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I’ve been wanting to do a post on Submission Tracking for authors. I queried folks on the forum about their experiences because the Chicago Writers Association includes poets, freelancers, short story writers and academics who would be more familiar with the need to track submissions. I got the following from Paul Wolf:

“I have been submitting short stories, and occasionally a poem of two, to literary journals for over twenty-five years. My book, “Varied Images: The Short Stories of Paul F. Wolf,” is a compilation of the first 47 stories that I have published. I was in magazines like The Georgetown Review, Left Curve, Puerto del Sol, StoryQuarterly, Other Voices, Sou’Wester, Wisconsin Review, William and Mary Review, and such as that. Plus some very small ones, like zines, depending on the story. And some other very nice publications that just did not have huge circulations or well known names.

“I always submit a story to five publications at a time. I could tell you tale after tale of how badly the magazines treat writers, so I ignore the request for no multiple submissions. When they hold, and then reject, a story after five years, you learn fast you have to look out for yourself. They lose them, never return them, they get lost in the mail. So I feel it’s an ethical decision to do multiple submissions. That is to say, it’s ethically related to the work and effort you, yourself, put into those stories.

“I have not, except for about three occasions, had a story accepted by two journals at the same time. It rarely happens because it is quite difficult to get published in literary journals. If it does happen, you send the journal you decide to place the story in an acceptance letter, and the others you send a letter saying that you regretfully have to withdraw the story from consideration. With some words as to how much you respect their publication and hope to submit to them again in the future. Do not give a reason for the withdrawal.

“A story can receive as many as 40 to 50 rejections before it finds a home. (Or you may hit it on the first five mailings.) It is often published many years after it was first written, and has gone through many rewrites. So time is against you from the start. Tenacity and multiple submissions are your wedge agaist these odds that are stacked up against you.

“Anyhow, that is my take on multiple submissions.”

– P. Wolf     

I wrote back to Paul asking how he kept all that stuff straight. This is his reply:

“Just make 2 charting sheets.

Each story, or poem, has a chart sheet, like this:

Date Sent

Date Returned

Where Sent

“Then you have another set of sheets with the names of the journals on them:

Name	From	Sent
Mississippi Review	Writers Market, 2007	3-29-07
Missouri Review	Writer’s Market, 2006	2-12-05
Snake Nation Review	Poets Market, 2007	1-12-06

“When the story comes back, mark the individual story sheet with the return date. Then look at the journal sheet that you had sent the story to, and erase the date that you sent it to that journal. In this way, you have a record of where you sent the story, how long they held it, and whether or not you have a previous submission still out to that journal.

“The hard part of this is the initial making of the sheet that has all of the journals on it. But once made, you can just add or subtract journals to it. I’ve used the same one for 25 years. I prefer them on sheets of paper that I can thumb through, but I am sure you could set up a nice one on your computer.

“I hope that helps.”

– P. Wolf     

Jennifer Brown-Banks, another Chicago Writers Association member had this to say:

“Since I am under contract with several publications, I rarely have to do multiple submissions. I definitely don’t do them if an editor/publisher specifies that it is not something they accept.

“When I do, I simply create a chart that lists the name of the article, the date, and the publications to which I’ve sent. I also indicate the status, and the response time expected. I try to wait the full requested “waiting period” before sending work elsewhere, unless I consider it unreasonable.

“In more than 15 years, I’ve only had 1 unfortunate incident with 2 publications wanting to run the same thing simultaneously. But trust me, it’s not something you want to happen often.

– Jennifer Brown-Banks     

The idea for this post has been rolling around ever since I saw Science Fiction & Fantasy author Carol Hightshoe’s public record of her submissions from 1999-2005 on a webpage. It differs radically in its approach from Paul’s. When I emailed her and asked why she had posted rather personal information on the web, she replied,

“I guess the primary reasons why I started posting that information was to show that persistence can pay off and also as an example of one method of submissions tracking for anyone who might be interested.”I’ve received several emails in the past from people who have found the page that has my submissions record interesting and were also glad to find out they are not the only writer out there collecting numerous rejections.”

The categories from Ms. Hightshoe’s submission log are:

I did a little more searching on the web and found something that as a novel writer (PARK RIDGE — buy the book already! ) that I could really appreciate. It’s what seems to me to be a real break-through at Kunati (book publisher). I quote in part from a post on their blog:

What is KUNATI SUBMISSION TRACKING?

“We’re excited about this. As we became more and more popular, and because we remain true to our mandate to personally respond to all submissions, we have created the FIRST (we think!) online submission tracking.”

The categories from their program are:

• Query and synopsis received
• Query and synopsis responded with “not quite right for us” with reason
• Query and synopsis responded with “please send more”
• Chapter and synopsis received and in queue to be read
• Chapter received, synopsis MISSING, will not be read until synopsis sent
• Chapter/synopsis responded with “not quite right for us” with reason
• Chapter/synopsis responded with “please send manuscript”
• Manuscript requested
• Manuscript received
• Manuscript in the queue
• Manuscript read, response sent

There are several good articles available on submission tracking:

• Submission Tracking by Linda S. Dupie
  Shows you how to use a notebook, index cards, or computer for tracking.
• TRACKING MANUSCRIPTS Bud Sparhawk
  Strong argument for tracking if you’re serious about your work. Other really helpful hints.
• Keeping ‘em on the Street by Terry Hickman
  Includes info on how to decide where to send what and why. Charts.

I found one online database that you could use (this is not an endorsement): The Writer’s Database: Market & Submission Tracker (since 2002)

“The Writer’s Database will keep track of all the markets for your writing, and the status of all the submissions you’ve sent out to each market. With a click of the mouse, you can easilly check on a market’s:

Contact information

• Rate of pay
• Estimated response time
• Category of writing wanted
• Guidelines and other personalized notes

And you can keep track of:

• Titles you’ve written
• Date you sent out each submission
• Acceptance or rejection
• Amount of money earned for each sale
• Editor’s comments and other notes”

There’s also lots of software available for purchase. The Open Directory is listing the following (as of 15-Mar-07):

• Quick Query Tracker - Software application that enables tracking of manuscript submissions and queries, and producing reports on your writing business.
• SAMM - Free manuscript tracking software for Windows or DOS.
• Slushomatic - A free tool for writers to create and track submissions to magazines. Auto-generate printable submission documents.
• SwiftTrack - Submission tracking software for writers from SwiftTech Software.
• Ultima Thule: Writer’s Database - WriteDB is a database system that enables writers to keep track of the works they have created, the potential publishers they have identified and any submissions to those publishers.
• Write Again - Writing management tool. Helps writers, poets, freelancers and other literary artists manage their projects, markets/contacts, submissions, deadlines and finances.
• The Writer’s Database: Submission Tracker - A free web-based database for writers to keep track of markets and submissions sent out.