Startup Idea: Software for Managing Writing Submissions

Startup idea to develop software that helps writers, poets, and their managers track, log and manage their work submissions to journals, magazines, contests, and presses. The solution should also provide features like withdrawal of standing submissions, statistics tracking, and managing expenses and earnings from submissions.

I currently manage the submissions and publication process for an emerging poet, a process which can be quite time consuming and inefficient. Through discussion with many others who do the same, it is clear that there is an opening in the market for software that can keep track of submissions to journals, magazines, contests, and presses, while also maintaining a log of fees and income that has been generated from successful submissions. Many writers at this level do not have a way of easily logging and reviewing the money they have spent and earned on submissions, and are often left in the dark as to whether fees are ultimately "worth it". Once a poem or book has been accepted, it is also necessary to withdraw standing submissions--if the software could track all poems and the places to which they have been submitted, the process would be much faster and therefore allow for the writer to focus more on gaining entry into paid markets. Existing "solutions" like Duotrope and Submittable are functionally limited but do prove that writers and agents are willing to pay for features that make the process easier and ultimately more profitable.

The ability to also pull monthly and annual statistics such as percentage of submissions accepted, number of times a given work is submitted before acceptance, and the like would be helpful in choosing markets and tracking one's growth as a writer.