an aim for an audience as their submission for nation-wide and international writing competitions that are timely with the course schedule.
What's next
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Interested in participating in High School Writing Competitions? There are 27 Writing Competitions for High School Students in 2021!
How can I stand out in writing competitions? The only 5 tips you need to know is here: 5 Tips to Stand Out in a Writing Competition
Heard about John Locke Essay Competition but not sure where to start? Read this Complete Guide to John Locke Essay Competition
