June '26 Statistics

The hits just keep comin'

Statistics for June 2026 of ‘The Submission Pit’ are as follows:

Total Story Submissions: 310

Total Subscribers: 341
New Subscribers: 220
Free Subscribers: 333
Paid Subscribers: 8

Payout for this month: $112 US

Wow! Just when I think May was amazing, June comes in with a bang. This being our first full month at ‘The Submission Pit’, it still amazes me, not only the number of fiction submissions sent to me this month, but the range of talent from aspiring fiction writers out there. An interesting note, we went from 3 to 8 paid subscribers, which is pretty astounding considering we only started roughly six weeks ago, increasing our payout from $104.50 US to $112 US.

The Submission Grinder Inclusion
One huge win for the site is that ‘The Submission Grinder’/Diabolical Plots approved our contest listing on their site. For those that haven’t heard of it, TSG is one of the biggest submission tracking/databases online. Interestingly enough, its responsible for 25% of our traffic over the last 30 days at 567 unique visits.

A Note on Story Word Counts
So the 6 - 10,000 word count is a joke on Ernest Hemingway having the shortest story story ever (“For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”) and while we will accept short stories for consideration that are less than 1500 words I will tell you that unless you’re doing something truly exceptional/original with the story for it to be considered the winning entry you’re probably better off submitting fiction more than 1500 words minimum. Similarly, I can tell you that if you’re going to submit a short story more than 6000 words, make it count! While I LOVE longer short stories I’m telling you now that you have a better chance of winning if you’re story is between 2000-6000 words. It’s not because I’m lazy (lol) but I do think there’s an optimal length for sure and a case to be made for tighter prose and concise writing (just one editor’s opinion).

A special thanks to all of the great sites who’ve supported us (Angelique Fawns, HorrorTree, Authortunities, Duotrope, The Submission Grinder, and Published to Death), all of which are linked in the blogroll.

Looking forward to reading all of your submissions for July. New story winner coming soon.