Once again, we thought we would share the statistics from our recent submissions period for the upcoming Dragon Gems (Spring 2024) anthology.
By the Numbers
| Submissions (Total): | 207 |
| Word Count (Total): | 761,562 |
| Word Count (Average): | 3,679 |
207 submissions in 31 days is about we anticipated based on the number of submissions that we received for the Fall 2023 anthology when we also requested submissions on a specific theme.
Submissions by Date
That there was an significant increase in the number of submissions during the last few days of the submissions period is not that surprising. The small spike around the middle of the month was likely driven by our increased promotion of the open submissions during that period on social media and our newsletter.
Original Stories vs. Reprints
The percentage of original vs. reprint stories was about the same as for the previous submission period at 73%. We like this a lot, though, as we love to give new authors as chance at their first publication.
Simultaneous Submissions
There were significantly fewer simultaneous submissions out of the total number of submissions during this submissions period.
Submission Requirements
133 (64%) of the submissions did not incorporate the theme in the stories. (Clearly most authors do not read the submissions requirements before sending in their stories.)
Submissions Process
(Or, as we like to call it, “Let’s see who can follow instructions!”)
For the Dragon Gems (Spring 2024) submissions, we used our new submissions form, trying to make it easier for writers to submit all of the the required information, and easier for us to collect and process it. 9 authors (4%) tried to submit their stories by email instead; all but 1 of those followed through by resubmitting it using the form.