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.
If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do
2 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.
Post a Comment