#0081 The Dating Game! (for Creative Nonfiction Writers)

How to pair your work with appreciative places, Part Two

[Promo Announcer] Welcome back to season 2 of “The Dating Game!” Publishing Edition, where creatives seek out the best matches for their work. 

[RECAP of Season 2, Episode 7] Last time, three very different poets — Dear Poetess, mx poet, and Green Poet — found their potential publisher matches. 

In this episode, we have invited three creative nonfiction writers in search of places that feel like home, with space to stretch, comfort food, and a cozy bed. These contestants will quiz the three mystery publishers to figure out which might be their “just right” publications. Now, let’s get the show started!

[The Dating Game! host] Thanks, Promo Announcer!

Our first contestant was born in his family’s kitchen, raised in that kitchen, set out as a teen to help support the family in a neighborhood restaurant’s kitchen, trained abroad in Michelin-starred restaurant kitchens, and eventually opened his own restaurant called, appropriately, The Kitchen. When starting his food blog, he mentioned Samin Nosrat (Salt Fat Acid Heat) and Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef) as models for his literary pursuits.

Please welcome to the show… Yes Chef!

[Contestant #1, YC] Yes, thanks for the opportunity.

[host] Yes, yes! Please share with us, Yes Chef, a little about your current creative work you’re wanting to submit and your experiences with publishing!

[YC] At my Yes Chef food blog, I share recipes from my restaurant, The Kitchen, layered with reflections of my times in kitchens around the world throughout my life. These blog posts are like the light and flaky crust of a homemade quiche — yummy bites made all the more delicious for understanding the expertise to properly laminate the puff pastry.

I’ve been advised to get some of my recipes framed with personal stories into magazines and journals to ramp up interest for a literary agent who will get me a book deal, which will contribute to building a celebrity food empire.

[host] Oh my! Quite a step-by-step recipe for success, Yes Chef. We’ve now brought out our three eligible publishers. Please begin your questioning, Yes Chef!

[YC] I’m already a hot commodity. Do you take dating me seriously? Yes, all three of you respond.

[Publisher #1] No monetary payment.

[Publisher #2] Professional payment. Details: USD $100-300.

[Publisher #3] Pay ranges from Semi-pro payment to Professional payment. Details: USD $100-$400.

[YC] Publisher #1, Really? Why should I still consider a meetup with you?

[Publisher #1] The best food writing is not just about what’s on the plate, but is, like all literature, also interested in language, psychology, and the most pressing issues of the day. We provide a forum for artists and academics to explore the intersections between food and family, the environment, politics, economics, social justice, and media.

[YC] Publishers #2 and #3, I’m like the gold flakes sprinkled atop the richest sundae in the world. Tell me how you would add to my wonderfulness.

[Publisher #2] We are a non-profit literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers. Born out of a desire to tell “the story behind the story," we’ve evolved from a journalists’ after-hour parlor to a home for literary essays about journeys, broadly defined.

[Publisher #3] We publish a new issue online every other week throughout the year. We seek work that responds to our common experience and reflects our differences. We are interested in work by all writers, especially those historically underrepresented in literary publishing. We welcome unsolicited original prose (both literary nonfiction and fiction) and poetry from established and emerging writers during our open windows.

[YC] To all of you: If you dared to make me dinner at your home, what would I see in your kitchen?

[Publisher #1] Our website includes an interview column.

[Publisher #2] We are a space for the raw, personal stories not found in mainstream publications—tales that honor the digressions inherent to every journey. We aim to put forth a new kind of travel writing: one that not only transports readers across geographical borders, but plunges them deeper into the human experience.

[Publisher #3]  We are interested in essays in both standard and hybrid forms. We welcome new approaches such as speculative nonfiction, essays based in metaphor, essays in verse, and other re-imaginings of the format. We welcome work about literature, travel, music, visual art, and film in multiple formats. We are less interested in journalistic approaches than in work that shows the larger and smaller truths about being human. We are generally interested in essays of less than 6,000 words. Longer work must be exceptionally compelling, and we may publish longer works in installments. 

