Paid Call for Submissions for Personal Essays by Humans About the Human Experience (No AI Writing Allowed)

Send us your essays sharing the story only you can tell (and why generative AI submissions will not be considered)

First, if you’d like to help Open Secrets Magazine reach more readers and writers, please like and share this post on Substack Notes or anywhere else and recommend Open Secrets to your subscribers. Your support has helped us expand our publication schedule and offerings.

You’re free to reprint these writing guidelines as long as you provide a link to this post; any updates to this round of guidelines will be made in this post, so please check it before submitting.

Important Essay Submission Information and Why We Don’t Accept Writing Created with Generative AI

We know our guidelines are long; they are detailed in order to save time for everyone. The short version is: BE HONEST. BE UNIQUE. BE YOURSELF. GO DEEP. We are very open to working with new and emerging writers from around the world.

With every submission call we’ve posted, we’ve received numerous submissions that don’t meet our guidelines in one or more ways. Submissions that don’t meet our guidelines will not be considered.

There are 5 important notes we’re including at the top before diving into the specifics of what we’re looking for.

1. We only accept submissions directly from Open Secrets subscribers (free or paid). Your submission must be made from the email address you use to subscribe. Authors previously published at Open Secrets are welcome to submit but we prioritize publishing writers we haven’t worked with before.

2. We intend to keep this call for submissions open until September 30, 2025, but check this post before submitting as this call may close early if all our available slots become full or if we receive an influx of AI submissions (see note 5).

3. Due to time constraints, we don’t confirm receipt of submission and will only respond to submissions we are interested in publishing. If we are interested in your essay, you’ll hear from us within two months of submission (for instance, if you submit an essay on August 1, if you haven’t heard back by September 30, your essay was not accepted for publication). A writer may submit 1 regular essay and 1 Object-ives essay during this submission period ending September 30, 2025.

4. We don’t accept essays that have been published, in whole or in part, online or in print. This includes blogs, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, or anywhere else. If your essay has appeared elsewhere, we will not consider it. The essay must remain exclusive to Open Secrets prior to publication.

5. We do not accept submissions in which generative AI (artificial intelligence) has been used to write the essay. We publish personal essays by humans about the intricacies of human lives. During past open submission periods, we’ve received numerous clearly AI-written essays, which are notable for their lack of originality, awkward verbiage, and banal ideas and conclusions.

What they lack is exactly what we look for from personal essays: insights into what the author thought, felt, and experienced. We don’t want a perfectly polished, glossy magazine version of a human or an algorithm’s regurgitated take on the highs and lows of life; we want the raw, real, and gritty, the kind of essay that makes readers feel seen and understood, or opens their eyes to an aspect of humanity they’d never considered before.

This call for submissions will close early if we receive a large influx of generative AI-written submissions.

(Human Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor of Open Secrets, here to interject with my very subjective experience with these AI submissions: Every time I’ve received an AI-written submission, I’ve felt sick to my stomach and wondered whether I should shut down Open Secrets, especially when they’ve been submitted for our Climate section. I run this project as a labor of love in which I’ve invested my time, money, and energy. I’m also a full-time mom, so time I spend on Open Secrets is time I could be spending with my child. I love editing and reading submissions where the author has clearly put thought into their work, but when I have to repeatedly consider whether a submission was generated by a soulless machine attempting to approximate what someone with a beating heart and churning mind and depth of character might have written, I start to lose hope for this project. I’m issuing this call to rekindle that hope.)

There are 2 guidelines sections listed below - 1,000-2,500 word essays in all categories and our new flash nonfiction section, Object-ives, for 500-999 word essays about a possession you own or have owned. Writers may submit a maximum of 1 1,000-2,500 essay in any category and 1 Object-ives essay during this submission period.

Writing Guidelines for Open Secrets Personal Essays (All Categories)

We are looking for original, unpublished 1,000-2,500-word personal essays that explore transformative, powerful human experiences, especially those that are often kept secret or hidden. We are open to the tales of daily life as well as the extraordinary, as long as we feel we’ve gotten to know you as a person. We love humor when it’s wielded well. Essays should show how the author has changed, grown, and/or learned something new about themselves over the course of the essay. We tend to find that the narrower the scope of the essay, the sharper the observations.

We want to know about the funny, the horrible, the complex, and the curious actions you’ve taken or turns your life has taken and what you’ve learned from them. We don’t just want to know that you did something, but why you did it and how it fundamentally altered how you think of yourself. We want readers to feel like they’ve peered into your soul and come away understanding who you are and, in the process, been made to think about their own humanity.

