 Short Stories: January 22, 2014 Issue [#6116] |
  Short Stories
This week: You Sent the Story Where? Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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An Elf (written) Short Story Newsletter
If entering a contest, or submitting a story, it helps to keep track of stories and locations. This newsletter explores a few options in keeping track of submissions. |
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Short stories are great. They are fun to write but after writing, rewriting and editing, what do you do with a story? There are a few options that are great. One thing to do is submit the story to contests. This is a great on site option for short stories in particular. There are many different contests available with different rules and prompts. Offsite, an option is to submit to publications. There are some available pending genre so one must do research in order to find where to submit. But I won't be talking about which contest, or which publisher to send these stories. That is for another newsletter. Today I am going to talk about keeping track of said submissions.
I run a short story contest. It's fun and it's great. However, I end up getting disappointed during some rounds because a story vanishes. I understand having limited space in ones portfolio. However, it's sad that a story I skimmed and looked forward to read, one to consider possibly giving a prize to, just vanishes because the person forgot they had the story entered somewhere. So, this is my suggestion: Please keep track of where you submit your stories. Whether you submit for a contest on WDC or submit to a publisher, keep track of what you have written and where you send it. Trust me, it will help. Here are a few options:
1. Notepad
This is the simplest approach. Have a note somewhere that states which story is submitted where. If you have a mac there is a sticky program that is like little sticky notes and it saves the notes written, plus you can color code. Or even just a regular doc file of any type, pending computer personal preference, will do fine. Basic information is the story title, when submitted somewhere, location of submission (contest, magazine) etc. If you want you can also add responses when they happen but it's not always necessary.
2. Spreadsheets
I like excel programs. There is also an option for ones you can get online in google. I'm keeping track of daily word counts on an online spreadsheet, which is very convenient. But for submitting short fiction, I have an excel file. In it I have the story titles, where submitted, when sent, when response received and what response I get. I haven't done this with contests on WDC yet, but it's an option.
3. WDC - item description
This is why I like when someone puts in their entry that it's for the contest. While it doesn't help get a reader who isn't the judge or a competitor to read the item, it does aid in other ways. Write in the description which contest the story is entered in can even help you. When you are about to delete a story, look over it and if it has a contest in the description, go and make sure the round has ended and winners were announced before deleting. That will save from cutting your own chance at winning a contest.
4. Elsewhere - submissions
There are online trackers for queries and fiction in general. These are great in particular for some genres like speculative fiction but there are many places listed within the trackers and it's a great, easy way to keep track. The two main ones are Duotrope and The Grinder. Duotrope used to be the big name and probably still is but I don't have use of it at this time because a while ago they went from free to a payed service. So, it takes a little money in order to use the site. On the other hand, now there is The Grinder, which has a publisher database and a way to keep track where you submit if the place you sent is within their database. I'm using it and it's useful for non-wdc submissions.
But please, as a contest owner and someone working on submitting more for 2014, start to keep track of where a story gets entered/submitted. I don't want to be sad again because someone ruined their stories chance by accidental deletion as they forgot they had entered it somewhere. It's good to keep track. I will too. 
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Stories entered in contests.
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The Contests
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The question I have from this newsletter is simple: Do you keep track of where you enter stories? How do you keep track?
My last Short Story newsletter was back in beginning of September. I discussed setting goals and writing the story. I only got one comment for that newsletter but it's great.
From: Catherine Hall 
Thanks for sharing this goal idea, Dawn. Your newsletter reminded me that, when my kids were babies and kept changing my plans, I used to list what I wanted to do and check each item when I completed it. No deadlines so no time-pressure. I'm going to do it again. Thanks.
- Thank you for the nice comment. Coming from a fellow NaNoWriMo Pluser (though that's the first time I've referenced my own group that way, lol), it is great to see a comment on the subject of goals. I like lists too. I have a list of the stories I'm going to work on next and ones I want to submit. Yay!
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