[host] Oh yes, Yes Chef! Now that you’ve considered those answers… Please tell us: Which of these eligible publishers do you want to try to date?

[YC] I’m skipping Publisher #1 but will try Publishers #2 and #3.

[host] Wonderful, Yes Chef!¹ We wish you much success!

And… we’re back with our second contestant. Mi Mi writes memoir. She defines creative nonfiction quite creatively, sometimes combining words with other categories. Her influences include Alice Wong (Year of the Tiger) and Sonya Huber (Pain Woman Takes Your Keys and Other Essays from a Nervous System). Please welcome to the show… Mi Mi!

[Contestant #2, MM] Lovely 2 B here & thx 💜 :-)

[host] Mi Mi, tell us about your publishing experience, if any, and the creative projects you’re ready to submit!

[MM] I am a reader. A lover of books and the people who create them. Sonya’s Pain Woman opened my eyes to possibilities! She has poetry and snippets of stories interspersed in her memoir of essays so seamlessly. So lovely. And when I saw how Alice combined photos, illustrations, poetry with her own story, Year of the Tiger; how the whole was so much more than any part yet every portion sang on its own! Oh! And her edited collections!² Just lovely.

Creativity is my outlet, my joy. Though I haven’t published yet, I want to share my story, my art and song and poetry and flash and bits and pieces of me. I’m Mi Mi.

[host] My goodness, Mi Mi. Absolutely fabulous! Go ahead with your questions for the eligible publishers.

[MM] They say variety is the spice of life. It certainly is for my creative work life. This question is for all three of you: If we were to go on a first date to a buffet, how many different dishes would you want to sample? 

 [Publisher #1] We publish stories, essays, poetry, and art, from seasoned to new voices from the world over. We welcome minority and marginalized viewpoints, as well as work in translation. Each issue will bring you extra features including authors in conversation, authors sharing essays on craft, and excerpts from forthcoming books… Consider us a shelter, no matter how tiny, that allows for big imaginings to take place.

[Publisher #2] We are dedicated to publishing noteworthy works of poetry, short fiction and personal essays. As writers ourselves, we recognize the challenge of finding quality outlets for our work. As readers, we welcome the opportunity to discover and share the creations of other artists. We welcome work from both published and unpublished writers and poets… The author’s voice and point of view should be unique and clear. We seek pieces which spring from the author’s life and experiences. Submissions which explore both the sweet and bitter of life, with a touch of humor, are a good fit. 

[Publisher #3] We offer word portraits of the people surrounding us in our daily lives, of the strangers we pass on the street unnoticed and those intimate to us who have been most influential and most familiar but who remain strangers to others. We feature essays from an eclectic variety of writers. We particularly look for work that offers slices of a life that help the reader imagine the whole of that life, work that demonstrates that ordinary people's experiences often contain extraordinary moments, visionary ideas, inspirational acts, and examples of success and failure that prove instructive. In short, we believe every life displays moments of grace. We wish to share pieces of these lives and celebrate them. View the pieces of the lives presented here as portraits, sketches, tributes, memories, remembrances...pieces of lives that enrich our experience for having shared them. We ask writers to, as Toni Morrison has said, "Imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar." Share a life. Introduce us to someone we don't yet know.

[MM] So lovely, all of you! How long will you wait after that buffet to set up a second date?

 [Publisher #1] 104.3 days.

[Publisher #2] 58.6 days.

[Publisher #3] 27.0 days.

[MM] Less than a month to more than one hundred days. Hmmm… Would you expect us to go Dutch while getting to know each other?

[Publisher #1] Fees Notice: This project charges fees (or requires purchases) for all submissions, and they do not offer monetary payment for accepted submissions. The fee is USD $5.

