SUBMISSION GUIDELINES | WE WANT YOU
Want to Write Sports?
Here’s how you can tell your favorite athlete stories
UPDATED 3 FEBRUARY 2024—
First, follow Beyond the Scoreboard. That’s right. Click follow.
Are you an athlete? A spectator who loves to sit in the stands and scream? The proud parent of an amazing athlete? A softball player? a bicyclist? a runner, triathlete, hockey player? Here’s your pub!
No AI assistance for stories submitted to this publication, please.
We’re accepting submissions from the finest and most creative sports writing on the platform, told with imagination, irony, and any flavor of description and emotion you can include.
We don’t want traditional sports game stories
We want sports-type stories that go beyond the scores of the game, which could include memoirs, essays, features on an athlete or coach, opinions on a topic or other interests sports articles that just don’t tell who scored how many and what the final score was.
Sports memoirs are personal recollections of a specific time or event. Sports memoirs are true (nonfiction) and told with plenty of introspection and reflection.
In order to be added to this pub, I must see evidence of a sports story on any memoir or a personal essay on your page. If you are writing listicles, how to make money or informative articles, you are not a good fit for this publication.
Tag your work with such examples as sports, memoir, this happened to me, and/or baseball (or the particular sport written about). We also ask for one topic space for the pub name — Beyond the Scoreboard (if this is not done, we reserve the right to chose which one to replace it with).
Please read published stories in Beyond the Scoreboard so you have an idea of what we’re looking for.
Please like and follow our publication.
Drop your name in this thread to be added as a writer — if you fit the criteria above. Again, your previously-published work must show evidence of sports and/or memoirs or personal essays.
Submit your work with the expectation of a fast turnaround (12–24 hours). Weekend submissions might take a bit longer. If a few minor edits need to be done, we’ll have a short back-and-forth.
If more than minor edits need to be attended to, we will ask you to withdraw your story. Please spend plenty of time revising and editing your work. A major overhaul is too much to expect of the editors.
Please submit only stories that are currently unpublished on Medium.
If we see claps on a story or find it already published on your page, that means it is already published — self-published.
If a piece is self-published by a new writer on Medium, and an editor considers it worth sharing, we will make exceptions. We do not publish series pieces, short fiction, or poetry. Generally, we don’t publish book excerpts.
No Writer Tags in this pub
The site is moving away from wanting distractions on your story, including tags and shoutouts to your friends at the bottom of the page. Just let your story stand on its own. We do suggest a “Thank you for reading my story.”
You may attach one story, or a referral link, or a call to some sort of ‘follow me’ action. Choose one. That’s all you get. Thanks.
You must be a paying member of Medium to publish with us. It’s $5 per month. Thanks.
How it works
When we receive your submission, one of us will highlight your first paragraph and leave a private note. Your first sentence area will have an asterisk to the right, with an editor introduction and notes. You must click on each asterisk to see the editor’s notes.
Look through the story for additional notes with asterisks. Fix small issues.
Do not submit vertical photos
If your photo is mostly a big black rectangle with an image at the bottom, we may replace your photo. Don’t submit vertical shots. Use horizontal photos, please.
If your image is borrowed, a screenshot, from Pinterest or FB, etc., you will need to choose another photo.
Don’t interact with an editor when he or she begins writing notes on your piece. Give it a few hours. Otherwise, the editor’s notes can get deleted.
Only one person can edit at a time, including brief notes, so just go get coffee and pet the dog for a while after you see the editor has picked up your piece.
Your sports story can be as short as three minutes, or as long as twelve minutes.
The sweet spot is five minutes. Please aim for 4–7 minutes or a well-developed sports story or sports memoir.
What we choose not to accept
Argumentative sports essays, problem/solution essays, political opinion essays, overly religious essays, poetry, or angry rants. Neither do we accept fluffy, feel-good essays. No self-help.
If your piece isn’t a good fit for various reasons, we may not accept it. We have a strong editorial team and discuss stories that don’t fit our publication.
No Part I, Part II essays. No obvious book excerpts that don’t stand alone well.
No writing challenges from other pubs.
Remember — we are not interested in AI-generated stories, or even AI-imbedded paragraphs.
Photos may come from Unsplash, but I also suggest Pexels or any other free photo outlet, so you aren’t using the same photos thousands of others have used.
You MUST have credit under your photo. That’s a must. Copy the messy URL and compress it. Link it to the source or photographer’s name, please.
If you use your own photo, please label it “photo property of the author.”
If you have an outstanding AI-generated image of a child in horizontal format, it will probably be okay. In other words, not a ‘real’ child.
Click at the top of your photo, and add Alt Text. This is a brief description of the photo for people who need help with seeing what it is. Above, ‘orange cat with striking green eyes ‘is what I might use. Just something brief.
Note: No massive vertical photos. I know — I said it already. Saying it again. Not looking for big chunks of vertical black and gray that go on for days. Figure out how to make your photo subject show on the screen. If your photo is ‘clunky’ or boring, we’ll let you know.
For your “topics” which used to be called “tags” on Medium, please use sports, football (or name of the sport), memoir, or this happened to me.
A sports memoir is relevant if your writing is about one significant and remarkable sports moment in your past, and you learned something from it. Otherwise, use any other topics you want before hitting the submit button.
Reserve one topic for Beyond the Scoreboard. We will choose and change one if you fill-up the topics. Also, if you use an obscure topic that may not get you appropriate views, we reserve the right to change them for you.
- Sports
- This happened to me
- Memoir
- Basketball (or name of the particular sport)
- Beyond the Scoreboard
Using all five topics will get your story out there. Trust me on this one.
If you use a bunch of text features, which include bold, title case, quotation, italics, etc. throughout your work, we will probably ask you to take it down a notch.
If you’re writing a sports travel story or featuring a variety of athletes and wish to use several photos, that makes sense.
If you’re using four photos and gifs, it doesn’t. Just use a photo up top, which is required here, and then perhaps one more if you must.
Self-promotion and calls to action — don’t ask people to follow you. Don’t propose read for reading. This isn’t that place.
Read stories by authors, comment, and show appreciation because it’s part of our writer community, perhaps the most important thing on this site.
You can link one story you’ve written previously at the bottom of your essays
For now, just one. OR a referral link. OR a follow-me link. OR, here’s my book link. Choose one.
Trigger warnings
If your content is rife with violence or something disturbing to readers, it’s a kindness to put a TW or a CW under the cover photo.
CW: graphic description of my guinea pig’s incident while crossing road.
We will read through your piece and let you know if we would like you to use a warning.
We prefer to say yes to everything submitted
In an ideal world, your sports story will be mostly error-free and will be interesting and relevant to readers. If it doesn’t work here, we’ll let you know. We prefer to say yes and help you get your essay in front of readers. If we say no, please be gracious. We will be too.
Read the Medium Rules
If you don’t know the Medium Rules, click the link and review them. Can’t hurt, right? I’m also surprised that many people have never bothered. Please review them. A short read, but important.
Thanks for submitting your work!
Don’t forget to follow the Medium Guidelines. I’ll link them tomorrow, in case anyone wants a review.
