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)

Aug 09, 2025

Updated October 1, 2025 - see the categories we are accepting essays for through November 30, 2025 below.

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 selected categories and our new flash nonfiction section, Object-ives, for 500-999 word essays about a possession you own or have owned, and another new category, Hobbies. Writers may submit a maximum of 1 1,000-2,500 essay in any full-length category and 1 Object-ives OR Hobbies essay during this submission period of October 1-November 30, 2025.

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

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 MarMilestones (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.

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

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.

Flash Fiction Writing Guidelines for Open Secrets Flash Personal Essays About Your Hobbies or Possessions

Hobbies is a new section launching in November 2025 that will ron on Saturdays for flash nonfiction essays of 500-999 words about a hobby of yours, past or present. As with all our essays, it should have tell a full story with a dramatic arc and a clear beginning, middle, and end. We don’t just want to know that you took up woodworking or scrapbooking or any other hobby, but why. What did you learn about yourself? What has been the most challenging and easy parts? Has this hobby brought you closer with people in your life or introduced you to new people? How has it changed you?

Object-ives is a new section featuring rotating authors that will run on Fridays 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.

For Hobbies and Object-ives:

Submissions must include all 3 required elements: Essay, bio, and photo. Submit your Hobbies or Object-ives personal essay as a Word document attachment OR in the body of an email to opensecretsmag@gmail.com with “Hobbies Submission” or “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 related to your hobby (for Hobbies) or of the object you’re writing about (for Object-ives). For Object-ives, if you no longer have the item and don’t have a photo of it, an original illustration you create or a private photo of the item you have permission to use is acceptable. We will not be using stock photos for the Hobbies or Object-ives sections. 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 Hobbies and 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.