We want to publish a wide range of experiences, so while we are open to stories about, for instance, being bullied as a child or adult, we also want to know what it was like to be the bully. We want to know about the actions and behaviors you’ve taken that you’re ashamed of, confused by, and troubled with, and how you’ve reckoned with them.

There must be dramatic tension in your essay; we aren’t interested in essays along the lines of “I love being a grandmother” but we would be interested in “I hated being a mother but I love being a grandmother.” We want to know the hard truths, the ones you whisper about to a best friend, a therapist, a deity, or to yourself, the ones that feel risky and unnerving to share, but that you’re compelled to write about anyway. What are the emotional stakes involved in your story?

We want the complicated realities of your heart, the messy, murky, the offbeat. We want to know the story behind the family photo, the headshot, the Instagram reel, the real story of who you are that’s different from how you present yourself. How do you challenge societal norms, and how do you feel about challenging those norms? What roles do you play because others expect you to, and what would you do if you weren’t saddled with those expectations?

We aren’t interested in essays about another person’s experience (such as “My sister has ____” or “My father is a ____”) unless the essay centers your personal experience, such as being a full-time caregiver to another person, or uprooting your life for another person. The author’s life should always be at the center of Open Secrets essays.

We receive many submissions that offer advice to readers or close with an all-knowing tone. We are far less interested in those types of essays than ones that remain personal throughout, though if there are things you’d do differently based on what you know now, we welcome those reflections. Interrogate yourself on the page; make us feel like we’re right there with you.

We welcome submissions that are humorous, joyful, triumphant, and/or celebratory along with more serious approaches, depending on the topic and the writer’s voice. Feel free to experiment with the personal essay via open letters, listicles, diary-style entries, or any other format.

We want your essays about the aspects of your life you can’t stop thinking about that fit into one of our categories. The below descriptions are suggestions of what we’d like to see essays explore, but we are very open to essays about other topics as well. We don’t want essays that simply answer the questions below like a homework assignment, but that tell a fully fleshed out personal story with a beginning, middle, and end. Surprise us!

Climate – What’s it like to live through a wildfire, flash flood, or other extreme weather event, or the threat of one? Have you taken dramatic actions in your life based on climate realities or climate change? We aren’t looking for articles, opinion pieces, diatribes, or arguments about the climate, but instead personal stories related to our climate.

Examples: “I’m a Tesla-Driving Liberal” by Sammi LaBue

What It Feels Like to Live in “Satan’s Ashtray” During Smoke Season by Aaron M Brown

Finances – What’s the most desperate thing you’ve done for money? What’s the most dramatic or most responsible thing you’ve done with your finances? What role has money played in a key moment of your life? How does earning or possessing money (or the converse) impact your sense of self and how you make decisions? Have you ever been conned or swindled (or done the conning or swindling)? How has your behavior or identity changed when you’ve had the most or least money of your life? How has what you learned or didn’t learn about finances growing up impacted how you live as an adult?

Example: “I’m a Senior Who Was Evicted from My Hamptons Home After 35 Years and Have Nowhere to Go” by Dianne Moritz

Grief –What has the grieving process been like for you? How is it similar to or different from what you expected? What shocked you or angered you about your grief journey? Were there humorous moments in your grief journey? How has anticipatory grief impacted you? Did the person you’ve grieved for help prepare you for their death? How has handling grief for another person affected your plans for your own death?

Examples: “Ashes to Ashes, Trust to Trust” by Kelli Dunham

“The Last Time I Had a Best Friend I Was 11” by Diann Leo-Omine

Identity – These essays explore a specific aspect of your identity, whether that’s around race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, appearance, location, a hobby, sports, pop culture fandom, or anything else. What aspect of your identity do you lead with in conversations? Why is that part of your identity so important to you? Has it always been central to your sense of self or did it appear at a specific time? Has pop culture influenced your identity? Do you act differently around different groups of people, online and/or offline, and if so, is one of them the “real” you (or neither, or both)?

We don’t want you to attempt to speak for an entire group; through anecdotes, share what being you in all your specificity is like, and how you do or don’t fit into a given group or label you’ve chosen or that others have placed upon you. Do you face pressure to look/act/live a certain way based on this identity (or perceived identity), and if so, how do you deal with those pressures?

