Chicken Soup for the Soul Submission 2022/ How to Submit ($200+10 contributor copies+ other benefits)
The Chicken soup for the soul welcomes Stories and Poems. They are always looking for new talent. So whether you are a regular contributor or new to the family, you are welcomed to submit your stories and poems to them.
A Chicken Soup for the Soul story is an inspirational, true story about ordinary people having extraordinary experiences. It is a simple piece that touches our readers and helps them discover the basic principles they can use in their own lives. These stories are personal and often filled with emotion and drama. Chicken Soup for the Soul stories is written in the first person and have a beginning, middle, and end.
So do you have a story to tell? Check if it fits into any theme and send it in.
Eligibility for the Chicken Soup for the Soul 2022
- Writers from anywhere in the world
- As long as you have a story to tell, you are qualified to send in your submissions.
- Writers of any age
- Although the preteen and teenager section is specifically for writers under 35 years
- No entry fee
- Submission must revolve around any of the listed topics
Deadlines
April 30, 2021
- Counting your blessings
May 15, 2021
- Christmas stories
June 1, 2021
- Angels
August 30, 2021
- Humorous stories
August 31, 2021
- Crazy family
- Dogs
- Grieving, loss and recovery
- Kindness
- Message from heaven
- Miracles
Theme
Before Submission, it is wise to check if your intended story or poem fits into any of the listed topics below.
- If you have a great story or poem you want to submit but it doesn’t fit with any of the topics below, please save it and check this page again in the future to see if a topic that’s a better match has been added as they constantly make additions.
- If you have a story or poem that you think fits two of the topics below, you may submit it to both. Then indicate in the comment section.
- You may submit more than one piece for each book.
Please scroll through the topics listed below to see if your story fits into any of them;
Angels
Angels and miracles are all around us if we keep our eyes open.
Have you experienced a divine intervention, answered prayer, or other miraculous occurrence courtesy of someone you think just might have been an angel. Do you have a guardian angel who seems to swoop in and help you when you need it?
We are looking for stories, and poems that tell a story, from writers of all faiths. Stories can be from any faith. Writers do not have to follow a particular religion. The book is by and for everyone.
Stories should not be about people who are “angels” or about a loved one who has died and is now an “angel.”
Christmas Stories
Stories about the entire holiday season, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and New Year’s. Please make sure that they are “Santa safe”
COVID-19 might have changed somethings, It’s okay to write on them as well.
You can write on but not limited to the ideas listed below;
- Thanksgiving – holiday fun, disasters, and family bonding
• Hanukkah – all by itself or incorporated into your Christmas tradition
• The weeks leading up to Christmas – anticipation, energy, the kids
• Shopping and finding the perfect gift
• Holiday humor – things that went wrong
• Holidays through the eyes of the children
• Around the table – holiday foods and traditions
• Family reunions
• Unique gifts, creativity, the best gifts you ever gave or received
• Holiday miracles, amazing coincidences, answered prayers
• Gratitude, counting your blessings
• Forgiveness and how you used it during the holidays
• Family dynamics – milestones, tender moments, epiphanies
• What you learned during the holidays
Counting your Blessings
Gratitude is one of the keys to happiness.
Even during the toughest times, if we can find our gratitude and count our blessings we feel better.
Share your stories about handling challenges in your life, finding the silver linings, and counting your blessings, whether the challenges you are facing are COVID-19 related or other kinds.
Stories can be serious or funny, but definitely should be inspirational and heartwarming. Attitude adjustments, finding contentment and gratitude, a new way of handling your daily life, and other great inspiring ideas about finding our path to happiness and remembering to count our blessings every day.
Crazy Family
Every family has that one weird but sweet someone.
We love that person but, at the same time, that family member makes us crazy! A parent or grandparent, an in-law, a brother or sister, an aunt, uncle or cousin. We all have them and you know who they are! We are looking for true stories and poems about those family members.
Stories should not be about the normal trials and tribulations of raising children and teenagers. Stories should be about out-of-the-ordinary-situations
Dogs
Canine friends make us smile every day with their crazy antics, their loving companionship, and their amazing intuition. Here is another chance for you to share your story about the member of your family who just happens to walk on four feet… your dog!
What have you learned from your dog? How does your dog improve your life? What crazy things does your dog do? Has your dog ever done anything heroic? How does your dog warm your heart and make you smile? We want to hear all about the absurd antics, funny habits and insightful behavior of your dog. Stories can be serious or humorous.
Grieving , Loss and Recovery
Grieving is a personal process with different stages we go through on the way to recovery after we have suffered a loss. Each person grieves in his or her own way and in his or her own time. There is no right or wrong way to grieve and no set time or path to recovery. It is a very personal journey.
What helped you the most when you were grieving? Who were the people who helped you and what did they do? When did you know that you had finally “turned the corner” and were on the road to recovery? When and how did you realize there was light at the end of the tunnel? What are you doing to support others?
Your stories will give our readers inspiration and insight into how others are coping and let them know that there is hope, and recovery can happen. It might offer comfort and support to those who have lost someone close to them.
PS: Do not send in a biography of a dead person.
Humorous Stories
Laughter is the best medicine.
