Summer Essay Series
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Until July 15, 2023, The Good Trade will be accepting original reader essays for a summer series on themes of joy, bliss, lightheartedness, and wonder. We’re most excited to read stories anchored in transformative experiences that then expand into reflection and invitation for readers to ponder.
Our editors are eager to be surprised and captivated, and we’re specifically looking for writing that takes a fresh and even critical approach to the topics at hand. Send us something that we can’t stop thinking about for days! We love a good essay that challenges us to re-evaluate our own lives and convictions.
Before sending us your piece, please re-familiarize yourself with our personal essays to ensure your subject is a good fit. We also encourage you to send us only your very best, most polished draft as we received hundreds of submissions from writers and can only publish a handful.
Thank you and we look forward to reading your work! xx
Submit your essay via our Typeform link. Please do not email us. We will not open or read essays sent via email.
Please only send us one essay for this series.
Selected essays will go through one round of revisions with our editors and the final piece will run at 800-1000 words. Feel free to be verbose in your first submission, but please do not send us more than 1500 words.
No requirements, but please make it easy on our editors! Serif typefaces and 12 pt font is preferred. We also encourage reviewing our editorial guidelines.
Writers will receive $300 for original essays.
We are a small editorial team, so please be patient with us as we read your work. Due to the volume of essays we receive, we will only be able to respond to those we’d like to publish. If your essay is selected, you should hear from us within 6-8 weeks of your submission.
Yes! We’re writers too, and so we encourage simultaneous submissions. Please just send a quick note to [email protected] if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
**All submitted work must be original and unpublished, including on personal websites or blogs. The Good Trade will hold exclusive digital rights to published pieces for 6 months from the publication date, after which the author will retain all rights and the piece will remain archived on The Good Trade’s website.