Examples: “Some of Us Just Got Here Sooner” by Teresa Douglas

“My Baby Reindeer Days” by Andy Horwitz

LGBTQIA+ – We are interested in all aspects of your life as a LGBTQIA+ person, or by writers wondering if they belong within that umbrella. We are less interested in coming out essays or overly broad explorations, but specific slices of life that honor your LGBTQIA+ path and identity or identities.

Examples: “Out and About in Zambia” by Katherine King

“How I Realized I’m Asexual” by Mar

Mental Health – What’s it like to have depression or anxiety or PTSD or bipolar disorder or body dysmorphia or panic attacks or an eating disorder or a specific phobia or any other mental health issue? What’s it like to not be sure of what kind of mental health condition you might have but to sense that something isn’t right? How do you or have you handled this? Have professionals and/or friends/family helped or hindered you? Have you joined a support group or connected with others in person or online, or do you deal with the issue on your own? We aren’t looking for you to weigh in on anyone else’s experience except your own. We want essays that don’t sugarcoat the reality.

Examples: “What If I Let My Intrusive Thoughts Win?” by Anastasia Jill

“For 42 Years I’ve Lived With Chronic Suicidal Ideation” by Caren Gussoff Sumption

Milestones (new category): Essays exploring major life milestones (but NOT birthdays). Did you achieve a personal goal? Why did you have that goal in mind? What were the obstacles to achieving it? How did it feel to finally achieve it? How much effort was involved in reaching this milestone, and was it worth it? Do you plan to do it again? Is there a milestone you feel like your life will be complete when you reach it? These milestones could be anything from landing in the Guinness Book of World Records to traveling to a specific set of locations to living off the grid/giving up your cell phone or other electronics to going a year without biting your nails or anything else you consider a milestone. We welcome unusual, quirky, and unexpected milestones as well as more traditional ones.

Parenting and Family – We are open to stories about all types of familial relationships, from those with your parents, grandparents, or great grandparents to your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles, stepfamilies, etc., the more unique, the better. How has your relationship with a relative or relatives evolved? How has this family relationship affected your life inside and outside of your family? Are you at odds with one family member but especially close to another? Do you feel like you fit into your family, or more like an outlier?

Examples: “My Father Was Never a Dad” by Salma Ahmed

“How an Adoption-Focused Instagram Account Helped Me Feel Seen” by L.A. Montana

Physical Health – How has your physical health affected your life? Are there aspects of your physical health you once took for granted that you no longer do? Have you had to make adjustments to your lifestyle, work, relationships, housing, or anything else in order to accommodate your physical health? If you’ve had life-changing positive or negative interactions with healthcare providers, what happened?

Examples: “How I Keep My Love of Music Alive as a Deaf Person” by Dawn Colclasure

“The Lasting Legacy of Medical Trauma” by Gretchen Lida

Relationships – Tell us about a pivotal personal relationship you have or have had, whether a romantic relationship, a hookup, a flirtation, or relationships with friends, neighbors, fellow fans or club or group members, a stranger, an enemy, a barista, bartender, teacher, clergy member, or anyone else. How did you meet? Did you immediately get along—why or why not? Do you and this person have a lot in common? What drew you to them? How has your relationship grown and changed? What do you share with this person that you don’t with anyone else? How do the circumstances of how/where/when you meet affect your relationship? Is this relationship one you keep secret or one many others in your life know about?

Examples: “I’m a Single Black American Woman Dating in Europe” by Twanna A. Hines

“Drama-Free: My Facebook Group about Dating App Dudes That Caused Some Drama” by Lara Starr

Stuff-ed (about our relationship with our belongings) – What’s it like to move into a tiny home, or go from living in a studio to a mansion or a house boat? What possessions have you brought with you everywhere you go? What’s the first personal item you would grab in case of an emergency, and why? Do you feel tied to your possessions (whether in a positive or negative way)? Is there a possession or group of possessions you’ve wanted to get rid of but haven’t yet? Is there a possession you’d be heartbroken to lose? Our belongings say so much about us. This section shares those stories. Stuff-ed essays can also be about virtual belongings. Our new Object-ives subsection focuses on a single object and features 500-999-word essays on that object’s role in your life; see guidelines below.

Examples: “Collecting the Dead: My Closet Is a Pet Cemetery” by Kristina Wright

“Shedding Our Stuff While Living as Nomads Was Easier Said Than Done” by Mary Corbin

Work –Do you live to work, or work to live? Is the job you’re doing now your life passion or one that simply pays the bills? Did you break away from an unfulfilling career to pursue your dream? How has your work life impacted your personal life, and vice versa? What have you given up for your work, and what was the emotional cost of that? Would you have gone into your line of work if you’d known what it was really like? Do you have an unusual job, or one that others always tell you sounds amazing (but perhaps you think otherwise)? What’s the biggest misconception people have about your job? What’s it like to be fired or laid off, or have to fire or lay someone off?

