InkSpark publishes short stories, creative non-fiction, essays, poetry and book reviews by young writers. Right now we are not accepting submissions, but watch this space! Our first round of submissions will be open in January 2026.
- You must have permission from a teacher or a parent to share your writing.
- Open to writers aged 5-13 years.
- Original work only! No AI/assisted writing will be accepted.
- Your writing must be in English.
- Send your writing as a Word document (.doc/.docx).
- Check that your spelling and grammar are correct before sending.
- You can (and we would love it if you do!) send an illustration or photo to go with your story. Send this as a .jpg or .png. It should be your own original creation.
What do you need to know?
Submitting a piece of writing is like entering a competition, where the winners have their stories published online.
Many places will not accept everything that is sent to them: the editors will expect interesting, creative, and thoughtful writing that has been revised and proofread. InkSpark has some handy tips for you to get started, plan your writing, and revise and edit, as well as how to submit. Once you know the basics, you can send your work to us!
I will warn you: not all writing will be accepted. Sometimes you will get an immediate YES PLEASE! from us (and other places too). Other times you might get a, “We like this but it needs some work,” and then you might even get a “No thank you, but please try again soon!” The “no thank you” messages are the toughest; we know from experience!
Some basics
What types of writing can I send?
- Book reviews about something you’ve read lately. It could be a picture book, novel, or informative non-fiction. Maximum word count for book reviews is 500 words.
- Creative non-fiction is telling a story about real events, and you can submit up to 2,000 words of creative non-fiction.
- Essays that inform your audience about something you’re interested in. You can submit up to 2,000 words.
- Creative fiction for submitting to InkSpark includes everything from poetry to short stories and flash fiction.
- Poetry: submit up to 500 words
- Short stories: up to 2,500 words
- Flash fiction: up to 1,000 words
If you think your writing fits somewhere else, send it in anyway!
How do I submit to InkSpark?
The adult who is helping you will need to have an account with Chill Subs and follow instructions there to submit. If a teacher is submitting your work for you, they should have received permission from your parents/caregivers first.