Share your funny stories about something that happened to you in your life – in your relationship with a partner or spouse, a parent or child, a family member or friend, at work or at home – that made you and the people around you laugh out loud. Did you mean for it to be funny? Did the other person mean to make you laugh? Did a situation just get out of control? Did a misunderstanding turn into a comedy of errors?
Here are some suggested topics but you can think of more:
• Slips of the tongue
• Misunderstandings that led to funny moments
• Weird habits
• Pranks
• Pet behavior
• Embarrassing moments
• COVID comedy/isolation incidents
• Wedding mishaps
• Funeral foul-ups
• Holiday meltdowns
• DIY projects
• Kitchen/dinner party disasters
• Sports catastrophes
• Family foibles
• Zany vacations
• Moving-day mayhem
• Travel turmoil
• Marriage
• Workplace mishaps
• And any other hilarious, funny stories that happened in your life
Kindness
Small gestures can make a big difference in someone’s day or life.
It is so wonderful and heartwarming to hear stories about people who have gone out of their way to do something kind for someone without being asked. In some cases, kindness is extended by a total stranger. Sometimes, you are the total stranger lighting someone’s life.
Has someone performed an act of kindness for you? How did it feel? Did you pay it forward and do something kind for someone else? Did that person know it was you doing that kind thing? Did you do something kind for a stranger knowing you would not be paid back? How did that feel?
True stories of act of kindness.
Messages from Heaven
Death does not end our connection with our loved ones. Death takes away their physical presence, but not their spirits, and we often sense them after they have gone.
Have you experienced communication from the other side or received a sign or signal from a loved one who has passed?
Has someone who has died come to you in a dream? Given you counsel or comfort?
Have you gone beyond, but returned to life with new knowledge, insight, or awareness?
Have you intuitively known the moment someone died?
This book is for everyone who has a story, whether religious or secular. Share your true, touching, and astounding stories about messages from heaven or your own experiences with dying and coming back.
Miracles
Miracles are mostly not logical. Amazing experiences that are completely unexplainable.
Why did these amazing things happen? How did these surprising and bewildering things occur?
Send in true stories, both religious and non-religious, that will awe with examples of amazing events.
Inspirational stories to remind us that a miracle can happen at any time.
Personal stories about feelings of expectation and hope and the extraordinary events that have happened to you without logic.
Guidelines for the Chicken Soup for the Soul 2021 Submission
- Stories and poems must be real and personal (your story or someone you know) not fictional.
- Writers are encouraged to write in the first person with proper tense.
- Stories intended for submission should be original and previously unpublished anywhere.
- Word count of 1200 words or less
- Submissions will be reviewed as they come in so you don’t have to wait for the last minute to submit
- Poems must tell a story. In other words, a prose-like poem
- Submissions of both stories and poems must be via the submission page
- If you have any problems when trying to fill out the form and submit your work, please contact the webmaster at webmaster@chickensoupforthesoul.com
- Responses from the webmaster usually take several days, so be patient.
- Please submit only stories or poems that have not been previously published. The only exception to this is if your work has only been published in a small local publication with limited circulation or on your blog.
- Stories must be submitted using the real name of the writer, although changes can be made if story is selected for publication.
They are not looking for;
- A sermon, an essay, or eulogy.
- An “as told to” story written by you for someone else. If you ghost-write a story for someone, we thank you for helping that person share his or her story. That person’s name will be listed as the author and he or she can acknowledge your help in the bio section.
- A term paper, thesis, letter, or journal entry.
- About politics or controversial issues.
- A biography or testimonial.
- A journalistic article about a third party that reads like a newspaper article.
- Stories that argue against good health practices, social distancing, and wearing masks will be deleted.
- Manuscripts for full-length stories except through a literary agent
- Title ideas are no accepted
A few more tips about submitting
- Please be patient after you press the SUBMIT button.
- Wait for the next screen to come up with a message that says: Thank you! Your information has been received
- This is your confirmation that we have received your story or poem and that it has been entered into our database
- This is the only confirmation you will receive. There is no separate e-mail message from us. A very obvious “Error” message comes up if your submission does not go through.
If your story is selected
- They do not send rejection letters, and we occasionally will save a submission for consideration for a future book
- If your story or poem is chosen for a future edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul or any of the other projects, you will be notified by e-mail and your printing permission will be requested.
- But in general, if you have not heard from us 60 days before the book’s on-sale date, that probably means we have decided not to use your story or poem.
- You can check the on-sale dates for our future books by checking the Coming Soon page on our website.
- We get thousands of submissions for each book and we only have room for 101 pieces, so please don’t take our silence personally
- Please do not contact them to ask for an update about your story unless you need to know whether it is being considered or because another publisher is interested in it too.
- You would also need to approve the inspirational quote that is put at the top of each story and also for any edit as they always seek written permission from authors.
- If your e-mail address changes after you submit your story, be sure to email webmaster@chickensoupforthesoul.com. You need to let her know which book you submitted to so that she can update your information.
Prizes for the Chicken Soup for the Soul 2021 Submission
- $200 for each story or poem published
This is usually paid a month after publication.
- 10 free copies of the Published book where your story or poem appears.
- Certified membership for the Chicken soup for the soul family
- Receipt of a monthly newsletter that is sent exclusively to our published writers.
- Advance notice of new books.
- Contests to win Chicken Soup for the Soul merchandise, and
- Writing tips.
