How to use this Page

• The Mobile Author, Part One: The Portable Office 
• The Mobile Author, Part Two: Getting Organized
• The Mobile Author, Part Three: Managing Your Project
• The Mobile Author, Part Four: Planning Your Story
• The Mobile Author, Part Five: Writing

So far in this series about going mobile, we've seen how to set up your mobile office so you have everything you need wherever you are, how to use your mobile devices to organize your projects, plan them, and write them. But once you've written your work, it's time to submit. So, today I'm going to discuss how you can use your tablets and phones to track your submissions.

There are online submission trackers, such as The Writer's Database and Duotrope. They work well, but they are set up using somebody else's system. You are a mobile author. You are free. You can do what you want, where you want. So why would you want to use somebody else's system when you can create a system that works the way you like, and keep it in your pocket, purse, or backpack?

I'm going to suggest three options for doing it your way. You might have something else that works for you. Whichever approach you choose, the important thing is that you have it with you wherever you decide to work today.

Spreadsheet

The word spreadsheet causes fear and trepidation among my fellow office workers everywhere. But a spreadsheet does not have to be feared. Turns out, spreadsheets are actually a pretty good way to keep track of stuff. I use one to track my own submissions.

My submissions spreadsheet for each project is pretty simple. I have columns for the agent's name, the agency, the agency's website, contact info (the address or email address I used to submit), the date I submitted, the date I heard back, the date I (fingers crossed!) sent the partial or full, the date I heard back again, and a column for notes or comments. That's it. As I submit, I enter all of that info in the next available row.

Several rows below the submission records, I have a list of agents I might submit to in the future, with all of the info but the submission and reply dates. When it's time from the next round of submissions, if I don't already have somebody in mind, I draw from that list. If you like to sort your spreadsheet by different columns, you might prefer to keep your list of potential submissions on a separate page.

This is easy to do from your mobile office. You can use either a Google Spreadsheet or use the spreadsheet function of your mobile office suite. Google Spreadsheet was made even more viable on April 30 with the release of the Google Sheets app, which eliminates the requirement to be online. I highly recommend Google Docs for this task, but either option works.

Bulletin Board

Spreadsheets work great for tracking submissions, but they are not exactly a delight to use. You might prefer a more visual approach. For that, I recommend Trello, which I've mentioned before. Trello gives you a visual bulletin board where you can easily see the state of your submissions.



I haven't used Trello to track submissions, but if I did, it would be pretty simple. I'd create a card for each agent I wanted to submit to. I'd sort the cards in stacks called something like To Submit, Submitted, Rejected, Requests, and Accepted. I could track multiple projects on one board by color-coding each story. That approach would give me a quick view of what's going on with my submissions. It might be a little harder to see whether I'd already submitted to a particular agent than a spreadsheet would, so I'd have to pay attention to that.

The card approach has advantages over the spreadsheet besides being visual. You could put all kinds of info on the cards, like snippets from websites or interviews you want to use to personalize your queries, or copies of the responses you receive. Bulletin boards are very free-form, so you can pretty much do whatever works for you.

Database

If spreadsheet is a scary word, database might trigger a full-on panic attack. But it doesn't have to. A database is a good way to organize stuff, and once you set it up, can work very well. A database record is really just an index card or Rolodex card with the info you need to keep track of, except that your pile of cards is sortable by any piece of info.

The difficult part is setting up the database, but it's not that hard. If you are an uber-organizer, you might not find a better approach.

Android users who are into this kind of fancy-pants thing might try the free Memento Database app to set up a database. iPad users apparently don't have access to Memento, but they have other options. I didn't notice any obvious free choices in the App Store, but there are plenty of database apps.

Next Step

So far, this series has shown how to set up and organize your mobile office, and how to manage your writing project from the planning stages through submission. Next week, we will discuss some apps that will help you manage your writing life.

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HAVE A HAPPY PASSOVER HOLIDAY

Tracking Submissions

by Erika Wassell

Polished manuscript?

