How Editors Choose the Personal Essays They Publish

How Editors Choose the Personal Essays They Publish Expert advice from a roundtable of editors A few weeks ago, we invited some of our in-house staff to discuss the art of the personal essay on a panel. It was a discourse filled with conflicting opinions and encouraging advice, and that’s no surprise because of the innate nature of a personal essay. The story type is both challenging and rewarding and there’s a fragile balance that needs to take place to capture that. Tip in either direction, and the result can be an oversharing author, a long-winded post, and/or an unenthused audience. But if you get it right, it can end up as a rewarding experience for both the writer and reader. What Makes for a Great Personal Essay Expert advice from a roundtable of editors medium.com At one point in our discussion, we turned the conversation from the writer’s perspective to the editor’s perspective. We asked, how do you draw that balance as an editor when you have writers pitching you a couple of their personal essays? Where do you draw the line on whether or not this has a wide reach, or if it’s valuable to someone? We wanted to see if there was a through line for these editors’ stories in their respective publications. Here was what they said. This series of recorded interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity. Stephanie Georgopulos , Editor-in-Chief My personal bar is I read a lot of personal essays. So, when something strikes me, makes me laugh, or makes me upset, that is meaningful. I feel like I’m numb to a lot of stuff at this point. I’ve read a lot of stories. I don’t see my notifications anymore. If it doesn’t stand out I don’t see it. I use that as a bar of whether other people will get something out of a story. It doesn’t have to personally speak to me at all, but if it has that grain of something in it, I’m in. Jolie A. Doggett , Senior Platform Editor I think the beauty of Medium is that we can always, as platform editors, tell writers that if a story doesn’t particularly work for our publication, that they can always self-publish. That’s always super rewarding, versus just declining on the pitch and being like, “Well, doesn’t work. Sorry. Better luck next time.” You can actually share it on the pub through the partner program, and they can earn revenue that way, and more importantly, tell their story. I think for editors, it’s mostly important to see if there’s something in that personal essay that would resonate with our readers. The writer is looking at it from their purview, but we’re looking at it from the publication’s purview. For me, if it doesn’t quite fit Level, or if it doesn’t quite fit Momentum, then they can self-publish. That’s always a nice buffer so that everyone’s happy, because you don’t want people to think their stories don’t matter. At the same time, we have to keep in mind that we’re looking for stories for our publication that will serve our readers. Stephanie Georgopulos , Editor-in-Chief Totally. It can even be a matter of we just published something like that last week. It doesn’t have to be that the story is not a fit for the publication I edit. It’s just a matter of spreading it around and having a variety for our readers. Jada Gomez , Senior Platform Editor I think it’s also important to decline with kindness, because this is someone’s personal story or experience, and also let them know why it does not work. Sometimes, even that nudge itself — this sounds like just a diary entry for you, and not really something that will resonate with everyone else — even that little nudge helps the writer understand okay, what is the point? What do you want readers to get from the story? Because other people will be reading this besides you. What do you want them to walk away with? Sometimes, they’re able to come up with that through line of connecting their personal experience with a community, or globally, or an experience. Sometimes, it really is just letting the writer know, straight up, what does this have to do with the people who you want to read it? Then, just asking that question, and sometimes that writer needs that question to be asked. They can answer it in the work, and then, as an editor, I can put it together in a way that works. Jolie A. Doggett , Senior Platform Editor If it doesn’t work, just letting them know, it’s not you. It’s us, as the publication. It’s just not working out. Amanda Sakuma , Editor I think that as writers, we find comfort in modeling our stories after stories that we’ve already read. That’s why a lot of times, you see a lot of repetition for story types or angles, because it’s like that feeling seen moment that we’ve been talking about already. It’s deeply meaningful, and so a lot of times, the first intro is to mirror how you felt when you read it from someone else. I always say to a writer in that situation: Think of that as the first draft. Then, try in that first draft to identify the thing that is so deeply unique to just your experience, and then start there. I think it’s a helpful awakening of here’s a new way to look at this. It is both great for the reader to go through this new journey, but also you, as a writer, as well. Jon Gluck , Editorial Director I would just toss in that two of the main things I look for when I’m trying to make that decision or evaluate pitches like this are: do I learn something and am I moved? I think a great personal essay should always be revelatory, in some ways, and teach you something new. It doesn’t have to be facts, so to speak. It can be emotional truths, which are just a s valuable, if not more valuable.