103 Free Outlets – Part 1: Literary Journals — WordsByEkta🌿
✨ 103 Free Submission Outlets for Personal Essays and More — Part 1: Literary Journals & Creative Nonfiction
No Fees. No MFA. Just Your Voice.
When I first started writing, I had no roadmap. No MFA, no insider contacts — just a burning urge to share my stories. But every search led to the same recycled lists and unanswered questions. So I built my own.
✨ Part 1 of the Series: 103 Free Submission Outlets for Personal Essays and More — Literary Journals & Creative Nonfiction
💢 Why This List Matters
For 6 months, I explored communities, scouted bylines, and reviewed guidelines. I tracked every outlet that met this criteria:
- ✅ Free to submit
- ✅ Open to personal essays and reflective writing
- ✅ Welcoming to new and emerging voices
- ✅ Transparent about process, payment, or terms
Below are 35 hand-picked publications you can submit to — no fees, no gatekeeping. Just your voice and a willingness to share.
📍 35 Free Literary Journals & Nonfiction Outlets
Here's what each outlet publishes and what they're looking for — so you can send your work to the right home, not just any open door.
- Bennington Review
Bennington Review is a prestigious literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from both emerging and established writers. They're drawn to work that takes formal and stylistic risks — essays that don't behave the way essays are supposed to. If your creative nonfiction piece has an unusual structure or a voice that resists easy categorization, Bennington is worth your attention. - The Forge Literary Magazine
The Forge publishes short fiction and creative nonfiction with a strong emphasis on craft. They read year-round and are genuinely interested in emerging writers. Their editorial sensibility favors precision — writing that earns every word and doesn't overstay its welcome. Essays and flash nonfiction under 1,500 words tend to do well here. - Hippocampus Magazine
Hippocampus is one of the most writer-friendly literary journals dedicated entirely to creative nonfiction. They publish personal essays, memoir excerpts, flash nonfiction, and craft essays about the writing life. They run themed issues and open calls throughout the year, making it easier to pitch work that fits a specific conversation. A strong home for polished personal essays from writers at any stage. - The Offing
The Offing is a literary journal with an explicit commitment to amplifying writers from marginalized communities. They publish poetry, fiction, essays, and hybrid work — and they take their editorial mission seriously. If your creative nonfiction engages with race, class, queerness, disability, or immigration, The Offing is one of the most intentional spaces for that work online. - Hobart Pulp
Hobart has a distinct editorial personality — they're drawn to writing that is strange, specific, and quietly funny. Their online section, Hobart Pulp, publishes flash and short essays with an irreverent sensibility. If your personal essay doesn't fit neatly into a genre or a mood, if it resists being summed up, Hobart might be exactly the right reader for it. - Inkwell Journal
Inkwell is a literary journal based in the UK that publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. They're open to international submissions and welcome writing from new voices. Their editorial focus is on work that demonstrates genuine craft — clear, controlled writing that knows what it's doing. Essays on memory, identity, and personal history tend to find a good home here. - Jmww Journal
Jmww is a small, independent literary journal publishing flash and short-form creative work across genres. They're known for being thoughtful readers and for publishing work that other journals might overlook. Their aesthetic leans toward the unexpected — essays that open in one place and arrive somewhere else entirely. Flash nonfiction under 700 words is a particularly good fit. - Narrative Magazine
Narrative is one of the most widely read literary magazines publishing today, with a large online audience and a serious commitment to craft. They publish short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction — and they run regular contests open to all. The editorial bar is high, but they also offer detailed feedback through their contest submissions, which makes them valuable even if your first submission doesn't land. - Under the Gum Tree
Under the Gum Tree publishes true personal stories — creative nonfiction grounded in lived experience. They're particularly interested in essays that illuminate an aspect of human experience that feels under-examined or quietly universal. Their editorial sensibility is warm and their readers are loyal. If your personal essay is the kind that makes a stranger feel understood, this is a strong home for it. - Underblong
Underblong is a small literary journal with an appetite for experimental and hybrid work. They publish writing that sits between forms — essays that borrow from poetry, narratives that break their own rules. If your creative nonfiction doesn't fit neatly into a traditional essay structure, Underblong is worth exploring. - The Sun Magazine – Readers Write
