About Open Secrets Magazine
The 411 on our lit mag all about personal essays on the topics often kept "secret"
Welcome to Open Secrets Magazine!
Below you’ll find details about what we do, how to submit, and our in-person and virtual events.
Why subscribe?
Open Secrets Magazine is a lit mag 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.
Call for submissions
We are currently open to submissions of 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 welcome submissions from new writers as well as established authors. We expect to open to submissions in all categories in Q1 2026.
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 January 2026 Open Secrets Book Club pick is the 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 on January 29 at 8:30 pm ET.
Fall Food Bank Fundraiser
We’re raising funds via Instagram for Community Food Bank of New Jersey, the local food bank of editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. Please donate here to help us reach our $2,000 goal. Every dollar helps!
Upcoming Open Secrets Magazine virtual and in-person events:
December 2, 7:30 pm ET, Q&A on the reality of food insecurity with
and McQueen, on their essays “The Maternal Survival Instinct That Helps Me Handle Food Insecurity” and “The High Cost of Being Poor”; link to watch or visit Open Secrets in Substack appDecember 3, 8:30 pm ET, Q&A with upcoming contributor
on being a sugar baby and how sex work nearly destroyed her health; link to watch or visit Open Secrets in Substack appDecember 9, 7 pm ET, Q&A with upcoming contributor
on having an eating disorder while facing food insecurity; link to watch of visit Open Secrets in Substack appJanuary 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 4-7 2026, Baltimore, AWP writing conference table with swag and book signings, details TBD, in-person
March 5, Baltimore, AWP offsite cocktail party, limited spots available - email opensecretsmag@gmail.com for details
March 2026, Book Club TBA
May 2, 9:30 am-7 pm ET, Open Secrets Live personal storytelling summit, in person, NYC, ticketed event May 2026, Book Club TBA
We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best American Essays, and Best American Food and Travel Writing.
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 our contributors and us 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 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.
We’ve since published over 100 personal essays and columns, expanded with new categories, including flash personal essays in Hobbies and Object-ives.
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 give me a peek into the author’s inner life, 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: Sara Knight Bidlack
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. Personal attacks and tirades, hate speech, spam, and other non-constructive comments will be deleted.
Does Open Secrets Magazine host in-person or online events?
Our first in-person event, Open Secrets Live, was held on 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’re booked. We’ll have a table March 4-7 at the writing conference AWP in Baltimore, with a cocktail party held March 5 (email us at opensecretsmag@gmail.com for details) 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