[Publisher #2] No submission fee. Payment: 3 copies of edition in which you’re published for authors in the United States; digital copy of edition in which you're published for authors outside the United States

[Publisher #3] Voluntary Fees: This project accepts voluntary fees for submissions with donations. Unlike many peer publications, we continue to resist charging submission fees and, because of the cost associated, have chosen not to use a submission manager. There are, of course, significant expenses associated with maintaining a publication, so we do encourage writers submitting to the magazine to consider a nominal donation (say, for instance, what a submission would cost if we all went back in time and submitted by regular mail rather than email.) There is no obligation to donate and donations have no bearing on the acceptance of work.

 [MM] How will I know you like me, that you really like me?

 [Publisher #1] 18.2% of nonfiction submissions accepted.

[Publisher #2] 80.0% of nonfiction submissions accepted.

[Publisher #3] 13.6% of nonfiction submissions accepted.

[host] Now that you’ve had time to consider, Mi Mi, please tell us: Which of these eligible publishers do you want to try to date?

[MM] They all sound lovely in ways. Publisher #3 has the lowest acceptance rate, which makes me nervous, but at least I’d know where I stand in less than a month. As for Publisher #1, I’m not sure I want to pay to wait over 100 days to find out my fate? In a good, better, best ranking, I don’t know that I’ve discovered my best match yet. Publisher #2 seems like the better match. 

[host] Oh… 

[host is handed an index card by a crew member] AbFab! Because your creative work doesn’t neatly fit into a submission category (creative nonfiction vs poetry vs visual arts) or length, the producers suggest you tailor future searches based on the specific creative work you want to place. 

With that, we wish you much success, Mi Mi!³

We’re back with our third and final contestant for this episode. This nonfiction writer focuses on personal essays with larger messages, pointing to Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist), Barbara Ehenreich (Nickel and Dimed),  and Rebecca Solnit⁴ (Men Explain Things to Me) as inspirations.

Please welcome to the show… er… [host squints as index card to be sure of the writer’s name] Right to Write!

[Contestant #3, R/W] Actually, it’s My Right To Write. As dictators demonize democracy, and the tech bros take down our safety nets, with the Earth under assault in this climate crisis — What’s Left in this world? My Right to Write personal essays on universal human rights, book banning, reparations, consent… Whenever I hear someone sneer at the term “woke,” I want to growl back at them: “I do not think it means what you think it means.”⁵ 

In my writing, I get in people’s faces, stand up for all of us. So it’s been challenging to make it through the gatekeepers in publishing — so often white and fiscally conservative and male — that don’t look like me. I struggle, but I persevere.

[host] Right/Write, please share with us about your current creative work ready for submission!

[R/W] Right now I’m writing rebuttals to all the inane Executive Orders ripping the hearts out of IMLS and SSA and EPA… basically, the entire alphabet soup of the federal safety net that lift up all of us without privilege.

[host] Right, right, gotcha. We’ve now brought out our three eligible publishers. Take it away, Right/Write!

[R/W] All of you: If we start our introductions with a coffee meetup, do you expect me to buy my own latte?

[Publisher #1] This project charges fees (or requires purchases) for all submissions, except for those unable to cover the fee, who can request to utilize their Submission Fund. The fee is USD $3.

[Publisher #2] This project charges fees (or requires purchases) for all submissions, except for a free period one weekend per month. The fee is USD $3.

[Publisher #3] This project charges fees (or requires purchases) for all submissions. The fee is USD $3.

[R/W] Are you going to play hard to get?

[Publisher #1] 2.0% of nonfiction submissions accepted.

[Publisher #2] 13.2% of nonfiction submissions accepted.

[Publisher #3] 0.7% of nonfiction submissions accepted.

[R/W] Wow, Publisher #3. What makes you so picky?

[Publisher #3] We’ve been fortunate over the years to include the work of Pulitzer prize winners, NEA fellows, Pushcart winners, Best American authors, and writers from India, Egypt, Ireland, Spain, Malaysia, The Netherlands, and Japan. Authors published in include Diane Seuss, Roxane Gay, Deesha Philyaw, Ander Monson, Daisy Hernandez, Brenda Miller, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Abigail Thomas, Lia Purpura, David L. Ulin, Heather Sellers, Matthew Gavin Frank, Lee Martin, Rebecca McClanahan, Barbara Hurd, Bret Lott, Ira Sukrungruang, Rigoberto González, Judith Kitchen, Michael Martone, and Jenny Boully.

