Six Questions for Julia Nusbaum, Founder/Editor-in-Chief, HerStry

HerStry publishes personal essays of 500-3,000 words from women around the world. “Personal essays are a way for our writers to tell the stories they want to tell. There are no rules. No themes.” Read the complete guidelines here. 

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Julia Nusbaum: This is such a long answer and I actually have an article about it here from way back in 2015 when I started HerStry. But the short and sweet of it is that I started HerStry after working with women who had survived trafficking. I had been doing my graduate thesis work at a community in Nashville called Thistle Farms and taught writing courses to the women there. Over time the courses morphed into helping the women tell their own stories and talk about what happened to them. I started to wonder how many other women were out there who had a story to tell. Thus I started a magazine with the tagline, "empowering women through storytelling." 

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

JN: 

1. That they've followed the guidelines. So, is it double spaced, Times New Roman Font, no identifying factors (we read blind), etc. 

2. That it tells a compelling story. Our main mission is to tell women's stories, but we also want to publish well written work. So we look for stories that have an arc and keep the reader's attention. 

3. Does it have an ending? I know this sounds strange, but people are not good at writing endings. Often essays just don't have a conclusion or the conclusion is weak. 

SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

JN: 

1. Stories that start with "I remember..." That isn't showing me, that is telling me. I want to be immersed in a story.  

2. Essays that don't follow the guidelines. We get so many submissions that if they don't follow the guidelines we disregard them. I'm sure we've passed up on some great work because of that. 

3. Essays that were clearly not edited. I'll be the first to admit that it's hard to edit one's own work. A typo here or there is no big deal, but when it's consistent, I will often stop reading. We don't have the staff to make such large edits. 

SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?

JN: A story that I can get lost in, that puts me in the author's body, shows me what they are seeing/feeling/hearing. I like sensory. I know show don't tell is sort of cliche, but it's huge for me, I want to be shown the author's world, not told about it. 

SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?

JN: Those for sure are big one's for us. We also won't publish hate speech or tear down pieces. Because of the nature of our platform, we try to be pretty open on what we will publish. We want to be a place that gives space for the hard stories. 

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

JN: Why do you think literary magazines are important? 

I get this question a lot when I tell people I own a literary magazine. People who aren't writers or artists tend not to understand the function of spaces like this. I'm so proud of HerStry and the smaller magazine's like us. There are some big gatekeepers in this world and I love having a space what publishes those who might not be able to find a home for their work anywhere else. I think we need spaces that tell niche stories (though I hate that women's stories are considered niche), because that is where the real creative work happens. 

Thank you, Julia. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.