Managing Your Manuscript

Submission History

When you submit a manuscript for the first time, you should create a file in its manuscript folder to track its submission history. I use a plain-text file, but you can use whatever file format you want. Name this file SubmittedTo, SubmissionHistory, History, or something else that will immediately identify it to you as the file you are using to track the manuscript's submission history. Whatever you name it, you should use the same name for all of your manuscripts. This consistency will make it even easier to locate it.

In the file, you'll want to record the following information:

• Market Name
• Date you submitted the manuscript
• Date you received a reply
• Whether it was accepted or rejected
• If accepted, when it will be/was published

There's no need to include the name of the manuscript because this file is inside the manuscript folder. You will want to include the response date mostly so you can get a feeling for how long it takes for a market to get back to you. If a market claims to have a two-month response time and it routinely takes six months to get back to you, you might want to consider finding another market.

In a plain-text file, your submission record might look like this:

Bob's Magazine --- Feb 10, 2004 --- Apr 05, 2004 --- Rejected

Wonderful E-Zine --- Apr 10, 2004 --- Jun 23, 2004 --- Rejected

Hokum Home --- Jul 01, 2004 --- Aug 05, 2004 --- Accepted (pub: Sep 2004)

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