Why subscribe to Open Secrets Magazine?
Open Secrets Magazine is a home and community for memorable, revealing personal essays about all the subjects we're taught to keep “secret.” Open Secrets Magazine launched in April 2023 and publishes 4-5 original personal essays per week (occasionally more) and is edited by essayist, journalist, writing instructor, and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. We also publish columns The ADHD Diaries by Rachel Kramer Bussel, Radical Pleasure by Athena Dixon, and Truth Hurts by John DeVore.
We are currently open to submissions for food insecurity essays paying $200 (deadline: ASAP) and in select full-length and flash personal essay sections paying $50 and $25 respectively through November 30, 2025. See our writing guidelines for details.
We host a memoir and essay book club every other month featuring books by our contributors and speakers.
Watch our first book club Q&A with The Loneliness Files author Athena Dixon.
Our November 2025 Open Secrets Book Club pick is memoir in essays Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez (details here), with a Substack Live Q&A to be held November 17 at 8:30 pm ET and our January 2026 Open Secrets Book Club pick is memoir The Truth Happiness Company: How a Girl Like Me Falls for a Cult Like That by Veena Dinavahi, with a Substack Live Q&A to be held January 29 at 8:30 pm ET.
List of upcoming Open Secrets Magazine virtual and in-person events:
November 17, 8:30 pm ET, Open Secrets Book Club Substack Live Q&A with Alligator Tears author Edgar Gomez; link to watch or visit Open Secrets in Substack app
November 18, 7 pm ET, Q&A with Shanetta McDonald and ena ganguly on family estrangement: link to watch or or visit Open Secrets in Substack app
December 3, 8:30 pm, Q&A with upcoming contributor Michelle Gurule on being a sugar baby and how sex work nearly destroyed her health; link to watch or visit Open Secrets in Substack app
January 29, 8:30 pm ET, Open Secrets Book Club Substack Live Q&A with The True Happiness Company author Veena Dinavahi; link to watch or visit Open Secrets in Substack app
March 2026, AWP book signings, details TBD, in-person
March 2026, Book Club TBA
Spring 2026 (date TBD), Open Secrets Live personal storytelling summit, in person, NYC
May 2026, Book Club TBA
We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best American Essays.
Subscribe for free to get full access to every essay as it’s published and the website archives. Proceeds from paid subscriptions and donations go directly to paying our authors. You can also support us and our contributors by buying their books via our Bookshop affiliate storefront; shopping there also supports independent bookstores.
Want to reach Open Secrets Magazine’s editors? Email opensecretsmag at gmail.com
Why Open Secrets Magazine?
Open Secrets Magazine was founded and funded for its first six months by writer, editor, and writing instructor Rachel Kramer Bussel. After the closure of several prominent publications for essays in 2023, Rachel wanted to provide a home for the kinds of powerful essays she enjoys reading, in which writers share powerful truths about their lives and foster connections with readers.
From Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel: I have been a fan of the personal essay format for decades, as both a reader and a writer. I read as many essays as I can find and am always eager for more that make me feel like I’ve gotten a peek into the author’s inner life in ways that show me new ways to live my own life and will stay with me forever.
After the demise of several prominent publications for personal essays in 2023, I wanted to provide another online outlet for essay authors, both established and newcomers to the genre, to share their work with an appreciative audience.
How can I access Open Secrets Magazine essays?
All Open Secrets Magazine essays are free to read and are emailed to free and paid subscribers. Paid subscribers also have access to our craft writing essays. Paid subscriptions and donations go directly toward paying our writers.
How can I submit a personal essay to Open Secrets Magazine?
You first must be a subscriber to Open Secrets Magazine (free or paid), unless you’re submitting to our food insecurity call for submissions. Then follow our writing guidelines in full. Our guidelines change periodically to meet our editorial needs. You’ll have the best chance of breaking in to Open Secrets Magazine with a flash personal essay of 500-999 words for our Object-ives section or upcoming Hobbies section, since those run more frequently than our other categories, which rotate.
Open Secrets Magazine Staff
Editor-in-Chief: Rachel Kramer Bussel
Managing Editor: Farah Faye
Social Media Manager:
What is Open Secrets Magazine’s comment policy?
Comments related to the text of Open Secrets Magazine essays are welcome. Comments may be removed at the discretion of Open Secrets Magazine.
Does Open Secrets Magazine host in-person or online events?
Our first in-person event, Open Secrets Live, was held May 3, 2025, in New York City. Open Secrets Live featured Open Secrets Magazine essayists as well as other writers and editors from various publications. We will post details about future in-person events as they come up and are planning events in March 2026 in Baltimore at the AWP conference and the next Open Secrets Live to be held in spring 2026 in New York City.
We have a book club that meets every other month online and conduct occasional Substack Live Q&As with our contributors.
How can I contact Open Secrets Magazine?
To contact Open Secrets Magazine and Editor-in-Chief Rachel Kramer Bussel, email opensecretsmag@gmail.com
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