Ten Paying Markets for Personal Essays and Life Stories

The personal essay has long been a favorite of writers because it allows you to express something deeply personal. Unfortunately, finding paying markets for personal essays and life stories isn't always easy. Here are ten to get you started.

1. Christian Science Monitor

This international daily newspaper is seeking personal essays and life stories for its "Home Forum" section. Stories should be between 300 and 900 words and the pay is from $75 to $160 per story. They even have a section devoted to children every Tuesday of the month wherein personal stories related to children are published. This is a great forum in which to be published because the newspaper is updated daily, which gives you more opportunities to be published than with a magazine. Guidelines: www.csmonitor.com

2. Common Ties

If Internet publishing is your thing, you might want to consider submitting personal essays and life stories to Common Ties. This is a unique publishing forum as it is set up like a blog and the publishers are travelers. They are seeking stories that move, inspire and entertain their target audience and they frequently announce types of stories they would like to receive. Payment for a Common Ties story is typically between $100 and $200, paid on publication. The website claims that some exceptional stories receive up to $1,000. Guidelines: www.commonties.com

3. The Sun Magazine

This is also a unique publication in that they prefer submissions of a personal nature all around. The Sun Magazine pays between $500 and $1,500 for personal essays and life stories as long as they don't run over 7,000 words. They are also willing to consider previously published manuscripts to be published for half the usual payment. Guidelines: www.thesunmagazine.com

4. Woman's Day Magazine