Each issue of The Sun poses a theme and invites readers to respond in 300–700 words from their own experience. The prompts are open enough to accommodate almost any story — they've published pieces on family, shame, belonging, faith, and every kind of human complexity. They pay contributors, respond to every submission, and actively welcome writing from people who don't think of themselves as writers yet. - Memoir Magazine
Memoir Magazine is devoted entirely to the memoir form — both short personal essays and longer excerpts from book-length work. They're interested in writing that takes memory seriously as a subject, not just a container. If your essay is as much about the act of remembering as it is about what you remember, Memoir Magazine is one of the most specific and thoughtful homes for that work. - Pidgeonholes
Pidgeonholes publishes flash and short creative work across genres with a bias toward the strange and the unexpected. Their essays tend to be brief, formally inventive, and emotionally precise. If you write flash nonfiction that lands a whole world in under 500 words, this is a journal worth adding to your submission list. - Morning Musings Magazine
Morning Musings publishes reflective personal essays and creative nonfiction with a warm, contemplative tone. They're accessible to newer writers and genuinely interested in pieces that capture a small, true moment from daily life and open it into something larger. A good home for quieter essays that resist dramatic arcs but hold real emotional weight. - Electric Literature
Electric Literature is one of the most widely-read independent literary platforms online, publishing essays, fiction, and cultural criticism with a sharp, contemporary sensibility. Their essays section covers literature, identity, culture, and the writing life. They're particularly drawn to pieces with a clear argument and a distinctive voice — essays that are both personal and culturally aware. - Catapult
Catapult is one of the most writer-friendly literary platforms publishing today. They actively seek essays from marginalized writers — BIPOC, queer, immigrant, disabled — and their editorial team is known for thoughtful engagement with submissions. Their online magazine, their courses, and their community make them one of the most complete ecosystems for emerging nonfiction writers working right now. - The Bold Italic
The Bold Italic publishes personal essays and cultural writing rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area, though their reach and readership extend far beyond geography. They're interested in writing about city life, community, identity, and the intersections of culture and place. If your personal essay has a strong sense of location — of what it means to belong somewhere specific — this is worth a pitch. - Zibby Mag
Zibby Mag is a literary and culture publication with a focus on books, reading, and the lives of writers. They publish personal essays, interviews, and cultural commentary. If your creative nonfiction touches on your life as a reader or writer — how books have shaped you, what reading has cost or given you — Zibby Mag is a warm and engaged home for that kind of work. - The Introspect
The Introspect publishes essays on self-examination, personal growth, and the inner life. They're drawn to writing that is honest about the gap between who we are and who we want to be — essays that don't arrive at easy answers. If your personal essay is as much about the question as the conclusion, this is a good home for it. - The Dewdrop
The Dewdrop is a journal of short, lyrical creative nonfiction. They publish pieces that capture a single moment or observation with care and precision — writing that slows the reader down. Their pieces tend to be brief and beautiful rather than long and argumentative. If you write short, meditative nonfiction, The Dewdrop is one of the few journals built exactly for that work. - The Marginalian
The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) is Maria Popova's long-running platform for writing at the intersection of art, science, philosophy, and literature. While primarily an editorial voice rather than a traditional submission outlet, they do accept guest contributions for specific initiatives. If your writing engages with ideas — with what it means to think and feel and make sense of the world — understanding this publication's sensibility will sharpen your own. - The Haven
The Haven is a humor publication on Medium that publishes funny, sharp, personal essays. They welcome satire, parody, and first-person humor — writing that makes a point by making you laugh. If your personal essays have a comic sensibility, or if you've written something that captures absurdity with precision, The Haven is one of the few dedicated homes for genuinely funny creative nonfiction. - Real Healing
Real Healing publishes essays about trauma, recovery, and emotional health without softening the experience. They welcome writing from survivors, caregivers, and people in the middle of healing who want to tell the truth about what that actually looks like — the non-linear progress, the setbacks, the unexpected moments of grace alongside the grief. - Humans in Action
Humans in Action is a platform focused on stories of social change, civic engagement, and the personal dimensions of justice. They publish essays that connect individual experience to larger questions about how we live together. If your personal essay has a social or civic dimension — if your story is inseparable from the world it happened in — this is a thoughtful home for that work. - Public Possibilities