[R/W] Am I worth spending a pretty penny, pulling out all the stops, to dazzle me on our first real date?

[Publisher #1] Semi-pro to Professional. Details: USD $40.

[Publisher #2] Token to Semi-pro. Details: USD $10-$20.

[Publisher #3] Professional. Details: USD $45.

[R/W] Publisher #2, did you just call me a Token?!⁶

[Publisher #2] Unless she did something very incredible (or very, very bad) most women don't get named in history. We want to rewrite the narrative and put women’s stories front and center. Since 2015 we have collected hundreds of stories from women all over the world. Stories about love, loss, motherhood, friendship, and so much more. We all have something to say, and we all have experiences worth sharing. We want to get every woman writing, talking, and sharing her story. Submissions are restricted to "women identifying persons, including bigender/polygender persons, cisgender women, intergender persons/intersex persons, non-binary persons/gender non-conforming persons, transgender women/transfeminine persons, two-spirit."

[host] It is time, Right/Write, to tell us: Which of these eligible publishers do you want to try to date?

[R/W] Not yet. I need to know what gets Publisher #1 all hot and bothered!

[Publisher #1] We are an exclusively online publication set out to entertain, educate and engage writers and readers of creative nonfiction. Each issue features memoir excerpts, personal essays, reviews, interviews and craft articles. We like quirky, we like edgy, we like witty, we like smart, we like to be moved, we like pieces that stick with us.

[host] Now it really is time, Right/Write: Which of these eligible publishers do you want to try to date?

[R/W] I’m not satisfied. I guess I’ll spend some cash. Again. To try to get my foot in the door. Again.

[host] Uh-oh… 

[host is again handed an index card by a crew member] Righty-O! Because your creative work is focused on current events and opinion, the producers suggest you tailor future searches for places that feature guest columns (perhaps The Rumpus) as well as national current-event magazines (think Mother Jones or The Nation).

With that, we wish you much success, Right/Write!⁷

[Announcer] And that’s The End of this episode of The Dating Game! Publishing Edition, where creatives seek out the best matches for their work.

As season two continues… We will feature new contestants, including a writer of speculative fiction and someone who wants to break into writing for younglings. Be sure to tune in!

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Next time: The Dating Game! (for Fiction)

1. “Yes, chef” is uttered quite a lot on The Bear. Yes Chef received valid answers from Duotrope as of the second week of April 2025 from #1 The Inquisitive Eater, #2 Off Assignment, and #3 Cutleaf Journal. FYI: Food writers might want to look to websites of print-forward food mags such as Bon Appetite and Cooks Illustrated for potential matches.

2. Disability Visibility anthologies.

3. Mi Mi is a variation of Mimi, the stage name of Jamie in the film Everyone’s Talking about Jamie based on the musical. Valid info from #1 Cagibi Journal, #2 The Avalon Literary Review, and bioStories.

Again, if your creative work doesn’t neatly fit into a submission category (creative nonfiction vs poetry vs visual arts) or length, you will probably need to tailor your searches based on the specific creative work you want to place. Keywords: hybrid and experimental. More time at the start will produce better matches down the line!

4. Warning: Solnit’s website is not secure (no SSL certificate, so no S at the beginning of the url, aka “https”), so I didn’t link to it.

5. Inigo Montoya.

6. Tolkien.

7. My Right to Write came from the puny homonym and the serious call to protest in actions and words. Right/Write interviewed #1 Hippocampus Magazine, #2 HerStry, and #3 Brevity.

Again, again (again?), if your creative work is focused on current events and/or is a good fit as an opinion (sometimes mislabeled “editorial”), look for that feature guest columns as well as those that lean into current events. Bonus: Poets can get in on the act via Rattle’s weekly Poets Respond contest.