Allen has sold more than 250 articles and columns to print and online publications. And every day, the vast majority of those articles went straight to the rejection pile. It wasn't because they were poorly written. Many were quite good, and every bit as funny or moving as they claimed to be. We simply could not use them.
Editors everywhere face the same difficulty.
Yet they are the least likely to be accepted. The reason is that typical personal experience pieces are articles about the author. What editors are looking for, however, is articles about the reader. Look at the table of contents of any information-oriented magazine, and you'll see what I mean. Editors are in search of articles hat will help readers improve their lives, relationships, skills, or knowledge.