Places to Publish Student Writing

Providing inspiring writing opportunities for high school students or creating fun writing programs for kids in lower grades can be a challenging task for any teacher. One way to bring some energy and inventiveness into your writing lesson plans is to publish student writing.

Publishing your students’ writing can make the entire writing experience more stimulating and exciting. When students see their writing displayed in an official way, such as in a book or online student publishing sites, it can provide them with a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

Nowadays, there are plenty of online and print publications focused on promoting the works of student writers, even the creations of elementary-aged children. Some of these sites and magazines are entirely run by other students, however that doesn’t mean they lack style, authority, or credibility. 

Many regard publishing student work as just a side activity or fundraising opportunity, but that isn’t the case. In addition to being a great way to engage students, it also provides an opportunity for truly passionate and talented children and teens to get their work out there and test out a possible career path. In fact, if a student’s work gets published on a more “prestigious” platform, they may be able to get cash rewards and extra exposure while they are still in school. 

In this article, we will be discussing places to publish student writing, as well as online communities and platforms that will help your class improve their writing skills while establishing relationships with other young writers. Let’s get started!

Places to Publish Elementary Student Writing

Finding places to publish elementary student writing can be a bit more challenging than doing so for older students, but the platforms are out there! Plenty of websites and magazines have been started in recent years to support young writers and teachers that want to get their work published.

Here are some ideas on where to publish writing for your younger students: 

LaunchPad
Publishes the writing of children aged 6 to 14 and focuses on fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The website has been functioning since 2007, and even though it’s not publishing very frequently (once a month), it’s still one of the few places that look at the submitted works of younger kids. 

Stone Soup
This is one of the most well-established and long-lasting publishers of original writing by children. It is in a magazine format and accepts works from students aged 13 or younger. Even better, it pays its artists around $25 for illustrations and $40 for writing pieces.

Storybird
A creative website with a unique self-publishing approach. It accepts writers of all ages and allows them to explore professionally created artwork until they find an image that inspires them to write or create. The student can then publish their work on the site. Teachers can even create classrooms and host assignments on Storybird.

Six In Schools is also a great option for publishing your student writing, from elementary school to high school and even university students getting in on the action. Providing young students with a real book in which they can read their own writing can be a game-changer in the English classroom. The sense of excitement that comes from any kind of publishing can inspire children and encourage them to fall in love with the practice of writing.

Online Writing Platform

Many kids find writing to be a rather dull and monotonous task, but with the help of some online tools, you can get them to be more interested in expressing themselves through the written word. 

Below, you can find information about online writing platforms that help students improve their writing skills, as well as websites for writing stories that allow them to dive even deeper into their imagination and show off their extraordinary ideas.

Here are some creative writing websites and platforms that might be useful for your students: 

Hemingway
This app checks students' writing for readability and shows suggestions on how it can be improved. It analyzes paragraphs and signals if a sentence is too hard to read or whether complex words can be changed for simpler ones. 

Writing Challenge
This is more of a game than a platform, but it’s meant to inspire new ideas for writers regardless of their age. It shows users a prompt off of which they have to generate ideas, build characters and dialogues, and create stories. 

The Brainstormer
A truly unique app that has a wonderful design and provides inspiration for writers and other creatives by generating ideas for projects of all sorts. It’s an interactive app that kids can have fun with while getting great writing ideas.

iA Writer Pro
This tool is more suitable for high school and college students, as its general idea is to provide a clean and distraction-free interface that allows the writer to intently focus on their task. Along with that, it analyzes writing and makes it easy to edit your work.

Plot Generator
Another terrific online app that can generate ideas for different types of writing projects, even things like letters and song lyrics. Even better, it’s free to use!

If you notice that your students are struggling with focus, precision in editing, or coming up with fun writing prompts, be sure to check out these writing platforms. Don’t like the looks of the options above? The good news is that these five applications and websites are only scratching the surface of the many writing tools and prompt generators you can find in one quick Google search.

Online Writing Community

As great as writing is, no one can deny that it’s a relatively solitary experience most of the time. You’re alone, focused on your thoughts, and allowing your imagination to come to life in the form of words and stories. 

Though sitting with one’s emotions and thoughts is good for social-emotional development, it can also feel boring and lonely sometimes, especially for younger children who thrive off of communication with their peers. This is where an online writing community can be useful.

Many online writing communities are great places where students can ask writing questions, discuss the writing process with more experienced writers, and share their own work, ideas, knowledge, and feelings. Online writing communities are also great places to find other platforms for writers to post their work—everyone knows how challenging getting that first publication can be! 

If you aren't familiar with any writing communities, then here are some examples to show your students: 

Absolute Write Water Cooler
This community has over 68,000 active members and has threads on every kind of topic and genre imaginable.

Reddit
There are numerous writing “subreddits,” where writers from all over the world gather to share their work, thoughts, and experiences, as well as useful sources of information.

Underlined
This community by Penguin Random House specifically targets younger writers. It has a variety of genre-specific information, book release news, Q&As with authors, and quizzes.

Six-Word Memoirs
Another place to look is Six in Schools’ sister site, Six-Word Memoirs, which has been fostering a highly engaged and growing online writing community for many years based on the Six-Word Memoir writing structure.

Being a part of an online writing community is about more than just finding ways for students to share their writing online. It’s about giving them a chance to feel connected to others who have similar interests and who have similar aspirations. As is the case with any online forum, it’s important for students to follow online safety practices. 

Student Publication Opportunities

If a child wants to pursue a career as a writer or a journalist, then it’s good for them to start preparing as early as possible. The best way to do that is by beginning to write and edit as though their work is going to be published from the start. As they get older and their writing skills improve, the time will come to start looking for places where their writing can be posted. 

When it comes to publishing the works of students that are in high school or older, the task becomes a little bit easier. There are many writing contests for teens and many publishers that are willing to take a closer look at the work of older students. Here’s a shortlist of some websites, magazines, and other platforms that can provide student publication opportunities: 

L.A Youth
This newspaper for young people and their topics of interest first started publishing in 1988.

VOX Teen Communications
A non-profit organization that helps publish the VOX Teen Newspaper and encourages the works of young writers. 

Youth Journalism International
This community connects teen artists, writers, and photographers with peers all over the world and helps foster multi-cultural understanding and supports the idea of free youth press.

Young writers competitions can also bring out the best in your students due to the incentive of winning a prize and recognition for their talent. Whatever platform or strategy you use, keep publishing in mind as a way to spark your students’ excitement and get them interested in the wonderful world of writing.