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5 Successors to Coffee Times
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I was sorry to see the demise of the large publication ‘Coffee Times’ (CT), and not just because the circumstances were horrible (as explained here and here).
No — I genuinely liked the idea of a publication that covered lots of topics in a light and accessible way, kind of like a general-interest magazine for your downtime. It was a great place to submit stories that didn’t fit a niche.
Plus, I love coffee! ☕️
So, where should we submit those sorts of articles now? There are many excellent publications on Medium, but most are fairly specialist.
Introducing: five publications that will take a broader range of ‘coffee break’ articles…
…and have editors that are great to work with, too!
1. The Community Building Movement
Set up as a direct replacement to CT, the Community Building Movement is (at least for now) happy to accept stories that were previously published there, and are now orphans.
Editor-in-chief Gerald Sturgill has put together a team of editors quickly, and I’m pleased to be one of them! It’s less than a week old, so why not check it out, follow it, and submit something?
Find out more in Gerald’s launch article below:
2. Reciprocal
In my time on Medium, I’ve probably published more with Reciprocal than any other publication, and some of my stories have done really well. It does have a slant toward writing and wellbeing-focused stories but will take a broader range of topics, too. Check out one of my stories here.
A key feature of the publication is that you shout out other writers in each article, and try to support one another. It has just taken on new editors in Dr. Preeti Singh and Yana Bostongirl, so the future looks bright.
Find out more in this update from Sahil Patel:
3. The Shortform
A similar idea in principle to the defunct CT, but this time focused on short form stories. The Shortform publishes works that are strictly limited to 150 words, and on a range of topics — perfect for a quick read on your breaks.
Writing to such a strict word count can be challenging, but it’s also fast and impactful. As I say here, a short-form piece can be a good way to draw attention to your longer articles — and if it’s just too short for you, consider their sister publication, The Midform!
Read the current guidelines from Nancy Blackman:
4. Illumination
Another place where I have published a lot of stories, Illumination is definitely one of Medium’s biggest publications, and they tend to respond pretty quickly to submissions.
Again, they take a broad range of topics, with many of the articles having a fun, magazine-style feel. I have published about issues ranging from punctuation mistakes to my LitRPG book series!
They also promote selected stories in Illumination-curated, and tweet about them, too, giving your work more visibility.
Find out more below from Kevin Buddaeus:
5. New Writers Welcome
Another strong publication that is very eclectic in its tastes, New Writers Welcome aims (as the name suggests) to provide a platform to the newer writers of Medium. And it won’t turn you away when you’ve become more established!
I’ve published a couple of creative writing pieces that have done well there (such as this one), and they also have a friendly Facebook group, which allows you to post your links every day.
Find out more in this guide by Robert Ralph:
Those are my picks for successors to the defunct CT. I am a writer for all five. I hope you check them out and have some success publishing with them too. Thanks for reading!
Psst… before you go, you can find more of my articles about blogging here, as well as updates on my own Medium progress so far right here (earnings included!).
Want some writing tips? I write about creativity, and share advice and guides for writers. I also write fiction on Medium — check out some examples in this list!
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