Author Archives: Brian Lewis, Editor-in-Chief

Weekly Statistics for December 6, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Active Submissions
Last Week: 1613 | Increase: 15 | Decrease: -97 | This Week: 1531 | Net Change: -82

Status of all submissions as of 2014-12-06
New: 30 | In Progress: 1501 | Withdrawn: 655 | Declined: 2059 | Accepted: 186

Status change since last week
New: -199 | In Progress: +117 | Withdrawn: +57 | Declined: +38 | Accepted: +2

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-12-06
Total: 15 | Max: 11 | Average: 2.14

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-12-06
Prose: 5 | Poetry: 10

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-12-06
Total: 4431 | Prose: 2795 | Poetry: 1636

Spark Takes a Winter Hiatus

Posted on by

What’s happening?

Spark is temporarily closing to new submissions from December 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015.

Why is this happening?

If you’ve been keeping up with our submission statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics, you’ve seen the new chart we added. Even as the total number of submissions in our queue has grown, we’ve always had more Completed pieces than Active—all while including reader notes in our responses. Here’s what that chart looks like for all submission since September, 2012:

Continue reading →

Weekly Statistics for November 22, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Active Submissions
Last Week: 1476 | Increase: 75 | Decrease: -23 | This Week: 1528 | Net Change: 52

Status of all submissions as of 2014-11-22
New: 211 | In Progress: 1317 | Withdrawn: 627 | Declined: 2021 | Accepted: 183

Status change since last week
New: +41 | In Progress: +11 | Withdrawn: +17 | Declined: +1 | Accepted: +5

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-22
Total: 75 | Max: 18 | Average: 10.71

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-22
Prose: 39 | Poetry: 36

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-11-22
Total: 4359 | Prose: 2762 | Poetry: 1597

Weekly Statistics for November 15, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Active Submissions
Last Week: 1524 | Increase: 50 | Decrease: -95 | This Week: 1479 | Net Change: -45

Status of all submissions as of 2014-11-15
New: 170 | In Progress: 1309 | Withdrawn: 607 | Declined: 2020 | Accepted: 178

Status change since last week
New: -15 | In Progress: -30 | Withdrawn: +11 | Declined: +81 | Accepted: +3

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-15
Total: 49 | Max: 11 | Average: 7.00

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-15
Prose: 20 | Poetry: 30

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-11-15
Total: 4284 | Prose: 2722 | Poetry: 1562

Weekly Statistics for November 8, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Active Submissions
Last Week: 1552 | Increase: 61 | Decrease: -89 | This Week: 1524 | Net Change: -28

Status of all submissions as of 2014-11-08
New: 185 | In Progress: 1339 | Withdrawn: 596 | Declined: 1939 | Accepted: 175

Status change since last week
New: +4 | In Progress: -32 | Withdrawn: +83 | Declined: +4 | Accepted: +2
In an effort to better manage our slush pile, this week we contacted all authors who had more active submissions than allowed by our guidelines and asked them to voluntarily withdraw one or more pieces. The response was very positive. Thank you!

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-08
Total: 62 | Max: 23 | Average: 10.33

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-08
Prose: 37 | Poetry: 24

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-11-08
Total: 4234 | Prose: 2702 | Poetry: 1532

Weekly Statistics for November 1, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Active Submissions
Last Week: 1552 | Increase: 95 | Decrease: -65 | This Week: 1552 | Net Change: 30

Status of all submissions as of 2014-11-01
New: 181 | In Progress: 1371 | Withdrawn: 513 | Declined: 1935 | Accepted: 173

Status change since last week
New: -219 | In Progress: +249 | Withdrawn: +6 | Declined: +57 | Accepted: +2

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-01
Total: 93 | Max: 22 | Average: 13.29

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-11-01
Prose: 45 | Poetry: 50

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-11-01
Total: 4173 | Prose: 2665 | Poetry: 1508

Weekly Statistics for October 25, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Active Submissions
Last Week: 1507 | Increase: 59 | Decrease: -44 | This Week: 1522 | Net Change: 15

Status of all submissions as of 2014-10-25
New: 400 | In Progress: 1122 | Withdrawn: 507 | Declined: 1878 | Accepted: 171

Status change since last week
New: -17 | In Progress: +32 | Withdrawn: +14 | Declined: +25 | Accepted: +5

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-10-25
Total: 59 | Max: 17 | Average: 8.43

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-10-25
Prose: 37 | Poetry: 22

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-10-25
Total: 4078 | Prose: 2620 | Poetry: 1458

New Artwork Category for Contest Seven

Posted on by

For the first time, we’re adding an artwork category to our contest! Your participation and feedback will help us decide whether to make this a permanent part of our contests. See the contest listing for full artwork guidelines and details.

Theme: “Monsters and Marvels”

Like darkness and light, Yin and Yang, monsters and marvels are two sides of the same coin. Each entry should include both a monster and a marvel—though “monster” and “marvel” may refer to same element of your entry. For a prose example, see the imaginative short story by Peter Medeiros, Silence Like a Falling Chandelier.

The theme for this contest invites open interpretation: are monsters physical manifestations of evil, or the internal demons that plague us all? Marvels: fantastic bestiary creatures, or symbols of the human spirit’s resilience?

Featured Artwork

This interpretation of our theme was provided by artist Tyler Lamph. Find more of his work at lamphwaxink.com!

Artwork Judges

Up to twenty artwork finalists will be posted October 15 on SparkAnthology.org, and the winner will be selected by popular vote.

Artwork Awards

Grand Prize

  • US$500.00
  • Publication as the cover art of an upcoming volume of Spark: A Creative Anthology
  • One-year print & digital subscription to Spark: A Creative Anthology

Weekly Statistics for August 23, 2014

Posted on by

Find our latest overall statistics at SparkAnthology.org/statistics.

Submissions received during the week ending 2014-08-23
Total: 45 | Max: 11 | Average: 6.43

Categories for submissions received during the week ending 2014-08-23
Poetry: 16 | Prose: 29

Categories for all submissions as of 2014-08-23
Total: 3543 | Poetry: 1106 | Prose: 2437

Status of all submissions as of 2014-08-23
New: 299 | In Progress: 846 | Withdrawn: 430 | Declined: 1808 | Accepted: 162

Change since last week
New: +24 | In Progress: -6 | Withdrawn: +10 | Declined: +7 | Accepted: +1

Have you submitted to Spark? One of the best ways to get a feel for what a market might publish is to see what they’ve published in the past. This shouldn’t be prohibitive! As an aid in the submission process and as our “Thank You” for considering us a potential home for your writing, please use the code SPARK-SUB-2014Q3 to get the eBook of any volume for just $2 (or get 22% off any print copy). Redeem the code during checkout at store.sparkanthology.org.