JOIN THE REVOLUTION. TELL YOUR STORY.
We are proud to have published stories from women all around the world. We accept all types of stories as long as they are true and about you. No topic is off limits!
HerStry centers the experiences of women identifying persons. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, non-binary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two-spirit. In other words, if you are a cis man, please refrain from submitting.
We nominate for the Pushcart Prize and Best of Net.
A few things we don’t want to see:
- Tear down pieces
- Racist material or hate speech
- Explicitly sexual material (In other words, please don’t send us porn)
- Overly violent material
HerStry does not accept previously published pieces.
Questions? Email julia@herstryblg.com
We regret that we cannot offer individual feedback on submissions, but we do offer personal editorial services.
We know the cliché, it’s not the destination it’s the journey. But what if that’s true? What brought you to the spot you are now and what did you learn in your journey there? In January we want your stories about the journey. The messy stuff and the beautiful stuff. Your lessons don’t have to be good ones. They simply need to have changed you.
** HerStry is always happy to share stories anonymously—if your story is selected for publication, simply let your editor know you would not like your name shared **
THE RULES:
- All stories must be true and about you.
- Stories must follow the theme in some way, interpretations can be wide.
- Stories must stay between 500–3,000 words.
- Documents should be double spaced, 12Pt font with 1 inch margins.
- Submissions must be in .doc or .docx form—we do not accept PDFs.
- Stories are read blind. Please DO NOT put any identifying material on your manuscript. Manuscripts that don’t follow this rule will be automatically disqualified without being read. We realize personal essays may contain your name; a first name is fine.
- Please include a third person bio. Cover letters are fine, but not necessary (we don’t read them, we’re more interested in what you’ve written).
- Please submit only once per theme.
- We do not accept previously published stories.
HerStry centers the experiences of women identifying persons. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, nonbinary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two spirit. In other words, if you are a cis man, please refrain from submitting.
WANT PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK?
You can now receive helpful feedback by selecting the “personalized critique” option on our submissions page. While getting your work critiqued does not guarantee publication, we can help make it great for your next submissions, whether it’s to us or someone else.
$3 submission fee goes toward keeping HerStry sustainable. All accepted pieces receive $20 payment.
About the Contest
HerStry is pleased to announce the 2024 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize with guest judge Kelly McMasters. HerStry has long been a place for women and nonbinary folks to tell their stories. We are a brave space for brave stories. Now, we’d like to amplify your stories even more with our contest and prize.
There is no theme to adhere to for this contest, simply nonfiction written by you, about you. Give us your best work, the stuff of your heart. Our stories are what make us, tell yours.
THE IMPORTANT STUFF:
- All essays must be true and about you and previously unpublished.
- Essays must stay under 5,000 words.
- Essays must be submitted in a word document (please no PDFs). Must be in 12pt Times New Roman or Calibri font, double spaced.
- All essays are judged blind, please do not put any identifying information on your document. Essays with identifying information will be discarded without being read.
- Writers are asked to submit a third person bio. Cover letters are fine but, honestly, we don’t care. It’s the quality of the writing we are looking for, not the amount of times you’ve been published.
- While your work is under consideration we ask that you DO NOT submit it elsewhere. Winners will be announced no later than April 3, 2024.
HerStry centers the experiences of women identifying persons. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, non-binary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two-spirit. In other words, if you are a cis man, please refrain from submitting.
Prizes:
First - $400
Second - $250
Third - $100
About Kelly McMasters, Guest Judge
Kelly McMasters is an essayist, professor, mother, and former bookshop owner. She is the author of the Zibby Book Club pick The Leaving Season: A Memoir-in-Essays (WW Norton, 2023) and co-editor of the ABA national bestseller Wanting: Women Writing About Desire (Catapult, 2023). Her first book, Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town, was listed as one of Oprah's top 5 summer memoirs and is the basis for the documentary film ‘The Atomic States of America,’ a 2012 Sundance selection, and the anthology she co-edited with Margot Kahn, This Is the Place: Women Writing About Home (Seal Press, 2017), was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Her essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, The Paris Review, The American Scholar, River Teeth: A Journal of Narrative Nonfiction, Tin House, Newsday, Time Out New York, Columbia Magazine, and MrBellersNeighborhood.com, among others.
***Contest fees go toward contest prize and paying HerStry staff and guest judge***
HerStry publishes personal essays every Wednesday. Personal essays are a way for our writers to tell the stories they want to tell. There are no rules. No themes. As long as the story is true and about you, we want to read it. Nothing is off limits (well, some things are off limits, see above).
Starting in 2022 HerStry will pay $10 for every published personal essay. Because of that, we now have a $3 submission fee to help cover costs and to pay our wonderful editors. We have a free submission period one weekend a month. Please be advised that we have a limited number of free submissions and once they are gone they are gone.
The Rules:
- Stories must be true and about you
- Stories must be between 500 - 3,000 words
- Stories should be double spaced, with 12pt font, Times New Roman or Calibri (get out of here Comic Sans!)
- Stories are read blind. Please DO NOT put any identifying material on your manuscript. Manuscripts that don’t follow this rule will be automatically disqualified without being read.
- Stories must be submitted as word documents of some sort. PDFs will not be considered
- Stories must be submitted with a short bio and photo of the author
- No poetry, please
*** In order to let as many people submit as possible please only submit one story at a time. Do not submit again until you hear from us. Duplicate submissions will be deleted without being read. ****
WANT PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK?
You can now receive helpful feedback by selecting the “Personalized Critique” option on our submissions page. While getting your work critiqued does not guarantee publication, we can help you make it great for your next submission, whether it's to us or someone else. Click the button below to get started.
Winter is both bleak and beautiful. Tell us stories that happened in the winter. About falling in love in the cold, about breaking apart, coming back together. Tell us about a silent snowfall or a snowstorm. Tell us about ice fishing with grandma or ice skating with mom. Tell us about your winter.
** HerStry is always happy to share stories anonymously—if your story is selected for publication, simply let your editor know you would not like your name shared **
The Rules:
- All stories must be true and about you.
- Stories must follow the theme in some way, interpretations can be wide.
- Stories must stay between 500–3,000 words.
- Documents should be double spaced, 12Pt font with 1 inch margins.
- Submissions must be in .doc or .docx form—we do not accept PDFs.
- Please do not put your name on your manuscript. We realize in personal essays, the author’s name often comes up, so just use your best discretion.
- Please include a third person bio. Cover letters are fine, but not necessary (we don’t read them, we’re more interested in what you’ve written).
- Please submit only once per theme.
- We do not accept previously published stories.
HerStry centers the experiences of women identifying persons. We’re looking for work from bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, nonbinary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two spirit. In other words, if you are a cis man, please refrain from submitting.
$3 submission fee goes toward keeping HerStry sustainable. All accepted pieces receive $20 payment.