Apex Magazine is dedicated to publishing diverse voices, uplifting marginalized voices, and improving on these goals every year. As such, we sent out voluntary, anonymous demographics surveys to our authors and our team. In the interest of transparency, that data is compiled here.
Thank You for an Amazing Year!
We had a spectacular year of fiction. We published issues 148-151 and a subscriber-only mini issue. In those 5 issues, we had 31 original fiction pieces, 8 essays, 8 reprints, and a number of short fiction and book reviews. Issue 150, while also coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Apex, was also our unpublished author issue, highlighting work from new writers.
The stories of Apex Magazine are eligible for the major awards in speculative fiction, including the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Stoker. If any of the pieces we published this year stand out to you, we and the authors would be grateful for your consideration. Editor in chief Lesley Conner is eligible for the Hugo Award for best editor, and our managing editor and flash fiction editor Rebecca E. Treasure is eligible as well.
ORIGINAL FICTION
"One by One" by Lindz McLeod
"Jackie and Xīng Forever" by Wil Magness
"A Ten Thousand Year Survey Into Seven Stomach of an Ishta" by Allison Thai
"I found an old god in the woods" by Monte Lin
FLASH FICTION
"Halfway Alive, Halfway Living" by Colton Kekoa Neves
"Someone to Feed You" by Abigail Kemske
ORIGINAL FICTION
"Shadows Below Seaway Trains" by Ai Jiang
"I Remember a One-Sided Die" by Francis Bass
"Seven Ribbons" by Beth Goder
"Heart Seeds" by E. Thede
"Lies As the Natural State of Things" by Rich Larson
FLASH FICTION
"To Kill a Language" by Rukman Ragas
"Extenta" by Daniel Roop
"Things the Older Boy Understands" by Sierra Branham
ORIGINAL FICTION
"My Song at the Conclave of Many Sorrows" by Daniel A. Oluremi
"A Rare and Exceptional Delicacy" by G.M. Mitchell
"Orion and His Moon" by J.S. Oriel
"Black Gold" by E.M. Kerkman
FLASH FICTION
"What the Crab Apple Tree Near Miranda Spaceport Saw" by Elijah J. Mears
"Denizens of My Face" by Emil Morel
"Changeling" by Frey Lylark
ORIGINAL FICTION
"Liecraft" by Anita Moskát, translated by Austin Wagner
"Ghosts of Summer" by Catherine Tavares
"Code Green" by Rebecca Johnson
"We Used to Wake to Song" by Leah Ning
"The Horrible Conceit of Death and Night" by J.A. Prentice
FLASH FICTION
"The Fate You Choose" by Nadia Radovich
"FAQ on My Vagina Dentata" by Jarune Uwujaren
"Cassandra and the Changeling" by R.J. Sterling
Revisiting 2024
2024 APEX MAGAZINE: A YEAR IN REVIEW
Our 2024 Author Demographics Survey was sent to the 65 authors published in our 2024 issues. Of those, 61 responded. The results indicated we published a diverse spread of genders and sexual identities, and were at least somewhat accessible for neurodivergent and disabled authors. The results also indicated that we had work to do in the realm of publishing more non-white voices and in particular, voices from the global south.
We saw similar results in our first Reading Team Demographics, which we viewed as causative. The Apex team has lots of women, and is women-led. We have neurodivergent and disabled readers, and we have a spread of sexual orientation identities. However, the team is heavily white/western.
We made a number of changes in 2024, including the first year of editor in chief Lesley Conner's solo leadership, changing our reading system from a one-reader system to a two-reader system, and running a Kickstarter with a different approach.
In 2025, our goal was to improve our accessibility and diversity, especially in regards to voices from the global south.
To view last year's report, visit: https://www.apexbookcompany.com/a/blog/apex-magazine/post/apex-magazine-2024-annual-report
Demographics Overview
Our survey was sent to 49 authors and 32 team members. Of those, we received 34 author responses and 21 team responses.
The results indicate a continuing diversity of gender and sexual identity, as well as an inclusive spread of neurodivergent and disabled authors and team members.
We have made improvements in our goal of improving our ethnic diversity in our published material despite the team remaning overwhelmingly white.
Please be aware that some categories have been aggregated in order to ensure anonymity.
2025 was a different year for our team in particular because we were closed to submissions for most of the calendar year, and only opening to submissions in the last quarter of the year.
Author Demographics
We asked authors what their primary spoken and written languages were, and while the answer was overwhelmingly English, we had a few other responses—but we had an interesting response we'll be taking into account next year, which is the split between American authors versus international and ESL authors.
We also asked about neurodiversity and disability, receiving a broad spread of responses (16% of our 2025 authors are physically disabled, 40% have some kind of mental illness). Anxiety and depression are relatively common among our authors at 48% each.
Looking Ahead to 2026
In October, we ran a Kickstarter. With a final total of just over $20,000, we are secure in our funding for 2026. We will release 4 issues in the coming year, each including original fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction, reprints, and occasional reviews and essays.
We will be shifting our publication schedule by a month, so instead of Issue 152 coming your way in January, it will instead release in February. We are also discussing changes to our submissions schedule, including marginalized author only windows, but haven't yet made any decisions.