Off Assignment Wants Your Words 📝 | $100–$500 per Personal Essay

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: Off Assignment
Topic(s): Literary personal essays
Rate: $100 for short-form / $500 for long-form
Deadline: Ongoing
Client’s Name: Not provided
Submit Via: Submittable

What They’re Looking For:

Off Assignment is calling for deep, reflective, and transportive personal essays that fit within their signature columns:

Letter to a Stranger – Address someone you met once and never forgot.
No Equivalent – Write about a word or idea that defies translation.
Under the Influence – Explore the connection between a place and a work of art.
Witching Hour – Short atmospheric essays set at a specific time and place.
What I Didn’t Say – The story that didn’t make it into the published piece.

Starting July, Off Assignment is raising its rates:

$500 for long-form essays
$100 for “Witching Hour” short pieces

They’re after honest, literary, and well-crafted work with emotional resonance and strong sense of place.

Resources/Guides:

Submission Guidelines
Off Assignment Website – Read past essays to get the tone.

How To Get This Client:

🔹 Choose the column that resonates most with your experience.
🔹 Read 2–3 published essays from that column to understand pacing and tone.
🔹 Polish your piece—Off Assignment is literary, not bloggy.
🔹 Submit through their Submittable portal.

Pro Tip:

This is a career-building publication. If you want bylines that open doors, Off Assignment is the type of editor you aim to impress. Even seasoned writers benefit from strong structure and compelling intros—the kind we teach in the Sure Media Training Program. Don’t wing it. Come correct.