Reading & Writing Lounge

If you are sending your work out for publication, do you have an organised way of keeping track of your submissions?

Here’s why you need to know where your work is:

• Keep track of how long your query/submission is pending with a publication. Depending on their lead-times, you can decide whether to send it to someone else or not.
• Avoid simultaneous submissions : If you know that a work hasn’t been sent out, you can start pitching it to editors who may be interested.
• Invoices and payment : Do you know when your payment is due? Do you have a way of keeping track of payments received or reminders sent?

I love MSExcel for tracking my work. In one spreadsheet, I have tabs for queries, submissions, re-submissions, clips, income and ideas.

My query sheet is very simple. Each query has an unique number in the format Year/No. For eg. In 2008, my queries would number 2008/1, 2008/2…you get the idea. This tells me, at a glance, how many queries I have sent in this year. The sheet also has columns for a brief description, the publication queried, query date, response and any remarks (indicating lead times or other information).

The submissions tracker sheet lists all the articles submitted - either following a query or a complete manuscript in the first instance. I follow the same numbering procedure as for the query sheet, so I know how many completed submissions have been made in a given year. The columns are Article Title, Publication name, Query number (from the previous sheet, if available), date sent, response and notes (includes comments to myself on resubmitting elsewhere). The final column is a ‘Current Status’ column where I list if the article is published, accepted or pending. I can accordingly decide on a course of action for outstanding articles, like the ones that were accepted ages ago but have not been published.

It sounds very complicated, but this is the simplest way to keep track of your work and have everything at a glance.

I also use a ‘Resubmitting Log’ to keep track of where I’m sending my ‘Rejected’ (or ‘Declined’, as I like to say) queries. So if I’ve pitched an idea to magazine A who reject it, I send it to magazine B, then C etc till it is accepted. The Resubmitting Log keeps track of where the article is currently. It helps you to know which articles or ideas are not selling. That, in itself, is a big clue that you need to do something to revise it or that you are pitching it to the wrong markets.

In addition, keep spreadsheets that tell you how much you have earned, no matter how little.

Keep track of your writing. Not only will this help your business, but when you look back at the end of the year, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you have accomplished!

If you have any questions about my methods or if you would like to share your own tips, please leave a comment.

Happy writing!

Related on this blog:

• Need a prompt to write?
• New Year Resolutions for writers
• Setting goals for 2008