I've had a story "In Progress" since August of 2020. Either my story has been lost or the readers are slow and indifferent. So, in some cases "In Progress" means never. I've contacted the magazine through Submittable many times and no reply. Pank.
Thanks Nathaniel for this essay. I was wondering if you or anyone who has been “on the other side” of submittable can shed some light on how likely it is for a submission to be misplaced or forgotten using the system?
If a journal doesn’t state a timeframe of how long it may take for them to respond or when you should query the editor, is 6 months about right? Thanks
As with any system, there is certainly the possibility of human error. For example, I could accidentally archive a submission without responding to it, but you wouldn't know it was archived on your end as the submitter. In that sense, a submission could easily be misplaced or forgotten. It really depends on how diligent the organization's process is. In my own experience, it rarely happened. I would estimate that we "forgot" or "misplaced" about 0.1% of submissions during the 8 years I ran my magazine.
Of course, that's my experience. Other magazines will be different. If they are less organized and don't actively archive old submissions, then it can get overwhelming inside Submittable, and that would certainly increase the likelihood of "losing" something.
I'll also say this - aside from the magazines that pride themselves on very fast response rate, most of them really don't care about whether you hear back from them or not. That may sound a little callous, but most magazines are run by unpaid staff who have a lot going on. So they don't really care if James has something sitting at "In Progress" for 9 months!
If the journal doesn't state a timeframe for response time, I would check their Duotrope stats to see average response time. If the average response time is reported as 2 months, I would reach out after 3 months to query the editor.
In a comment on an earlier Lit Mag News post I complained about an ezine that does not do rejections. If you hear from them, it's an acceptance. The ezine uses Submittable. What I found frustrating was that I would upload a document and the status would never change. I assumed that "Received" meant "Unread." I am this minute years old in learning that the work uploaded could be thoroughly read -- and never change status. So, according to Nathaniel Tower in this essay, the ezine could have read the entire submission. That makes me feel slightly better toward the ezine. It doesn't make me feel any better about Submittable.
Submittable could easily explain what their terms mean. Why don't they? It's hard for me to share the respect Nathaniel Tower holds for them when, as a writer, I don't see much value in what they do. As far as I can see, Submittable mainly makes it easy for publications to charge fees. I suppose that's a valuable service for the lit mag. I don't have to love it. But I do wish Submittable would be more transparent. Users shouldn't have to look for third party explainers to figure out what's going on behind the curtain.
Thanks for a great, informative article. I had pretty much figured as much, but didn't know for certain. I whole-heartedly agree with, "You'll know when you know," and have adopted this sentiment long ago. Unlike those always looking for the easiest way, I still keep a hard copy to track my submissions in addition to Submittable. One reason is that it takes care of the publications made through another venue like Moksha or a personalized source. The main reason I wanted to comment is that when I log in to Submittable and check on the submissions page, it is usually to make sure I haven't already submitted to a particular publisher. By keeping a hard copy, I ensure that my motives for taking some kind of action are to progress in my career and not to sit around waiting for something to happen. I use the Discovery portion of Submittable as much, or more, than the My Submissions section. Regarding not wanting to submit a piece to a publisher to whom I've already submitted that piece, it's one thing to have those negative feelings that a publisher might be getting sick and tired of seeing my name on a submission but it would be an even greater affront to see that I've submitted a piece that's already been rejected.
I just got into checking my status on Submittable never was into it and there I am keeping a link open and checking it numerous times a day. I confess to experiencing an uplifting from my In Progress icons! This is valuable info. Becky will not lead us astray, neither permit us any idle revelry.
That's a great question. To my knowledge, there is no database that shows the number of readers each magazine has (gives me an idea to try to create one!).
Here is what I would recommend you look at to determine how likely your work is to get actual readers:
- Their following on social media. Although likes and follows can certainly be vanity metrics, if an organization only has 5 social media followers, then there is a good chance their readership is non-existent.
- How much engagement they get on social media. Even if they have a lot of followers, if every post they put up on social has 1 like, then they probably don't have a lot of readership either.
- Use a tool like Similarweb to see how much estimated web traffic they get each month. Be careful with these estimates though - anything under 5k per month won't have much data available, and the data is not always accurate. If a site gets a LOT of traffic according to Similarweb, then you can be confident it has good readership. But just because it doesn't have much data in Similarweb doesn't mean it isn't popular.
- Check the Duotrope stats. Although these are reported by writers and not readers, there is often a decent amount of crossover. Venues that have lots of submitters are often more read than venues with very few submissions.
Those are a few things to check to get started. Hope that helps!
I've had a story "In Progress" since August of 2020. Either my story has been lost or the readers are slow and indifferent. So, in some cases "In Progress" means never. I've contacted the magazine through Submittable many times and no reply. Pank.
Ah, I've had that same issue with Pank, Gordon. Did you read this newsletter from June? I think there is something going on there.
https://litmagnews.substack.com/p/i-remember-you-well-in-the-lit-mag
Thanks for the insight and useful advice about compulsive checking, not that I would engage in same.
