WRITING PROMPTS
The Penny Pub Submission Guidelines
A place for meaningful engagement through bi-monthly writing prompts
The Penny Pub is accepting new writers!
Please read the following guidelines carefully so you are clear about how to join our community, what we are looking for, and how to format your submissions.
Please note that submissions during evening hours (US Eastern Time) and weekends will often take 12–24 hours to edit.
We are a pub that edits before publishing. You can count on us to leave private notes, make grammatical corrections, adjust the structure of a sentence here and there, and format and space paragraphs in a way that makes readers have an easier time.
If you are looking to drop a story and have it quickly published without edits, Penny Pub is likely not a good fit.
At The Penny Pub, we value quality writing and meaningful engagement. We hope to build a supportive community of writers and readers.
The Penny Pub is intended to function like your favorite neighborhood pub or coffee shop. A place where you might swing by for a quick cocktail, mocktail, or iced Americano and gather with the locals for brief but inspired conversations.
Every first and third Monday of the month, we’ll drop a new writing prompt for you to consider. Then, we invite writers to “drop by” and share their unique thoughts while also reading and engaging with a few other writers.
Our bi-monthly prompts focus on pop culture, relationships, self-help, values, and lifestyle. We seek short responses that can be read quickly and encourage unique perspectives that help others consider topics through someone else’s lens.
Additionally, we value diversity and inclusion. As a queer, neurodivergent (ADHD) writer, it’s important to me that The Penny Pub is a welcome and safe space for everyone.
While we seek quality writing, I also value providing mentorship. It’s my pleasure to work with new writers to help them navigate the platform, improve their craft, and succeed.
General Guidelines
Prompts will go live at noon (US Eastern Time) on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Responses will be accepted up to the time a new prompt is published.
Submissions should be 500–800 words or 3–4 minutes long. Stories unrelated to the current prompt, previously published (including self-published), or stories over 4 minutes will not be accepted.
Stories should be written in your own words and about your experiences with the subject at hand. Avoid meandering rants and the temptation to try to prove a point.
We do not accept stories written by/with the help of AI (the use of Grammarly to check grammar and spelling is welcomed).
If responses sound like a term paper, are void of personal opinions or references, are vague and impersonal, or register above 10% when run through our AI checker, they will not be accepted.
After you submit a response, we encourage you to interact with other Penny writers who’ve sent in responses. That said, I want to be clear that we do not condone reading clubs or any type of read-for-read strategies.
There is a distinct difference between building a supportive community and trading reads, claps, and comments to make more money. As such, we will remove references or calls to action that ask readers to clap, highlight, or comment at the end of stories.
In our effort to provide an inclusive environment, we will not publish stories using language that is considered derogatory or culturally insensitive in 2024 (regardless of whether that language may have been accepted during the time period your story is written).
We value editing
Our editors will look at how you connect your story to the prompt and how well your story is crafted. We want your work to shine!
Editors will correct grammar, spelling, formatting, and sentence structure errors. We may also offer content suggestions for you to consider. Our intent is always to help you garner more reads.
We love helping newer writers learn how to craft and format a quality story. The Penny Pub is a wonderful option for newer writers to work on short, manageable pieces, gain helpful feedback, and (hopefully) more eyes on their work.
Please be kind and courteous to editors as you interact with them. The goal is to make your work exceptional, not to diminish your voice. We aim to edit pieces within 24 hours, but please be aware that we are volunteers, and the process often slows down during evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Specific Submission Guidelines
If you are not already a writer for Penny, you may request to be added by commenting on this story with your medium user name (your @ — ). It may take a day or two for your name to be added.
Once a new prompt is posted (on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month), submissions to older prompts will not be accepted. Please feel free to send up to one response per week.
Word Count: Shoot for 500–800 words or 3–4 minutes
Formatting: Please follow the below formatting for each submitted story.
Title (in title case and formatted with the big T)
Subtitle (in sentence case and formatted with the small T, no end period)
Photo: Please use only one photo due to the shorter length of Penny pieces. The photo or cover image must be in horizontal or square format. Please do not use long/vertical photos.
All photos must be cited at the bottom of the image with a link to the source unless it is not your personal photograph.
Example: If you use Unsplash, Pexels, Deposit, etc., format as follows: “Photo by (name of photographer) on Unsplash.” Then, copy the URL for the photo and link it to the photographer’s name. Do not use screenshots from Pinterest, Instagram, etc., or poor-quality personal images.
Photos must include the ALT Text (click on the photo, click alt text at the top, describe the photo, and click save). This is used to assist vision-impaired readers.
You may place one linked piece or call to action at the bottom of your story. Medium does a great job of showing additional stories from each author. You may also shout out a fellow Penny Pub piece at the bottom if you wish (this is not required). We will remove any calls to action that include a plea for claps, comments or follows.
Tags: Please ensure one of your five tags coordinates with the current Penny Prompt (example: Penny1…the number changes with each prompt). This allows responses to be grouped on The Penny Pub home page.
Please choose four additional tags for your stories. Consider tags like culture, self-help, lifestyle, or relationships rather than tags like memoir, personal essay, or this happened to me.
Editing: We expect your stories to be proofread, spell-checked, and edited for grammar.
Private Notes: Editors may leave private messages with suggestions for changes to enhance your piece. Please be courteous and respectful to editors, and please do not delete private notes (only you and the editors can see them).
Publishing: We aim to publish stories within 24–36 hours of submission. We often schedule them so the curators have ample time to peruse the Queue for potential boosts.
Fun fact: The Penny Pub is part of Parasol Publications, a collective group of pubs established and nurtured by Debra G. Harman, MEd. We work together as publishers and editors to champion excellent writing across the platform. I invite you to follow the link and check out the wonderful pubs in our group!
Please feel free to reach out to me with questions. You may email me by clicking here.
Onward,
