advice for writers who want to be published on...

erikavichilee asked: advice for writers who want to be published on thoughtcatalog? suggestions for standing out in a sea of submissions?

Thought Catalog publishes all kinds of voices and themes and formats and people, so “standing out” is very difficult when everyone else is already standing out from each other. But I came in through the slush pile, and so did Ryan O’Connell, and so did a lot of other people who launched real careers on Thought Catalog. So we’re always looking for cool new voices who are going to make their mark on our audience.

I would say three things are crucial to getting your piece heard and posted:

1. Write something that is in your real voice, and is distinctly you. Don’t try to imitate the writers you see succeeding, because reading a thousand copycats of a certain style always gets old.

2. Be clean, concise, and convey to us who you are. Give us links to your Twitter or your blog and somewhere we can find you. Give us a few sentences to put yourself into good context.

3. Think, above all, is this something that other people would want to read? Let a friend look at it. Make them be brutally honest. Get to something that you feel very strongly about before you send it in.

The beauty of Thought Catalog is largely in its freedom, and there’s no editorial line or theme that I could encourage you to draw from because we truly publish everything. But this freedom means that your style and writing, even if you’ve never published it anywhere and aren’t sure if you qualify, can be put out there and given an audience and given a chance to be heard and improved and spark discussion.

Keep trying, and keep making things that mean something to you. I believe in you.