[Submission service] Scribble Vault

Basically, I pay...

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I don't know. I can't past those three words without running, not walking, away from 'em.

Now that I think about it, it may not be a con-game after all. They may honestly think they are offering a service, and don't realize they are possibly just monetizing rejection slips.

Submissions are annoying to research and keep track of, I'll grant. But they are part of doing the damn work.* I'd make a guess and say that writers who jump onto this service 'to save time' may not be ready to be published anyway (a variation of Filigree's Rule.) I'm not that reassured by looking at the supposed testimonials on the site.

* The reason for doing your own work is figuring out who the top-tier markets are for each story, and submitting to those in a descending scale of importance. Sometimes holding on to a story is better than giving it to an unsatisfactory market. Is Shah's company really dedicated to knowing those permutations in every single market?

ETA, from their own web copy about this same issue: 'We constantly researching and updating our database, so you don't have to!'

I would not trust anyone writing this to write my cover letter for a short story submission.

Violates Yog's Law.

Aggy B. said:

Received an email from Biren Shah touting this new service - ScribbleVault.com. Basically, I pay someone else to submit my short stories.

There's a per-month fee - $5, $20 or $50 - based on the number of stories you have ready for submission and an additional per-story fee for every submission - $3 for electronic subs and $6 for print subs. ETA: Sorry, read that wrong. Aside from the "Basic" package they include a certain number of electronic subs free. And the "Ultimate" package also includes the first 5 print subs free.

I'm really not sure what the advantage is supposed to be. Thoughts?

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I know of not a single publisher that would deal with a 'subscription service' like this. They all deal directly with the author or, at the pro level, the author's agent, not services like this.

Totally not worth the fees, especially when payment for shorts in the smaller markets doesn't equal the fees they charge.

Unfortunately, someone will/has used them because of a lack of understanding how commercial/trade publishing works...