Scribe Submission Guidelines
By: Thomas Gaudex
Tags: Scribe, Submission Guidelines, Short Story, Publication, Writing

Before sending your application

First of all, please note that I only publish original stories, i.e. stories that are not already published online outside the publication. I find it more interesting to offer readers stories that they haven’t been able to read elsewhere on the Internet.

Besides, I really want new writers who join Scribe to actively participate in the publication’s life, so I expect you will play the game by reading, clapping, and replying to the stories of the publication’s talented writers.

That’s why I only accept writers who are members of Medium (who pay a subscription fee of $5 per month). I expect writers to be first and foremost real readers who like to read on Medium.

Please do not apply to become a writer for the publication if you just want to increase your audience after knocking on the door of twenty publications before Scribe. Your desire must be to publish your next stories in Scribe because you are connected to the stories and writers published here.

That’s why I will carefully study your profile, the writers you support, the publications in which you already publish your stories, to make sure that you share Scribe’s values.

This may seem very strict, but for me, it is a guarantee of quality.

Before submitting your story

Please read the 10 points below to avoid wasting your time and to get your story published as quickly as possible:

I prefer that you write under your real name, but pen names are accepted. Your Medium profile includes a good quality picture of you and you have filled in your description (a few words to introduce yourself). Readers will be happy to know a little bit about who you are.

Your story has no spelling or grammar errors. Remember to review your piece or have it review if you are ever unsure. Install the Grammarly extension for your browser, it is free and fixes most of the classic errors. And it works with Medium!

Carefully present your story. Let your story breathe by making short paragraphs (between 5 and 6 lines). Use the different layout options offered by Medium to improve legibility.

Illustrate your piece with a featured image. Place it right after your title and subtitle. To ensure perfect image quality, I now only accept images from Unsplash. Unsplash is also integrated into Medium!

Use the title case format for the headline, and sentence case format for the subtitle, as Medium points out in its guidelines. If you have any doubts when writing your headlines, you can use this great tool: Title Case Converter.

Besides, when you highlight the subtitle, choose the small “T” in the toolbar to apply the “subtitle” format, as Medium does not apply it automatically.

For your poems, remember to remove the automatic line breaks that Medium does. When you are at the end of a sentence, hold down the shift key and press Enter. You can only do this via a computer.

Your story should not exceed 10 min read. It’s not that I’m not interested in long stories, but it’s a format that doesn’t really work in Scribe at the moment.

Your story is properly tagged with the 5 tags available (Love, Life, Short Story, Poetry, Writing, Fiction, Poems…). Please note that in order for your story to appear on the Poetry page, you must use the “Poetry” tag.

Your story is in draft form. This is important so that your piece is well featured in the publication. Once you have submitted your draft, be patient. Your story will be published either the same day or scheduled for the next day. Please submit only the final version of your draft. I do a real proofreading job before publishing your story, please respect this work by not editing your piece once it is awaiting publication. If in spite of everything you realize that something is wrong once your story is published, don’t hesitate to inform me via private notes or by email, and of course we will do what is necessary together to make sure that you are completely satisfied.

Calls to Action are not welcome. Please adhere to these good practices set out by Medium: Best Practices for Calls to Action in Partner Posts.

I publish only one piece per writer per day. I’m not at the factory here, and I really care about the writers I publish. Quality will always take precedence over quantity. You will never see hundreds of new stories published every day in Scribe.

Once you’re added as a writer for the publication, I can’t guarantee you that I will publish every story you submit to Scribe. I read each piece carefully, and my priority remains to offer readers quality work. I will always explain to you why I refuse a story and help you improve it if necessary. It is never easy to refuse a story because I am aware that the writer puts a lot of his heart into it. But sometimes it’s possible that I just don’t feel enough emotion when I read your story. That doesn’t mean it’s bad.

I will never edit your content. If I have comments I’ll send you a private note or I’ll try to contact you directly.