On The Couch Publication Guidelines

Practical psychology for everyday life.

Kia ora kou tou

New writers welcome! Please read our guidelines carefully —especially the top 5 reasons we reject stories. We get a lot of submissions so are unable to provide feedback if your story doesn’t comply in any way. Thanks :)

On the Couch publishes short pieces under the category — practical psychology for everyday life.

That means your story should fit under Medium tags including life, life lessons, self, self-improvement, psychology, mental health, relationships, love, advice, work, family, creativity and inspiration. Business and entrepreneurial tags also considered.

Before you submit please check out the other stories in the publication because these demonstrate our preferred format, flavour and style. Talent and wonderful writing isn’t enough: Please don’t make us reject your work because you haven’t followed the guidelines.

On the Couch Guidelines

• Fresh ideas and fresh spins on recognised concepts welcome! But it must be based on practical psychology for everyday life.
• All stories 750–1000 words. Stories outside these word counts will not be considered. We don’t have time to read them.
• AI — We get lots of submissions that “feel like” AI’s work. We acknowledge the widespread use of AI but please make an effort to add personality/anecdotes. Robotic stories will be rejected. Anyone who crosses the AI line repeatedly will be removed from OTC’s list of contributing writers.
• We prefer to publish under individual names to help us build trust with readers. However we will accept good work under pseudonyms — as long as they are not weird or misleading. Please note we are about promoting writers, not businesses.
• Your title must have relevance to our readers. It must add value to the reader’s experience in some way.
• We like lots of white space — use paragraphs, breaks, quotes, etc.
• Must offer practical tips (e.g. listicles are fine.)
• Quotes are good (but must be attributed accurately.)
• Must be free of typos and spelling errors.
• Claims must be backed by either personal experience or research. (No unsubstantiated theories).
• Research must be from a reliable source and credited.
• Must use standard Medium formatting.
• Images must be appropriate and credited. No more than 2 images per story.
• No undisclosed affiliate links.
• No duplicate stories or plagiarism. See note on AI above.
• English language stories only please.
• We only consider drafts of unpublished stories — not work you have previously published.

We also adhere to Medium’s rules and violations for curation.

Please read Medium’s Rules and note violations pertaining to intolerance, prejudice and disempowerment, violence, suffering, shame, bullying and abuse of any kind.

Sorry:

• We do not offer editorial services. However if your story is selected for publications we reserve the right to make minor changes or briefly edit the work.
• No fiction or poetry, thanks.

The top 5 reasons we reject stories

Please don’t take rejection personally. To help you, these are the top reasons we reject stories:

• Your title is boring or doesn’t clarify what it’s about. (Please think about your reader).
• Your title promises something the story doesn’t deliver. (The piece needs to stay on track and give readers what it says it will). Remember to hit us with what the story is about in the intro!
• Your story is too long or too short. (Sorry, we won’t read it! We don’t have time to read stories outside our word count range).
• You submit an already published story (We only consider drafts).
• You try to cover too many ideas in a single piece. One idea well explained and supported works best.

Please note: any writer who submits stories that are disrespectful to others in any way, don’t align with our values or are wildly outside our “practical psychology” brief will be removed.

HOW TO BE ADDED AS A WRITER:

1. Follow the publication. Go here and hit follow.
2. Leave a comment with your profile name, starting with the @ symbol. Yes, it’s that simple. We add writers once a week. While we consider all monikers please note that use of a/your name helps to build trust with readers.

NB: Welcome to all those who have recently joined us! Hopefully you’ll have been notified that you’ve been added. Congratulations — don’t let your writing dream die inside you :)