Continuing our Writers and Technology series, Assistant Editor Heather von Doehren explains what writers can do to improve their recordkeeping.

Any serious writer will tell you, it takes some thick skin to last in this business.  As a writer, you can expect a story or a poem to be rejected anywhere from 10 to 30 times before it finds a home at some journal (that is, if it finds a home).  Considering that and how long it takes to hear back from a journal, today’s writers must be able to keep adequate records. 

Why You Need to Keep Records:

Let’s face it.  If you are a beginning writer, writing is not your full-time (or even your paying) job.  You’re busy.  And busy people are just going to forget little things like, Did I mail that submission to Journal X yet?  And with the growing prevalence of journals accepting simultaneous submissions, it is extremely important to remember where you’ve submitted a piece.  If one of these journals does accept a piece while other journals are still reviewing it, you’ll need to know who to contact to let them know that your piece has been accepted elsewhere.  And we’ve all heard the horror stories about authors who have been “blacklisted” at a journal for not telling them that their piece has already been accepted (we don’t do that by the way, but we do become despondent and cry when we lose a piece we love).

Journals receive a ton of mail and a ton of submissions and no matter how good a journal or editorial staff is at organizing their papers, something will get lost.  And (if your luck is anything like mine), it might be your piece.  Fortunately, though, many journals are moving to online submission systems, much like the system we use.  So, the prevalence of submissions getting lost is decreasing (there are still problems with uploading work, file formats, etc. But trust me, online submissions are a lot easier to track than paper systems).  Tracking your submissions helps you to know when to contact the journal for an update (FYI, if they’ve had it longer than six months, contact them).

See number 1.

What You Need to Record:

At the bare minimum, you’ll need to write down the date you submitted your piece along with what you submitted and where you’ve submitted it.  You should also keep track of the date that you receive a reply from the journal/magazine and what the status of the piece was (i.e. rejected, accepted, returned unread, etc.).  If it was published for payment, you might also want to keep a note of that somewhere too.  If you receive any feedback regarding the submission, definitely keep track of that as well (especially if it is personalized feedback).

Methods for Keeping Track of Submissions:

Kevin Stein , my old professor at Bradley (and by old, I don’t mean that he’s old…just that he’s a former…you know what I mean!) used to tell us about how he’d keep track of his submissions by writing all of the previously mentioned data on index cards and arranging these cards by poem in a series of small plastic boxes.  With the advent of the computer, however, this system is a bit obsolete, to say the least. 

For many years, my husband tracked all of his submissions in an Excel spreadsheet.  I know a lot of writers who use this method.  But I’ve got to tell you, this is not the best way to record information, as Excel is not designed to store and retrieve mass amounts of information.  As you submit more and more stories, one Excel spreadsheet becomes a bit cumbersome to navigate, as you have to eyeball the spreadsheet to locate specific information.  If you are a proficient Excel user, you’ve probably found a few ways that are a bit faster to find records, but you’re probably still wasting a lot of time just locating information. 

The best way to keep track of submission data is to use a database (that what it’s designed for).  If you have Microsoft Access on your computer, I’d suggest learning how to use it and building your own database.  But with that, I’d have to offer you a warning.  Access is not like Word or Excel and it’s not easy to sit down and teach yourself how to use the program.  It’s a difficult program to learn how to use the “right way.”  If you want to learn more about introductory database design, I’d recommend getting yourself a good Access book, watching a training video, or taking a class.  But be ready for a significant investment of time (as well as some money).  But believe me, in the long haul, it’s worth the investment in your career! (And if writing doesn’t work out, Microsoft Access experience looks great on a résumé!)

Introducing the Relief Writers Database:

If you don’t have time to learn how to build databases, we have another solution.  During the past six months or so, I’ve actually been building a database designed specifically for writers, which we will be releasing at Calvin’s Festival of Faith and Writing .  This database (which runs on Windows XP -service pack 2 or Windows Vista) keeps track not only of where you send what, but also...

• Keeps a running total of how many times you’ve submitted to a journal
• Tracks the number of rejections, acceptances, etc.
• Creates mailing labels for your submissions
• Creates mailing labels for your SASE
• Keeps a log of any notes you’d like to keep about journals you’re reading
• And so much more!

If you are interested in this database and will be at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing , be sure to stop by our booth to take a test-drive.  If you bring your PC, I can even help you install the program too!  If this sounds intriguing, check out the Video Tour of the Relief Writers Database .  Not going to Calvin? Well, we’ll be offering it up for sale on our store soon, so stay tuned!
Click  to take the tour right here!

Related Articles: 

• Why Writers Need a Website, Part 1
  
• Why Writers Need Microsoft Word
  
• Ask a Question to Our Hunk-A-Burnin' Geek at Relief