I use an Excel spreadsheet to log when I send a story and when I expect to hear and how much it costs me or how much I get paid if I win or a story is bought. I do not use the Excel spreadsheet to its full extent and admire people who would be able to automatically colour a cell, just because a formula has been fed into the date column: I can’t do that! Green indicates I am still waiting to hear. Conversely, red means I’ve heard, even if it’s a ‘no’. The pink tells me I have ‘used’ the story and it cannot be used again without careful consideration about the rights etc...
Disclaimer: These are not real submissions!
I regularly send to Writing Magazine and sometimes, Woman’s Weekly (used to send to Yours), so on my spreadsheet, I have a colour assigned to each one.
In addition, I’ve found it necessary to do a quick one-liner next to each of my stories as an aide memoire:
This is on the same spreadsheet but too big to print or put on a web page easily.
If you are not remotely tech savvy and the idea of an Excel spreadsheet appals you, then there is nothing wrong with doing the whole thing by hand on paper with ruled lines. I only use it because it already has ruled lines. The beauty of the spreadsheet is the size of the cell increases as you fill it.
This is not for everybody but the key message here is to record what you’ve sent out. Whether you use a manual or digital method, it will still rely on you logging each submission and the result, whenever that is.
The second part of this came as a result of asking on here a couple of years ago how people ‘remembered’ their stories if they were trying to find a different avenue for them. I couldn’t see an easy answer. I hope this might help a few of you.
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25 comments:
Good morning,
Thank you for this tip Patsy.
I do something similar to this but very basic and much less 'tech'!
In my word documents, there is a folder entitled 'submissions' and it is here that I list all my subs, the title of the piece, the word count, the date and to whom sent.
On the rare occasions I actually sell something, the entry is coloured in red together with the amount I am paid. This also helps with remembering for the tax return!
If (when) I get a rejection, I list the name of the rejecting mag in brackets so I know not to send it to them again and then send it to someone else, following the original procedure above.
When I don't hear for a long time, I sent a polite enquiry. I keep this enquiry in my 'drafts' folder so that I can prove that I did try to find out
the fate of my piece so I can then send it to someone else with a clear
conscience. If it is still being considered, then obviously I leave it until I do get an answer.
Best wishes to all for 2025 and may we all receive lots of acceptances from grateful editors. Kind regards, Sue A
I have set up and kept a spreadsheet of submissions, but I needed help from my hubby. I wouldn't know how to set it up myself. I also keep one for poems and non fiction pieces. It acts as reminder of what's gone out to where, and what I have left. I do colour code the cells, as it makes it a lot easier to track.
Thanks, Marguerite
I love a spreadsheet!
I use Excel to log all my stories. It’s especially useful for keeping track when resubbing.
HB
Thanks Marguerite, a good tip, now if only you lived closer, I'd have you over for tea, I've never really mastered excel. I just keep a written book with each year's submissions, acceptances, rejections etc, mind you I have to keep on top of it when something is accepted in one year but doesn't get published until later. Maybe it would be worth getting to grips with excel once and for all.
I use a spreadsheet myself, although it's set up differently from Marguerite's. I have more columns and include things such as date published, when payment received, and there's a lot more colour coding! I can see if I've registered the story for ALCS for example, and whether it's now included in one of my collections.
I don't think there's a single right or wrong way, as long as we record all the info we need, and can quickly look up whatever we want to know. The good thing about spreadsheets is that it's very easy to add columns if needed.
@ Sue - It sounds as though it works well for you. I use my spreadsheet to show if I've enquired about stories or withdrawn them. The important thing is that we know what we've done and when.
@ Sharon - we're the other way round, as I set up Gary's accounts spreadsheets for him! Once they're set up and a few items filled in they're pretty straightforward to maintain, but getting started must be daunting if you're not used to doing that. I had to use them at work (many years ago!) which comes in useful now.
@ HB - I hope yours is colour coded too?
@ Sheelagh – If you've not got it sorted by the time I'm next in Ireland, I'll show you how.
Sue A: This isn't very techy! :) If I was really techy, I'd be using a database (Tried and failed) so I could interrogate a group, "stories I've sent to BOWW". I find I can do that with the columns IF I'M VERY CAREFUL! Otherwise I'd end up losing data :(
Sharon: As long as you keep it up to date it doesn't really matter who sets it up. Like Patsy, I had to get swept up in it all for work. (I went on a field trip - a field trip! - to visit a computer when I was at school!)
HB: I am interested as to whether you do as I do, one continuous, or separate by year or any other category...?
Sheelagh: As long as you keep on it, it doesn't matter if it's pen and paper (and a few colours). I review mine regularly and at least on the first of the month, as well as entries I make and replies I get. Tea would be good... with cake? ;)
Patsy: The ALCS column is a good idea. :) My next addition will be likely be word count and genre - now you can see why I wanted a database?
I do use mine as a database. I can see everything I've sent to a certain market, all stories of a certain length, everything ever accepted (or rejected!). What's out with a particular market, what they bought. I can check which subs haven't had a reply within a certain time frame ...
As everyone says, it’s what works for you. I do keep a separate spreadsheet for each year (a sort of work in progress one etc), but then I’ve got a slightly different one where I keep a record of everything because I also find it confusing when stories are carried over to another year before publication or if I haven’t heard anything about them at all by the end of the year.
Good tip! It would be easy to lose track of submissions otherwise.
I keep all subs on an Excel spreadsheet too. Also a 'not this time' (aka rejections) and a successes sheet. I find them so useful, I'm always a bit surprised to find people don't use them! Accounts (with my HUGE income) are on another. I'd find it had to manage without.
I also use an excel spreadsheet with colour coding. Good idea to add ALCS column.
@ Patsy & Marguerite Lots of tea if you make it to Ireland & special cake served when you have the excel sheet up & running!
I agree that it's very important to keep accurate records of submissions and their progress. I don't use a spreadsheet, but use a hand-written log, plus I move each story across relevant folders on my laptop, and I also print off hard copies of everything, which I file, too. My three-pronged system has only let me down once, when I panicked and withdrew a story I thought I had accidentally sent to more than one magazine - in fact, they were two stories with similar names and if I had taken my time I would have realised this. Although I generally think in terms of 'acceptances' rather than 'sales', I do keep a supply of red 'sold' stickers which I slap on any story that gets accepted, before I refile it, and this is truly the most satisfying feeling. Thanks for the post, Marguerite - I absolutely love learning about all aspects of how other writers work.
Patsy: You sound as though you are more confident highlighting and filtering those cells than I am!
Marian: Ah, yes, I have the issue of what to do as the year changes and stories are outstanding. I find I just keep the one, rolling on and on... but I see the value in separating those out.
Alex: As long as we keep a log somehow, eh?
Lindsay: I, too, keep another one for income separately - the enormous (!) number of sales I have, just in case.
Maisie: An ALCS column would keep all the information in one place :)
Sheelagh: Sounds like an EXCELlent idea!
Eirin: You seem to have a very robust system! I have folders within folders as well, although my filing is sometimes so well hidden, I can't remember what they are filed under! I have a folder called: Submissions new machine - but my laptop is now nearly 4 years old! I don't think I could print everything - and I think you should :( It's probably the best way to pick up errors/typos etc...,.
The above was me ;) The name bit and anonymous and url bit got me eventually.
Marguerite, I could not manage without printing my work out. And I so love my trusty little printer. It's a very basic Canon black and white machine, with neither bell nor whistle, and it has served me well for many years and worked super-hard and costs very, very little to run. I know it cannot last forever and I dread the day when its time comes ...
It’s a continuous list. I’m not prolific, so it’s not that long 🙄
And no colour-coding - not sure I could cope with highlighting all those rejections!!!
HB
HB: I thought I wasn't prolific until I started building up a real bank - suddenly... !(well, not so suddenly, maybe). It was the regular Writing Magazine and also Secret Attic and now...! And they're only temporary rejections... until you find a home for them :)
I can't bear Excel, but I do have folders on my laptop that let me know where I've submitted things. Definitely worth keeping track of them!
I don't use Excel (loathe it) but I created spreadsheets using Word. I have a People's Friend folder containing a spreadsheet with details of the various stories, serials and features I've submitted to them over the past few years. I have a second folder containing details of submissions to other outlets - the US magazine Woman's World, plus various competitions. I colour code with green for acceptances/competition success and red for rejections/competition failure. The lists include story title, number of words, date of submission, date of acceptance/rejection/competition outcome, and publication and payment details. If a story title is changed, I note that in the spreadsheet too. It's vital to have this record for ALCS and Australia's Copyright Agency, and also for tax purposes. Liz
itsonlyvintage... : Folders work well. Everything relies on us updating rigorousl, however we do it!
Liz: Like you, I note if I change a title and have the alternative in brackets, every time it's mentioned.
Thanks, Marguerite (or 'Marmelade Marguerite' as I now think of you.)
This was really useful info/advice. Thank you. I loved seeing your picture too!
I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to keeping track of stuff, and send stuff off randomly all over the place, and don't remember where.
Somebody in a previous post suggested having a dedicated email address just for writing submissions, so I set that up, thinking the 'sent' box would serve as a tracker - but I sometimes submit via a submissions portal, and then forget I've done so.
It is the strangest thing. I am an Office Manager, and would never dream of being so disorganised in my 'professional' life, but when it comes to my writing, I'm utterly chaotic. It would seem I'm just not taking myself seriously enough, and maybe I should...
Ruth: I had you in mind when I sent this to Patsy! ;) For more years than I care to remember, I submitted GCSE entries for the entire year 11 cohort, so had to keep meticulous records - this was prior to them being done at a swipe or a click. I, too, am pretty chaotic at home, but not when I was a teacher! MM 😉
This really made me smile.
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