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Tracking Article Submissions

—Helen Wilkie

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Following are the responses to my question about how best to track online article submissions.

-- Bonnie Jo Davis

I do lots of article submissions and I keep a form for each article that incorporates the essential information. (Note: Bonnie Jo's resources and information are at www.DavisVirtualAssistance.com)

-- Peter Krass

  1. Start a new Excel file. Call it "article submissions."
  2. In the spreadsheet, label five consecutive vertical columns as follows: Article, Pub/Site, Date Submitted, Response Date, and Response.
  3. When you send an article to a magazine or Web site, you will log it in this spreadsheet. Type in the title (and version number, if appropriate) under "article." Moving across the same row, next enter the name of the publication or Web site (and URL if you want) under "pub/site." Then type in the day's date under "data submitted."
  4. When you hear back from the editors, re-open the spreadsheet. Enter the date under "response date" and the response (e.g., accepted, want more info, rejected, etc.) under "response."
  5. That's it. You're done. You now have a quick-and-easy at-a-glance log of all your submissions.

-- Julian Franklin

I have a digital folder in which I hold all my articles for submission. I then have a folder called "Articles Submitted". Inside that are the various articles I've submitted. I change the name of the file by adding a few letters in front of the name to represent the magazine or ezine to which it was submitted. This automatically changes the "Date Created" date which lets me know when I submitted the article. This way, If an article doesn't run after they've held if for a year or two I can withdraw it from consideration and submit it to another publication.

Once an article has been published I change the name to the two or three letter publication code followed by the year and the month and then the article name, and move it to a folder titled "Published". This way I don't inadvertently send a previously published article to another publication.

For example, When I submitted an article titled "Buyer's Remorse" to The Linking Ring (a trade publication for magicians). I ended up with the title "LR0403BuyersRemorse" which means it was published in The Linking Ring in 2004, the month of March. This keeps all the published articles automatically arranged by publication, then chronologically by publication date, all by keeping the files listed alphabetically.

-- Joanne Victoria

Put in all in an Excel format.

Hire a student to set it up on their computer and send it to you. If they do the submitting as well, you are home free. If you do the submitting, send the data to them once per week/month and you are on your way.

-- Kathleen Gage

I write numerous articles that are distributed online. I have about 100 articles in the queque right now. To stay on top of what I am doing I have two files in Word. One is labeled "Articles Submitted" and the other "Articles to be submitted." When an article gets submitted it goes from the to be submitted file into the submitted. I also date my articles as to when they were submitted.

-- Lena West

There is a cool little application called Writer's Database. It's great and it's freeware.

Here's what their promo says:

WriteDB is a database system that enables writers to keep a track of the works they have created, the potential publishers they have identified and any submissions to those publishers. It allows you to quickly and easily see what works are awaiting a submission, which submissions are outstanding, which publishers you have tried etc. etc. Originally written for my own use, it is now available to one and all as Freeware. WriteDB is simple to use, flexible and powerful, and will work on Windows 9x, NT or higher. It is internet-aware as it allows you to keep track of Web/e-mail addresses as well as traditional addresses. The latest version is always available at www.ultima-thule.co.uk.

-- Hazel Boone

I wanted to point you in the direction of organizedwriter.com. The author has a writer's planner that you can download with sheets to keep that info.

-- Kelley Robertson

By phone, Kelley told me he keeps two spreadsheets for each year. The first shows the Web sites on his (ever growing) list, and a column for each month which he ticks off as he sends articles. The other lists the articles by title, with columns also ticked off as they are sent out. He also has an e-mailing list for editors who have asked to be added to his list that way.

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