Keep a submission record you can maintain

Keep only fields you will maintain

A submission tracker can be a spreadsheet, a table in a document or a notebook. Its value comes from accuracy, not complexity. Record the recipient, organisation, date sent, project and version, materials supplied and current status. Include the official submission link so you can recover the relevant instructions without searching again.

Keep response expectations in the recipient's own terms. If a website says that no response after a stated period should be treated as a decline, record that policy with the date you checked it. Do not turn silence into a personalised judgement or assume that all recipients use the same schedule.

Store the sent query and attachments in a folder associated with the entry. A filename or link in the tracker is enough; copying an entire manuscript into a spreadsheet is not. The aim is to reconstruct the package if someone asks about it later.

Give the next action a clear meaning

Use statuses that describe events: sent, acknowledgement received, partial requested, full requested, declined, withdrawn or closed under the stated policy. Avoid ambiguous labels such as “pending?” when you can record what is actually known. A next-action date should mean something specific, such as checking whether the published response period has passed.

When a response arrives, record its date and any action required. Keep significant wording in the saved message rather than paraphrasing contractual or exclusive terms loosely. If the request mentions a deadline, enter it separately so it does not disappear inside notes.

Update the tracker immediately after sending or replying. Memory becomes unreliable when several similar packages are in circulation. A two-minute update is easier than reconstructing a month's correspondence.

Let the record stay modest

The tracker does not need a score for every agent or a prediction of success. Such fields can encourage speculation while making routine maintenance harder. Add a field only when it answers a recurring question you actually face.

Before each new submission, check for previous contact, agency restrictions and the correct file version. That small habit prevents duplicate approaches and contradictory messages. A reliable record should make the administrative work quieter, leaving more attention for the writing and the decisions that require it.