Hey everyone, I'm just starting to aggressively submit my stories to journals and so forth. What is the best way to keep track of submissions and rejections? Is there a particular software that makes this whole process easier to manage, or do people just use Excel?
Why would you need anything other than a spreadsheet or ordinary document? Or even a paper ledger (remember paper?) The problem isn't software, The problem is developing the habit to record each event.
I agree with Cogito. I created a spread sheet that tracked: the story (listed title), the market sent to (with link/contact email) the date sent, their posted 'anticipated turn around', date accepted or rejected, and a section for notes. What you find useful may vary.
ditto that! i've also kept a printout of each query letter in a 'queried' file, which gets 'retired' when rejection arrives... or notated and moved to the 'pending' file, if ms requested... this is backed up with a simple list i create and keep updating on the computer... no fancy program needed...
Spacejock software has a free submission tracking program called Sonar. I've used it and if you don't want to take the time to program your own spreadsheet, as Sonar creates a few special reports, it might be worth your while.
Thanks everybody. Just wanted some ideas. I started with a simple spreadsheet today. I'll check out Sonar as well.
After playing around with Excel for a while I came up with a spreadsheet that works for me. Learning how to use filters really helped. Duotrope's Digest had (and probably still has) a very useful submissions tracker. Unfortunately you now have to pay to be a member.
