Join the Revolution. Tell Your Story.
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.
personal essays
HerStry is open for regular personal essay submissions four times a year:
January 1 - February 29th
April 1 - May 31st
July 1 - August 31st
October 1 - November 30th
(see full submissions guidelines below)
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).
We pay $10 for every published personal essay. Because of that, we 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.
monthly theme
If you are interested in writing a personal essay but don't know what to write about, we can help! We dedicate the last week of each month to a predetermined theme. You are free to write any type of story you would like as long as it is true, about you, and is based on the monthly theme in some way.
To check out a list of our upcoming themes click here.
We pay $20 for every published theme essay. Because of that, we have a $3 submission fee to help cover costs and to pay our wonderful editors. The fee ensures that we can keep sustaining HerStry as long as you want to keep telling your stories.
The Rules:
Stories must be true and about you
Stories must follow the theme in some way (but that way is open to interpretation)
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
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.
Rights
We require First North American Serial Rights. Following publication, all rights revert to the author, but we ask that HerStry is credited in subsequent reprints. In addition, we reserve the right to edit submissions in accordance with the rules of our style guide.
HerStry reserves the right to decline any and all AI generated stories. Authors found to be submitting AI generated work will be banned from submitting to HerStry in the future.
The Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize
Submissions are now open for the 2025 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize.
Become a Volunteer Reader
The 2023 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize is now open. Submit here.
Join the Babes.
The Babes Who Write is our inclusive membership group full of badass women writers. If you’ve been looking for a writing community, this is it.
When You Join the Babes:
Access to craft talks with some of the best in the lit biz (authors, agents, editors, etc.)
Access to member coffee hours/happy hours. A time to network with other writers and just relax in a casual atmosphere.
Exclusive workshops and events just for the Babes
Access to submission opportunities and contests just for the Babes
Discounts and first access to Critique Clubs, public workshops, retreats and conferences (both online and in person)
Discounts on editing services
Discounts on HerStry merch
Monthly writing prompts and challenges
Access to our directory of lit magazines, indie presses, and other resources
Your work spotlighted and celebrated on social media and in the weekly Babe Letter
Support from women writers around the world
