Story Topics

2023: The Year of Rebalance

We are living in times where reproductive justice, public safety, diversity in education and politics, and democracy itself are shifting — leading people to feel fear, anger, stress, and dismay. Our focus of Minnesota Women’s Press storytelling and Changemakers Alliance conversations in 2023 will be on the resilience and energy people are bringing to transformation.

All story ideas can be sent to editor@womenspress.com with “Story Idea” in subject line.

 

Month	Topic	Description
January	Mentors	An exploration of intergenerational relationships between people who support one another in work and life. Featuring the voices of those in farming, politics, education, and more. Special sections: Pets, Camp & Kids
February	Books	Excerpts and conversations with new and established Minnesota authors. Special sections: Money & Business, Education & Learning
March	Defusing Toxic Masculinity	How to improve public safety — from dismantling rape culture to fighting sex trafficking and intimate partner violence. Based on a series of Changemakers Alliance conversations and community-submitted stories. Special sections: Elder, Camp & Kids
April	Under 30	People under 30 share their joys and concerns. Special sections: Healing, Home & Garden
May	Values & Vision	People statewide in conversation about what they care about. Special sections: Travel & Adventure, Camp & Kids, Readers Recommend
June	Reproductive Justice	One year after the fall of Roe, how is Minnesota performing as a “safe haven” for abortion care? What steps remain to ensure access to reproductive care for all? Special sections: Elder, Home & Garden
July	Main Street	How melanated entrepreneurs are bringing vitality to Minnesota neighborhoods, based on a series of CALL conversations and submitted stories. Special sections: Buy Local, Pets
August	River Stories	This breezy issue will share stories from along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. Special sections: Healing, Education & Learning
September	Work	The ways our work lives are shifting — including the role of labor unions and changing family leave practices. Special sections: Directory, Elder, Travel & Adventure
October	The Land Remembers	How are sites of atrocities in Minnesota becoming sites of reconciliation and healing? Stories about those who are working to ensure that history is not erased. Special sections: Money & Business, Nonprofit
November	Child Welfare	From American Indian boarding schools to the modern day foster care system, “child welfare” has a tangled history. We trace roots and learn what is being done in Minnesota to better support kids. Special sections: Holiday, Pets
December	Changemakers	Our annual issue focused on people and organizations who made change in 2023 around equity, justice, and self-determination for women and children. Special sections: Healing, Holiday

---

Thank you for your interest in writing for or sharing story ideas with Minnesota Women’s Press.

Minnesota Women’s Press is a mix of the work of intersectional and intergenerational writers/reporters, combined with readers who have first-person stories to share. Some of the most poignant writing comes from women who might not have writing experience, but have personal life experiences to share. 

Each month has one umbrella theme, and a few special sections. We include only stories that fit into those themes. We ask community members for suggestions on our topics months in advance. Read our current stories before proposing an idea in order to understand our approach.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON TIMING: We assign our stories two months in advance. A story for the December issue will be assigned on October 1, with a rough draft due date of October 20, and a final draft review — after it goes through copy-editing, fact-checking, and preliminary design — on November 10. We ask for head shots submitted for all personal essays, and assign our photographer to featured stories.

Payment: As a free publication for more than 25,000 people, our expenses are deep for distribution and printing costs. We publish online commentaries with no payment. Personal essays are assigned for $100. Reported stories run at 20/cents a word. Most of our stories average 700 words.

Ethics: We rarely run stories that promote a person’s business or book/product, but when we do it is because it ties into an existing theme. We don’t tend to pay for those, since it is of mutual benefit to the individual’s work.

 

---

GENERAL GUIDELINES

The following guidelines were created to help you prepare your essay or letter for publication.

• Essays are always written in the first person and are based on the writer’s personal experience or feelings about an issue or topic.
• Submissions are for use in the print and/or online versions of our magazine.
• Your chances of submitting something that works well for our audience are greatly enhanced if you are well-informed about the stories we tend to feature. Please don’t submit ideas without having explored the sections on our website from the top menu.
• Our content tends to be original.
• All of our writers live in Minnesota or have a strong Minnesota connection.
• We do not tend to quote men or use them as experts. While we recognize the need to build community and tackle issues together, the genesis for this publication is that men have tended to get plenty of voice and this is a space for women and LGBTQ+ people.
• We edit for adherence to our AP-influenced style guide and for length. When time allows, we share revisions with the writer ahead of our final production days.
• All essays should be submitted by email. Please, no phone calls.
• We receive more submissions than we can publish, and we cannot always respond.
• Sometimes we plan to publish your submission, but space considerations may force us to hold it for a later issue. We keep a database of stories that pertain to our upcoming themes.