The Duotrope Thread

Arch Stanton

New kid, be gentle!
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I've used Duotrope for quite some time, and I appreciate the work they've put into the site so I can enjoy it.

However, I have to turn away at the $50 fee. I'm onboard for a $20 yearly fee. True, it's only a $30 difference, but I think it's enough of a gap to make the site less useful statistically. I don't want to pay for a Duotrope with less users. The users are the site's fuel.

I'll miss Duotrope, but I'll get over it.
 

SmallThing

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I've yet to make sense of their assertions that fewer users make for better stats. I suppose, at a certain level, some writers reach a point where they always make it through the slush. If your stats are derived solely from that pool, then you could have an accurate picture of what life looks like for shortlisted stories.

But wouldn't that also skew the data toward writers at a pro or semi-pro level? Which would leave the lower tiers of markets with far fewer data points.

And they've efficiently taken away the ability for those who can afford more to help those who can't. It's one thing to donate when you feel your money keeps a service available to everyone. It's quite another to know that the only way to provide the service to another writer is to pony up $50 a year for them and them alone.

Add me to the list of people who would have done $20 or so, but won't be signing up at $50.
 

fihr

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Oo! Duotrope just stopped working - "service unavailable". A foretaste of things to come.

I immediately fantasised that it's some kind of revenge cyber-attack for their upcoming changes.

Now they are back.
 

alexshvartsman

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Oo! Duotrope just stopped working - "service unavailable". A foretaste of things to come.

I immediately fantasised that it's some kind of revenge cyber-attack for their upcoming changes.

Now they are back.

If so, the cyber-terrorists have been traveling back in time and taking down DT servers at least once a month, for as long as I've been using it :)
 

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…
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Oo! Duotrope just stopped working - "service unavailable". A foretaste of things to come.

I immediately fantasised that it's some kind of revenge cyber-attack for their upcoming changes.

Now they are back.

I see that about once a month. I think it happens while they update a new batch of info.
 

squeaky pram

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Hi all. This is an interesting thread. I'd been thinking I might try the month-by-month option and see how it goes, but now I'm not so sure, especially after reading the Missouri Review link. I'm still a bit on the fence, but y'all have given me a lot to think about.
 

kd1984

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I'm now leaning toward paying $5 for January just for curiosity's sake. I can be behind enemy lines and report back to you guys. ;)


I'm going to do the same thing. I always understood that the stats (while useful) didn't necessarily reflect the pool of EVERYONE submitting. I'm a creature of habit, unfortunately.
 

Gilroy Cullen

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I admit I use Duotrope more for the information of where to submit stuff (I've found more than the usual places by poking through their stacks of information) than I do for tracking submissions. I use the tracker as a redundant piece since I have an MS Access database tracking it at home.

I'm willing to do the $5/month, since I did that with the Writer's Digest Market listing for a while. Dropped WD Markets because it was a useless search to me. Now I have to pony up money for the "better" site.

*sigh*
 

Lyv

I meant to do that.
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I signed up for the month-by-month to see how it goes. I like the way I've organized my submissions on Excel, but still liked to use Duotrope for convenience (I also like NewPages a lot). I'll report back, too.
 

seaaircarol

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Count me in as another who will try the $5.00 option for now.

(Gilroy--I think our cats are twins)
 

squeaky pram

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Ok, I have to admit I caved today and signed on for the $5/month deal. Will let y'all know how it goes.
 

V1c

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I encourage everyone to support this Duotrope alternative on IndieGoGo:

http://www.indiegogo.com/submitomancy

Can you tell us why? Because that seems like saying to give our money to someone we don't know and a product we're unsure of because the one we do know is paid now.

I wonder how many people are going to try and get the money from those who feel fifty is too much, but are adrift because they hate excel.
 

J.W. Alden

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I'm not usually one to go plugging my blog outside of the blogging section of the forums, but I though some of you folks might be interested in my latest, considering the subject at hand:

10 Free Alternatives to Duotrope for SFF Writers

That's most of the sites I've compiled that cover Duotrope's main features for free. If any of you have any other suggestions to add to the list, I'd very much appreciate a comment. I added that IndieGoGo link as an aside, since it's not free but Duotrope exiles might still be interested.

And don't forget to back up your stats today, everyone! Last chance if you're not subscribing.
 

Manuel Royal

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I'll be interested to see how it works out for Duotrope. For the past couple of years, I'd been donating two bucks a month, and would have happily continued that. If they'd asked for $2/month or $20/year, I bet they would have kept most of their users, and handily made their nut.

ETA: Thanks, J.W.! I'll check out those sites.
 
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alexshvartsman

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Can you tell us why? Because that seems like saying to give our money to someone we don't know and a product we're unsure of because the one we do know is paid now.

I wonder how many people are going to try and get the money from those who feel fifty is too much, but are adrift because they hate excel.

Because competition is good for innovation. Because $20/year is a fair price to pay for this service, as opposed to $50. Because Submitomancy will provide a free option to those who can't afford to or simply don't want to pay for the service, whereas Duotrope won't any longer.

:)

I should clarify that I'm in no way involved with this project (other than having contributed money on IndieGoGo), but I do know Sylvia and trust her to do what she said she would with whatever money is raised.
 

V1c

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I asked because two other versions (different sites) showed up in my facebook feed the other day. Well, mentions that the person/people were getting ready to put them up for the new year. I wondered if you had any insight into that particular one. I think we'll see a rash of mirror sites soon. I'll see what settles.
 

alexshvartsman

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I asked because two other versions (different sites) showed up in my facebook feed the other day. Well, mentions that the person/people were getting ready to put them up for the new year. I wondered if you had any insight into that particular one. I think we'll see a rash of mirror sites soon. I'll see what settles.

Could you share those links? Assuming that's public information, of course.

I'm not surprised that there are multiple such projects being created. In fact, fragmentation could be the biggest issue since each of those sites will be only as useful as their data.
 

V1c

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As soon as they become all public like (if that happens) I'll post!
 

akaSylvia

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Can you tell us why? Because that seems like saying to give our money to someone we don't know and a product we're unsure of because the one we do know is paid now.

I wonder how many people are going to try and get the money from those who feel fifty is too much, but are adrift because they hate excel.

Hey! You *do* know me. I'm the one posting all the rejections on the other thread over there ---->



Seriously, I know there are a number of ideas for submission trackers popping up (and personally, I don't think any of them are scams, just looking to offer alternatives) so I do understand your point. I added as section to the original page to clarify who I am and why I can't just collect some cash and disappear.

For a submissions tracker to work, it has to have data. The reason I'm doing this as a campaign is so that I *don't* waste people's time and money if there aren't enough users to keep this project viable.

(Also, thank you Alex for posting the link)
 

V1c

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Hey! You *do* know me. I'm the one posting all the rejections on the other thread over there ---->

I wondered if it was someone he/I/'we' knew, guess I didn't phrase that clearly enough. HI! I hope it does work, I kinda miss duo for the ease, so so easy. Please fill my void.
 

Lady MacBeth

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I'm not usually one to go plugging my blog outside of the blogging section of the forums, but I though some of you folks might be interested in my latest, considering the subject at hand:

10 Free Alternatives to Duotrope for SFF Writers

That's most of the sites I've compiled that cover Duotrope's main features for free. If any of you have any other suggestions to add to the list, I'd very much appreciate a comment. I added that IndieGoGo link as an aside, since it's not free but Duotrope exiles might still be interested.

And don't forget to back up your stats today, everyone! Last chance if you're not subscribing.


Thanks for posting this!:)