Public Possibilities publishes essays on civic life, community, and the spaces where personal experience meets public concern. They're interested in writing that takes seriously the question of how we build lives together — across difference, across geography, across disagreement. A good home for personal essays that don't stay personal for long. - Stories of Us
Stories of Us is a community-driven platform publishing first-person essays about shared human experiences. They're accessible, welcoming of newer writers, and genuinely interested in stories that bridge the individual and the collective. If your personal essay is the kind that makes a reader say "I thought I was the only one," this is exactly the right audience. - Journey/Culture
Journey/Culture publishes personal essays and cultural criticism at the intersection of travel, identity, and place. They're interested in writing about what it means to move through the world — literally and metaphorically — and what we discover about ourselves when we're somewhere unfamiliar. If your essay grew out of travel, displacement, or the experience of being an outsider, this is a strong home for it. - Human Parts
Human Parts is one of Medium's most established personal essay publications, with a large readership and a clear editorial focus on first-person narratives about identity, relationships, loss, and what it means to be alive right now. They publish regularly and read actively — if your personal essay is honest, specific, and emotionally direct, Human Parts is one of the most accessible and widely-read homes for that work. - Illumination (Medium)
Illumination is a Medium publication focused on ideas, self-improvement, creativity, and the examined life. They're one of the most prolific publishers on Medium and actively welcome new contributors. If your creative nonfiction sits at the intersection of personal essay and reflective writing — if you're drawing lessons from experience without being preachy about it — Illumination has a large, engaged readership for that kind of work. - Medium Mental Health
Medium Mental Health is a dedicated publication for first-person writing about psychological wellbeing, therapy, and the inner life. They publish essays on anxiety, depression, grief, recovery, and the daily work of staying afloat. If your personal essay is rooted in a mental health experience — told honestly, without performing resolution — this publication has a readership that is actively looking for that kind of writing. - Mind Café
Mind Café is a Medium publication focused on psychology, mindfulness, and self-awareness. They publish personal essays and reflective pieces that connect lived experience to ideas about how the mind works. Their tone is accessible and their readership is large — they're a good home for essays that are personal but also curious, that use a single experience as a window into something broader about human psychology. - The Startup
The Startup is one of Medium's largest publications, covering entrepreneurship, creativity, and personal growth. They publish first-person essays alongside practical writing — and personal narratives about failure, reinvention, creative risk, and building something from nothing tend to resonate strongly with their readership. If your personal essay has a professional or creative dimension, The Startup offers significant reach. - Better Humans
Better Humans is a Medium publication dedicated to personal development and the practical work of becoming who you want to be. They publish essays and guides on habit, identity, discipline, and growth — and first-person narratives about a specific transformation tend to perform well here. If your essay is about what you had to change in yourself and how you actually did it, Better Humans has a readership ready for that story. - Becoming Human: AI
Becoming Human is a Medium publication covering artificial intelligence, technology, and the human dimensions of living in an increasingly automated world. They publish technical pieces alongside personal essays and cultural criticism. If you write about AI from a human perspective — about what it means to work alongside machines, to lose a job to automation, or to think carefully about the future being built around us — this is a timely and engaged home for that work. - Change Your Mind, Change Your Life
Change Your Mind, Change Your Life is a Medium publication focused on mindset, resilience, and personal transformation. They publish essays about the inner shifts that precede outer change — the moment a belief loosened, the habit that broke a pattern, the conversation that rewired something. If your personal essay is about a turning point in how you think rather than just what you did, this publication has a warm and receptive readership for exactly that.
📬 Stay in the Loop
This is Part 1 of a 5-part series. Want the other parts?
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Your story matters. Let this list guide you where your voice belongs.
✍️ Written by WordsByEkta
🖋️ Emotional Storyteller | Writing what hearts never say aloud
💌 If you connected with my way of saying hard truths — often overlooked but deeply felt — explore one of my free letters:
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