Example: “This Job Will Kill Me If I Let It” by Katrina Jackson

“After a Splashy Book Deal, I Got Dropped By My Publisher, But I Kept On Writing” by Rob Hart

We are especially interested in essays about areas of life we haven’t covered yet, but as long as you approach your story in a fresh way, we are open to subjects our contributors have already touched on. The best way to get a sense of what we’re looking for is to read our published essays.

You’re welcome to include quotes if they’re directly related to your personal experience, but sources must be cited, and links embedded within the text for all facts or for information from online sources. Here’s an example.

Submissions must include all 3 required elements: Essay, bio, and photo. Submit your personal essay as a Word document attachment OR in the body of an email to opensecretsmag@gmail.com with the intended category and “Submission” in the subject line, such as “Mental Health Submission,” “Finances Submission,” “Identity Submission,” etc.

Many of our essays could live in multiple categories; when selecting a category, choose the one you think best exemplifies your essay.

Include an original, unpublished 1,000-2,500 word essay with a proposed headline and subhed (1-line tagline) with a third-person, 100-word maximum bio at the end. If you’re using a pseudonym, let us know in your submission and provide a bio for the pseudonym. Use Times New Roman 12 point font, single spacing with one line between paragraphs. You MUST ALSO include either an original horizontal photo related to your essay topic (with photo credit if you weren’t the photographer) or a URL linking to a free Unsplash.com horizontal stock photo related to the essay topic. Do not include photos in your Word document.

Open Secrets may, with the author’s approval, suggest edits to your headline, subhed, essay, subject category, and photo, all of which will be approved by the author before publication.

We pay $50 for general essays upon finalization of the text via Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal.

Deadline: September 30, 2025 (ET); earlier submissions have the best chance of acceptance.

Writing Guidelines for Open Secrets Flash Personal Essays About Your Possessions (Object-ives)

Object-ives is a new column featuring rotating authors that will run on Fridays in for flash nonfiction essays of 500-999 words about an object you own or have owned in the past that you can’t stop thinking about.

Suggestions for what we’d like to see: What personal possession would you save first in case of emergency? (After urgent items like paperwork or ID.) Why is this possession so special? How has it changed your life? Is this object something you share with others in your life or for your private use? Is there a possession you once owned and no longer do that you actively miss? What’s the most surprising item you own, and what does it mean to you? What possession do you proudly display in your home (or what possession do you keep hidden away)?

We’re only looking for essays about your own possessions, not anyone else’s (unless they were given to you by another person). Everything we’re looking for from our regular essays is also what we want from these shorter essays but these MUST include a photo of your possession.

You’re welcome to include quotes if they’re directly related to your personal experience, but sources must be cited, and links embedded within the text for all facts or for information from online sources. Here’s an example.

Submissions must include all 3 required elements: Essay, bio, and photo. Submit your Object-ives personal essay as a Word document attachment OR in the body of an email to opensecretsmag@gmail.com with “Object-ives Submission” in the subject line. Include an original, unpublished 500-999-word essay with a proposed headline and subhed (1-line tagline) with a third-person, 100-word maximum bio at the end. If you’re using a pseudonym, let us know in your submission and provide a bio for the pseudonym. Use Times New Roman 12 point font, single spacing with one line between paragraphs. AND attach a horizontal photo of the object you’re writing about. Do not include photos in your Word document.

Embed links to sources for all facts cited within your essay.

Open Secrets may, with the author’s approval, suggest edits to your headline, subhed, and essay, all of which will be approved by the author before publication.

We pay $25 for Object-ives essays upon approval of the Substack draft via Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal.

Additional Details and Contact Information

Authors retain all rights to essays published at Open Secrets. We accept simultaneous submissions as long as you let us know in a cover letter and if your essay is accepted for publication, that it’s withdrawn from consideration elsewhere.

We welcome essay submissions from all Open Secrets subscribers, and are especially interested in hearing from the following: Substack authors whose newsletters align with their essay topic, BIPOC writers, disabled writers, LGBTQIA+ writers, writers based outside the United States. We aren’t currently accepting unsolicited book excerpts.

For questions not answered in these guidelines, leave them in a comment or email opensecretsmag@gmail.com with “Guidelines question” in the subject line and we will do our best to respond. We will update these guidelines as needed.