By default, the Writer’s Database offers some pretty simple choices for the status of your submissions:

  • Pending
  • Sold
  • Rejected
  • Withdrawn by author

For some writers, those may be inadequate. I’ve often (too often) used “Withdrawn by author” when the truth was more along the lines of “Market went out of business.”

Those of you submitting novels to agents may need submission status choices such as “Initial Query” and “Agent Requested More.”

Some writers like to keep track of “Rejected with Kind Handwritten Note” separately from form rejections. They count this as slightly more of a win.

Now, WritersDB supports all of the above, and more. You can define your own custom choices for Submission Status. Give them whatever names you please, and tell the system how to treat them: whether as Pending, Closed/Success, or Closed/Failure.

You can access this feature by clicking the “Record a Reply” link for any of your pending submissions, then choosing the last menu item under Submission Status: “”Customize submission status choices.” Also note that the Advanced Search feature on your list of submissions allows you to search any of the custom status choices you create.

Access the "Custom Submission Status" feature