We’re excited to announce a campaign to raise enough funds to switch from paying semi-professional rates (currently 1¢ per word or US$10, whichever is more) to professional rates of 5¢ per word or US$50, whichever is more.

Check out our Kickstarter project and make your pledge today!

What Happens If Funding Is Successful

Fully funding this project means covering publishing and distribution costs for Volume I and paying all contributors professional rates of at least 5¢ per word or $50—thereby enticing established and well-known authors to continue their participation and rewarding great writing from new authors!

Contributors who have already been paid will receive the difference between what they’ve been paid and the calculated professional rate.

Exceeding the minimum funding means paying Spark staff at all; right now the project is entirely founder-funded and a 100% volunteer effort.

Any excess after paying contributors and staff will immediately be put toward the costs of Volume II.

Are There Rewards?

Oh, yes, there are rewards! Since every dollar counts, each and every backer gets their name or the name of their organization listed in the “Friends” section at the back of Volume I—even if you only pledge $1.

Pledge at least $25, and we’ll make sure you get a free print copy and a digital copy of our first volume!

Want even better rewards? More copies of the book? Visit our project page to find out more!

We are still accepting multiple submissions for poetry (up to three at a time), but the submission form must be filled out separately for each poem. (Previously, we allowed up to three poems in a single submission.)

We continue to accept only one active submission at a time for creative non-fiction, short stories, and flash fiction. Feel free to submit new work as soon as you have received an acceptance or rejection of the previous submission, but please do not submit multiple works in any of these categories if you already have a submission in progress.