Good information but my
Most irritating one has to be the one where they accepted my piece for publication and left it sitting in received status now for months! Lol
Thanks Nathaniel for this essay. I was wondering if you or anyone who has been “on the other side” of submittable can shed some light on how likely it is for a submission to be misplaced or forgotten using the system?
If a journal doesn’t state a timeframe of how long it may take for them to respond or when you should query the editor, is 6 months about right? Thanks
As with any system, there is certainly the possibility of human error. For example, I could accidentally archive a submission without responding to it, but you wouldn't know it was archived on your end as the submitter. In that sense, a submission could easily be misplaced or forgotten. It really depends on how diligent the organization's process is. In my own experience, it rarely happened. I would estimate that we "forgot" or "misplaced" about 0.1% of submissions during the 8 years I ran my magazine.
Of course, that's my experience. Other magazines will be different. If they are less organized and don't actively archive old submissions, then it can get overwhelming inside Submittable, and that would certainly increase the likelihood of "losing" something.
I'll also say this - aside from the magazines that pride themselves on very fast response rate, most of them really don't care about whether you hear back from them or not. That may sound a little callous, but most magazines are run by unpaid staff who have a lot going on. So they don't really care if James has something sitting at "In Progress" for 9 months!
If the journal doesn't state a timeframe for response time, I would check their Duotrope stats to see average response time. If the average response time is reported as 2 months, I would reach out after 3 months to query the editor.
Thanks for the reply.
In a comment on an earlier Lit Mag News post I complained about an ezine that does not do rejections. If you hear from them, it's an acceptance. The ezine uses Submittable. What I found frustrating was that I would upload a document and the status would never change. I assumed that "Received" meant "Unread." I am this minute years old in learning that the work uploaded could be thoroughly read -- and never change status. So, according to Nathaniel Tower in this essay, the ezine could have read the entire submission. That makes me feel slightly better toward the ezine. It doesn't make me feel any better about Submittable.
Submittable could easily explain what their terms mean. Why don't they? It's hard for me to share the respect Nathaniel Tower holds for them when, as a writer, I don't see much value in what they do. As far as I can see, Submittable mainly makes it easy for publications to charge fees. I suppose that's a valuable service for the lit mag. I don't have to love it. But I do wish Submittable would be more transparent. Users shouldn't have to look for third party explainers to figure out what's going on behind the curtain.
You are absolutely right that Submittable could easily explain this on their site. Perhaps lit mags could also briefly cover this in their guidelines.
Thanks for a great, informative article. I had pretty much figured as much, but didn't know for certain. I whole-heartedly agree with, "You'll know when you know," and have adopted this sentiment long ago. Unlike those always looking for the easiest way, I still keep a hard copy to track my submissions in addition to Submittable. One reason is that it takes care of the publications made through another venue like Moksha or a personalized source. The main reason I wanted to comment is that when I log in to Submittable and check on the submissions page, it is usually to make sure I haven't already submitted to a particular publisher. By keeping a hard copy, I ensure that my motives for taking some kind of action are to progress in my career and not to sit around waiting for something to happen. I use the Discovery portion of Submittable as much, or more, than the My Submissions section. Regarding not wanting to submit a piece to a publisher to whom I've already submitted that piece, it's one thing to have those negative feelings that a publisher might be getting sick and tired of seeing my name on a submission but it would be an even greater affront to see that I've submitted a piece that's already been rejected.
I just got into checking my status on Submittable never was into it and there I am keeping a link open and checking it numerous times a day. I confess to experiencing an uplifting from my In Progress icons! This is valuable info. Becky will not lead us astray, neither permit us any idle revelry.
This is by far the best article that I've read from your newsletter.
Such a good piece. It made me laugh. There really is no point obsessing about submissions and exactly where they're at.
You nailed it. Que sera sera.
We need more of the view from the receivers/publishers side of the submissions divide.
The "Final Word" section of this post was brilliant & helpful!
That's a great question. To my knowledge, there is no database that shows the number of readers each magazine has (gives me an idea to try to create one!).
Here is what I would recommend you look at to determine how likely your work is to get actual readers:
- Their following on social media. Although likes and follows can certainly be vanity metrics, if an organization only has 5 social media followers, then there is a good chance their readership is non-existent.
- How much engagement they get on social media. Even if they have a lot of followers, if every post they put up on social has 1 like, then they probably don't have a lot of readership either.
- Use a tool like Similarweb to see how much estimated web traffic they get each month. Be careful with these estimates though - anything under 5k per month won't have much data available, and the data is not always accurate. If a site gets a LOT of traffic according to Similarweb, then you can be confident it has good readership. But just because it doesn't have much data in Similarweb doesn't mean it isn't popular.
Here's an example scan from Similarweb - https://www.similarweb.com/website/duotrope.com/#overview
- Check the Duotrope stats. Although these are reported by writers and not readers, there is often a decent amount of crossover. Venues that have lots of submitters are often more read than venues with very few submissions.
Those are a few things to check to get started. Hope that helps!