CHECK – one I’m proud of.

Research?

YUP – Found a few agents who are a perfect match.

Query Letter?

WRITTEN – Pitches my manuscript and myself.

There it is …

• THE SEND BUTTON – 

My finger hovers on the mouse. Hesitation. I KNOW this is a worthy story but maybe I shou—– ACK! I’m doing it!

CLICK. Message sent.

So that’s it right? Wave goodbye and cross my fingers?  Not exactly.

While I definitely support leaning back and letting out that breath you may have been holding, you still have another important step… tracking your submissions.

First, the top three reasons WHY:

1) So you don’t query the same agent without realizing it: How long to wait before submitting to an agent again is another topic. But you certainly don’t want to do it by accident! Repeat submissions can look very unprofessional.

2) Follow Up: For many agents, no response, means it’s not for them. But in the research stage, you may find others that say at a certain point, it’s okay to reach out. Following up at the appropriate time shows that you’re dedicated and serious.

3) In case you get a yes! The best reason of all!! If an agent or publisher is interested in your work, you will want to inform everyone else it’s currently out to. (A) Because it’s professional courtesy. And (B), it can drum up additional interest and lead to the sort of “bidding war” that every author dreams of!!

Okay. So what exactly do I track?

Here’s the HOW:

My suggestion is use Excel. It’s easy to set up, and gives me data that is simple to keep track of, look back through and actually use – more so than the stack of scribbled on pieces of paper that form an ever-growing precarious tower next to my computer.

Here are the eight column titles that I use when tracking submissions:

First come the four most obvious: 

Who: The name of the actual person I addressed the query letter to.

Where: The name of the agency/publisher, including its website for easy reference.

What: What manuscript did I send them?

When: Exact date that I hit the all-powerful SEND BUTTON.

       These next four are not as obvious, but they’re JUST as important! 

Why: A few notes about why the agent is a good fit for my manuscript, what interviews I read or what specific things made me query them.

Wait time: What their estimated timeline is. Most places give you an idea of how long it may take them to look over your query and whether or not they will necessarily respond. I note things like “no means no, 6-8 months” or “will respond within 10 weeks”.

Follow up: Often times, no response means not interested. But if I know someone is open to follow up, I make a note as to when to do that, and where I got the information. This way, in my follow up, I can say something like, “As per your interview with ____, I’m following up on the query I sent you three months ago.” IMPORTANT: When following up, I make absolutely sure that I don’t come off irritated. These agents work hard, and receive thousands of queries. I love when I’m able to follow up, so I make sure they know I appreciate the opportunity.

Response: If I get a rejection, or any sort of response, I make a note of when I got it and what was said.

It’s really just eight little columns in a spreadsheet, but it allows me to treat my writing professionally. I know what I’ve done, why I did it, and what I’m waiting on. And that’s really the best way to prepare for what I’ll do next.

When I hit that at-times-OH-so-unnerving SEND BUTTON, I’m comforted in knowing that my manuscript still has a tie to me, right here in my tracked submissions and is not just disappearing into the world of Ethernet cables and fiber optics.

I know your manuscripts deserve the same professional attention.

Thanks Erika for the valuable post. Erika has agreed to be a regular Guest Blogger for Writing and Illustrating.

Erika Wassall is a writer, a farmer and a liver of life. She is a member of SCBWI and a proud Mad Scientist, bringing science experiments right into children’s classrooms, and hearts. She has a small farm in New Jersey with sheep, chickens, pigs and vegetables. Check out her new website at www.TheJerseyFarmScribe.com where as a first generation farmer, she often takes the long way, learning the tricks of the trade on The Farm. On her website is also The Shop page with tips and a free Q/A from her husband’s mechanic shop, and The Writer page where she shares stories, experiences and characters from the heart. Follow her on Twitter at @NJFarmScribe. She’d love to hear from you!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: Advice, article, list, Process, submissions, Tips Tagged: Erika Wassell, List of tips, Tracking Submissions

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