In Praise of Duotrope

My writer friends have been singing the praises of Duotrope for over a year, but I resisted.  I wasn't sending enough work out to make it useful.  It was an unneeded expense ($5 a month), and I can't even remember what other excuses I made.

But as part of my impossible things year, I decided to send my work out more often.  My old index card system of tracking poems as I sent them out seemed a little outdated, so I looked at Duotrope again.  Then my friend Becky told me that when she got work back rejected, she immediately sent it out to two more places.  Rejected again? She sent it to three.

That sounded like a great idea, and a good reason to sign up for this list of over 5,000 markets for poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.  So, sign up I did.

And I'm so thankful.  It does make it easier to turn the work right around.  I have a list of favorite markets I'd like to send to, so when a poem that I'm sure is ready for printing gets rejected, I go to my favorites and send it out again, on the same day!

This morning I discovered an even better reason to love Duotrope.  On your home screen, it lists your average acceptance rate (don't know why I just noticed it today).  One rejection can send me reeling in self doubt, that's why the quick turnaround works for me.  But this is pretty sweet, too.  No way to let the negative bias take over when the statistics say this.

The $5 a month is money well spent.  Thanks Becky, thanks Lara and Debra, thanks Duotrope.

www.duotrope.com