Submittable: Friend or Foe of Contributors

There's been a lot of recent discourse in the writing community about Submittable. I'm not going to get involved in the drama. But I am going to explain a bit about Submittable…

For those who may be new to the submission process, Submittable is a software company designed to help publishers streamline the submission process. There are other similar programs like Duosuma, but Submittable seems to be the most commonly used.

You'll often hear writers complain about Submittable, mostly how long it takes to hear responses from lit mags that use it.

Personally speaking, as a writer, I steer completely clear of any lit mag using Duosuma - it is not user friendly and is, frankly, a pain in the you-know-what to use and isn't worth the frustration. But I also avoid lit mags that use Submittable. A majority of magazines using Submittable charge a submission fee, and even the ones who don't, it's true - it seems like you never receive a reply. Plus, I don't want to deal with the hassle of having to log in, answer questions, etc. I just want to attach my story/poem and a bio and move on.

It's a lot of the larger, more established publishers that seem to use Submittable - think the Chestnut Review. Magazines that receive hundreds, even thousands, of subs per reading period. But many smaller magazines use it, too.

But Submittable is not free. They charge publications. I believe they have subscription packages that can be more cost efficient but, put simply, they charge editors .99 per submission, plus 5% of the total transaction.

But check this out - for every $3 sub fee, the lit mag KEEPS $1.86!!

$3 - 5% = $2.85 - .99 = $1.86

That's $186 per every 100 subs. Put into perspective - Micromance Magazine has received nearly 250 submissions this year .... If I used Submittable and charged a minimum of $3 per submission, that'd be $750... Break that down...

$750 - 5% = $712.50 - $247.50 (which is .99 x 250) = $465

That may not be a fortune, but that would pay my rent for a month and half... Or buy a month's worth of groceries... Or fill my gas tank 6 or 7 times... It's an extra paycheck every 2 or 3 months....

So think about lit mags that charge fees (some more than $3) and receive upwards of 500 submissions per reading period, and more (avg every 3 months). Again, no one is making a living off of that, but it's still a nice chunk of change.

And YOU, the writers, not only provided them with a profit of $1.86 each, but you also paid their Submittable bill. A bill they CHOSE to create for themselves.

Of course, most EICs would say that $1.86 isn't profit. "Oh, but we need to charge to help fund the magazine," they lament. *shakes head* Every cost an editor has - web hosting, domain names, honorariums, book printing, etc - are ALL costs they CHOSE to have. And they want YOU to pay for it. That's not cool.

I don't have a penny in Micromance - just time. It is basically free to run a lit mag, even a successful one. Many lit mag elitists, EICs who spend money to make money, don't agree with me (that's another topic for another article), but I’m proof!!

To sum things up, my opinion is, save your money and save your sanity and steer clear of lit mags that use submission managers. Most writers hate using them, and if editors cared, they wouldn't choose to use a paid service they can't afford that makes contributors unhappy and then, often times, charge those contributors for the “pleasure,” getting them to cover the cost of a service nobody wants. Lit mags are here for the writers, not the other way around… submissions managers may work for super large mags like Chestnut Review… but for a small outfit like Micromance (and most lit mags out there), in my opinion, it's not a good fit…for the magazine or its contributors…

Oh! And a quick graphics update… I've begun using Canva… but still have access to the free version of Flyer Maker… and, regarding Flyer Maker and how they wouldn't allow me access to Pro version even though I had a paid subscription, I filed a dispute with Pay Pal and won!! My whole payment refunded!! So justice was served! 😁 Now I can get back to designing and formatting our books!

Have a great weekend,

Gail Lynn, EIC 🥰