Software Review: Duotrope

If you have unpublished short fiction, non fiction, or poetry, Duotrope is a great tool to help you find a publisher for it.

What is Duotrope?

Duotrope is a web-based subscription service that provides a global database of current publishers and agents. It also includes a calendar of upcoming deadlines and a submission tracker.

Duotrope provides submission statistics for each publisher or agent listed in their system. These statistics are super useful when you’re trying to be strategic about who you want to submit your work to.

How Does Duotrope Work?

When I had little to submit, I often used their Theme and Deadline Calendar page as a writing prompt. Here’s a screenshot of the filtering interface and first two listings; on the site, you’d see all 173 listings. The titles are hyperlinks to their listing in Duotrope which provides more information on the publisher, like how quickly they respond and if or how much they pay.

For specifics on what the publisher is looking for, submission guidelines, and restrictions, you’d next follow the link provided by Duotrope to the project or publication’s website.

Once you have short fiction, poetry, or non-fiction to submit, you add them to your list of “pieces”. Here’s a screenshot of mine. I only add pieces when I feel they’re ready to submit, but I could put all of them here to keep track of everything I’ve written.

The list provides information on type (fiction/non fiction), kind (genre), length (short story, flash, essay, etc.). Something I like about this view is it quickly identifies which pieces has been accepted  for publication (black star). This is important so you don’t accidentally send a previously-published piece to a market that requires first English rights.

Here’s a series of brief videos showing the interface.

Does It Work?

Yes! Not only is the site as simple to use as the videos show, the team behind Duotrope actively keeps the listings up to date.

I’ve used Duotrope to find homes for all of the pieces I’ve had published, except for 2.

Duotrope is also behind Duosuma, their submission platform. You do need an account to submit through Duosuma, but not a paid account.

What I Like

The software keeps my writing pieces and submissions organized. I like that I can sort and filter on type of writing, word count, and genre. I also like that I can filter on submission statistics, and if the market pays.

The cost for a subscription is reasonable too; at the time of this post, it is $5/month or $50/year. They also provide a 10-day free trial.

Duotrope also sends out a weekly newsletter to their subscribers. Per their guidelines I can’t screenshot it, but it’s a great enhancement to their site. Here’s a list of the headings:

• New Listings (paying and non-paying listings added, literary agents added)
• Market News (publications and agents recently opened or closed to submissions, publishers with major status changes)
• Upcoming Themed Deadlines
• Open Submissions on Duosuma
• Sponsored Contests
• Recent Acceptances (as reported by members, not required)

Even when I’m not actively submitting my short fiction and non-fiction, I like getting the newsletters. It keeps it top of mind, so I don’t forget about it! It’s also exciting to see your name listed under the Recent Acceptances section.

I also like that Duotrope can provide you with submission statistics for a single year, or to compare two time periods.

What Could be Better

While the user interface is simple, it takes a little time to learn how to navigate it.

The site offers a ton of functionality, but like a lot of systems, it can get overwhelming. So unless you dig around to see what else they offer, you may only use a tiny bit of what’s available.

The links from publisher listings to their websites are great, but they generally deliver you to the home page. Be prepared to poke around a bit to find the site’s submission page.

Last, the publisher listings on Duotrope don’t always include restrictions. Restrictions can include hard word counts or topics/content. I’ve also seen geographic restrictions, age and gender restrictions, and membership restrictions.

So even if you think your piece will fit a specific publisher’s style and tone, you still have to dig into their submissions page to find out if they are limiting an issue to a specific group of writers.

Final Thoughts on Duotrope

Duotrope offers a lot of horsepower, much of which was wasted on me when I was a fledgling writer. But, with continued use, I’ve realized how much more I could have gotten out of it, even as a new writer.

It’s a fantastic tool.

I love that it keeps my submissions organized, and can provide me with submission statistics.

Like any site, you get what you put into it. For example, I’ve never submitted any of my poetry or art for consideration. Plus, as my stats show, if you’re not actively submitting pieces of writing, you won’t have much luck with getting your pieces published.

How do you find markets to accept your short fiction, nonfiction, or poetry?

Header Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash