5 Resources on Tracking Submissions

We’ve all done it at one time or another: double-subbed (yikes!), gotten a rejection or buy for a story we didn’t even remember sending (whoa!), forgot when we sent a sub (too early to query?) or simply missed the submission window for the perfect market for a story (boo!). It isn’t news that every writer needs to track (and keep up with) their submissions.
Need a new system or simply need to get your submissions organized in the first place? Check out these 5 resources that can help you keep on submitting, sans stress:

  • Duotrope’s Digest is free to use (although they request donations to offset operating costs). It’s one of the most popular online submission trackers out there, because it is tied into their huge, searchable market database, and because, based on other members’ information, offers current average response times for a particular market.
  • The Writer’s Database is similar to Duotrope. Free to use, online and searchable, it also allows you to chart your writing habits and graph your word count goals.
  • Sonar, a free, fully-featured submission tracking program, was created by Australian science fiction writer, Simon Haynes. Sonar is a download that essebntailly creates a private database on your desktop, as opposed to Duotrope or Writer’s Database, which are online.
  • SFWA member, Bud Spearhawk, has written an article which is stuffed with old-school and new-school suggestions for how to track your submissions. If the internet isn’t your thing, or you’d rather use another method, check out his wise ideas.
  • Open Source writer Dmitri Popov, has published a clear, concise guide to creating your own custom database (PDF) for submission tracking using OpenOffice.org Base, handy to know if you’d like to track particular sub quirks.