So how do you keep track of the dozens of #agents or #publishers you submit to? Each one has a different timeline for responding (rejecting) your #submission. Well...(deep inhale) I thought with my proficiency in software I would just do up a spreadsheet. Easy peasy.
What. Went. Wrong.
What I lovingly refer to as the three W's. I spent and ungodly amount of time (hours to be exact) inputting all the different agents, their contact info, what their submission guidelines were, what genres they represented, blah, blah, blah. By the end of it I was ready to pull my hair out and scrap the whole thing. Because in the end, my spreadsheet wasn’t going to tell me what each individual agent or publisher’s standard timeline was or how many other submission they’ve received before mine, or even the personalized query letter I did up for each one. That would require me going into my mail and looking up each email I sent. But if I submitted through their website I was S.O.L.
My Eureka Moment.
At this point I am banging my head against my desk and thinking I need wine.
Until I found... Query Tracker! If Query Tracker were a person I would offer to have its babies. An empty promise since it’s medically impossible now, but it’s the thought that counts. Right? Anyway, I digress.
Query Tracker has been a great source for me in not only finding agents and publishers in my genre but helping me to keep track of who I've sent to and when. I get to copy and paste my query letter into each of their profiles (seen only by me), see how many submissions there are before mine, and what her (I say her because I’m submitting romance which are predominately female agents) average response time is. And the beauty is, I didn’t have to spend hours inputting all their contact info because it’s already there! Brilliant! I only wish I’d found it several days and several hunks of yanked out hair ago.
Hope my pain and suffering helps you.
I hope this post catches those of you before you dip your toes in the deep abyss of the submission process, and I can save you from going bald.
Good luck with your #writing journey. It will be a long and arduous one full of ups (hitting the send button), and downs (getting the rejections after you were sure the agent was a perfect fit for you). Just keep at it. Fulfillment is almost always achieved by perseverance and hard work. Or so I’ve heard.