FREE SUBMISSIONS TRACKER

Do you get lost in the myriad of emails, submissions, resubmissions and other correspondence when sending your work out for consideration? Don’t worry, I’m here to help.

When I first started writing I realised that the more subs went out, the more difficult it was to keep track of things. I created a simple spreadsheet that allows you to monitor the progress of all your work in one place, and then (because I’m kind) decided to share it for free with anyone who needs it.

You don’t need to be an IT whizz to set this up – its a simple excel sheet using google sheets – all you need to do is get your copy and start filling it in!

What is included

1. Date of submission
2. Genre of the piece i.e. fiction, poem etc
3. Name of the piece
4. Was this published previously (because some zines don’t like that)
5. Where (so you don’t resubmit the same thing)
6. Publication you are submitting to (name of the prestigious magazine)
7. Via (as in submittable, email , oleada or post)
8. Expected response date i.e. if they have a response time of 3 months you can put this date in and you will know when to think about chasing it up
9. Current position – this one is key – it is a drop down that tells you if the piece is pending response, withdrawn, rejection or ACCEPTANCE YAY!)
10. Comments or feedback received- to remind you how great you are!
11. Publication date – for all your acceptances so you can promote when they are coming out!
12. Resubmit to this journal – a little reminder in case of any red flags from your last experience
13. Available to send out – don’t need to add anything here – it automatically tells you if a piece is available to send out again or not using the other info you have added – easy peasy!
14. SIM SUB – just a reminder in case you are submitting to more than one publication at the same time – again just to keep track

Submissions tracker

When you open the file it’s probably best to save a copy immediately so you can start editing and adding your submissions yourself. Add what you need so you can focus on writing and not spreadsheets (urgh). Any further feedback on things you think would help you just drop me a message.

There are quite a few online sub options available including the excellent chillsubs.com who I can highly recommend. This sheet allows for a quick way to record your submissions especially for those magazines/ publishers that are not on chill subs or not online at all. The tool is here to help if you need it and let you focus on writing. Good luck with your subs and I hope it helps!