Y'all, I'm perplexed. Why do writers do this?

Maybe I shouldn't be, I don't know. Maybe this is how we identify a professional?

Frustrated writer photo from pexels

Happy Friday,

Can we talk? I know a lot of writers are struggling on Medium. It’s not just Medium, of course, but that’s where this story happened so I’ll start there.

Last week I put out a call for submissions for History of Women on Medium.

When I first opened for submissions last year, I was sooo naive. I just asked who wanted to write with me and added everyone who raised a hand. Well wow, that was a mistake. So… that’s why 7% of our writers are carrying the publication.

So I figured it’s time to start over. Hence, the call for new writers.

First, I specified straight up that I’m not looking for biographies that read like Wikipedia. Publications have a feel. Magazines and newspapers work that way too. Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan are both women’s magazines, but they don’t have the same feel. And neither is like Vogue, which is also a woman’s magazine.

Know what I mean?

After listing what I don’t want, I listed what I DO want.

Conversational style. Strong opening. Horizontal cover image. No posts under 4 minutes. Etc. Point by point. I even linked to samples. Here. These did really well!

I asked writers to create a draft and send it by PM.

So when the PMs started coming in, I was super excited. So many I haven’t even finished going through them. There’s some good stuff in there, to be sure!!

But you know what I’m going to tell you, right?

Some of them? Pretty sure they saw call for submissions and submitted without reading the submission guide. I can’t think of any other explanation.

Vertical images. Biographies. 3 minute posts. Sigh.

I do not understand. I truly do not.

It’s not just my publication and it’s not just Medium…

Do you know what the #1 problem magazines have when they accept online submissions? People don’t read the submission guide.

The Chicken Soup books pay $200 per story. It takes forever to hear back from them because they have to wade through the submissions that didn’t follow the submission guide. Some magazines don’t take submissions anymore for that very reason.

Vocal has the same problem with their challenges. If you go to any live challenge and look at the current entries before the contest closes, you’ll find a whack of stories that aren’t even about what the challenge asks for.

They ask for a story about a dragon, someone is going to write about their dog. Or their kid. Or a story about how to win writing challenges. Wtf?

Then the staff has to wade through all that. Just like I’m doing right now. Except I don’t have a staff. It’s just me reading everything that gets submitted.

I don’t get it. I truly. Do. Not.

I’m just looking for strong and compelling writing that fits the tone of my publication and follows the submission guide. I want readers to open a story, and when they get to the end, to say “wow, that was a pretty good read.”

I’m pretty sure every publication wants that whether it’s a magazine that prints actual paper copies or a publication on Medium. I don’t understand why a writer who hopes to get recognized for their work and maybe earn some money ignores it.

Color me confused.

I truly do not know what to even think.

If you have any thoughts, I’d sure love to hear them.

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Thanks and Happy Easter. 😊

xo
Linda