The Duotrope Thread

I now totally have the Portal 2 turret voice in my head: hey, it's me!

http://youtu.be/X7BOPy-taGM

I hope it works out too! Actually, trying to do W1S1 on a weekly basis really influenced my ideas on how an efficient tracking system would work. If you are interested, you can see a step-by-step version of the process which Alex has posted on his blog but from a W1S1 point of view, it came down to wanting stats for my short stories as well as super-efficient submitting.

I think I just found a mistake in statistics on Duotrope. I have a sub recorded to Skirt Magazine which has been out for 19 days. However, the "pending responses" line for Skirt says that there are two subs out, with a minimum of 34 days and maximum of 65. ??? That can't be right. I've never noticed anything like that before.

Lady MacBeth said:

Thanks for posting this!

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No problem!

So for those of us who haven't paid for a subscription, is there *anything* available? I'm curious to see what "limited" means.

seaaircarol said:

I think I just found a mistake in statistics on Duotrope. I have a sub recorded to Skirt Magazine which has been out for 19 days. However, the "pending responses" line for Skirt says that there are two subs out, with a minimum of 34 days and maximum of 65. ??? That can't be right. I've never noticed anything like that before.

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If DT's algorithms feel that you are an outlier (aka your responses are sufficiently different from the averages) it won't count your subs toward its statistical purposes.

A couple of pro sales to markets with very low acceptance #s can do that, for instance.

That's interesting, Alex. I wasn't aware of that. However, I recently received an acceptance (not from a pro market) and in Duotrope's list of latest acceptances I wasn't called an outlier. So I'm not sure if that's what is happening.

Kweei said:

So for those of us who haven't paid for a subscription, is there *anything* available? I'm curious to see what "limited" means.

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I think by "limited" they mean "shit-all". I didn't click through every link but you can't do a market search, browse the market listings, record submissions or make a list of your pieces.

Perhaps they think that being able to see what functions are available to subscribers ("If you subscribe you can browse the market listings!") is a function all it's own.

Aggy, would tend to disagree

Aggy B. said:

I think by "limited" they mean "shit-all". I didn't click through every link but you can't do a market search, browse the market listings, record submissions or make a list of your pieces.

Perhaps they think that being able to see what functions are available to subscribers ("If you subscribe you can browse the market listings!") is a function all it's own.

Aggy, would tend to disagree

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This. Plus, for your viewing pleasure they have about a dozen different screens all urging you to pay $50. Aren't they generous? I was hoping to at least be able to search markets but alas, those dreams are dead and buried.

I'm not exactly sure how they expect to get new users if the site has no functionality for non subscribers whatsoever. Are they expecting everyone to rave about it so much that people will want to plop down money sight unseen to use their website?

I have found Laura Hird's website useful. She gives a description of each magazine and the link.

http://www.laurahird.com/litmagcentral.html

Taylor V said:

I'm not exactly sure how they expect to get new users if the site has no functionality for non subscribers whatsoever. Are they expecting everyone to rave about it so much that people will want to plop down money sight unseen to use their website?

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This is something I was wondering about too. It seems like they're drawing from a limited pool (the people who were using DT before the subscription method kicked in).

Niccolo said:

This. Plus, for your viewing pleasure they have about a dozen different screens all urging you to pay $50. Aren't they generous? I was hoping to at least be able to search markets but alas, those dreams are dead and buried.

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^that. I waffled, thought, hey, maybe there's some new features for the subscription. I went in there to poke around, try and decide if it was worth at least trying the $5 and saw zip-zilch-zero-nada. So, meh. I'm addicted and I don't want it with what I see. How are newbies going to want to sign up?

I'm just not on the Duotrope-despair bandwagon yet. It's so darn convenient for me, and as far as I'm concerned their stats will be good enough for at least the rest of this year. Wish it was a little less pricey, but not enough not to pay my 50.00 up front.

I could just be a sucker, but I use basically all of their features.

Even though I'm worried about the value of the stats decreasing as time passes and the smaller pool of subscribers starts to have an effect, I worry more that the free services popping up will each take a small percentage of the Duotrope exodus instead of the bulk...so that they'll be even worse.

Only time will tell. For now, I'm glad I've got my market research tool.

W.L. Marks said:

I'm just not on the Duotrope-despair bandwagon yet. It's so darn convenient for me, and as far as I'm concerned their stats will be good enough for at least the rest of this year. Wish it was a little less pricey, but not enough not to pay my 50.00 up front.

I could just be a sucker, but I use basically all of their features.

Even though I'm worried about the value of the stats decreasing as time passes and the smaller pool of subscribers starts to have an effect, I worry more that the free services popping up will each take a small percentage of the Duotrope exodus instead of the bulk...so that they'll be even worse.

Only time will tell. For now, I'm glad I've got my market research tool.

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In addition to the new sub-tracking sites, I imagine someone will come up with a platform (like the ones built to post content to Twitter, Facebook and Google+ without having to do each one individually) that will allow content to be sent/entered into however many sites there are. That way, no matter who is using which platform everyone sees the "whole pie" stat-wise.

Aggy, knows that sounds easier than it probably is

Well I'm paying my $5 for now, for immediate convenience, but am watching to see if the stats change, and I can stop at any time. I agree that DT might have a wish to shut down, or maybe someone there just got fed up with working on this thing and making no money. There's no way I'd pay a $50 lump sum to something that might vanish before the end of the new year.

At the same time, I'm supporting akaSylvia's venture because I think the price is reasonable and I like that it offers a free service too, plus some nice new features.

Izz said:

Seriously, i don't think they want new users. I think they want to shut down. And i think they want to be able to shut down while saying, "Youse horrible writer leeches didn't support us. We tried to soldier on heroically but we couldn't. We were so under-appreciated."

At least, my cynical mind likes that scenario

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That was what I thought at first too, but reading their "state of the stats" update, it really sounds to me like they felt 90% of their users were dead-weight, unreliable reporters and they wanted to get rid of them anyway. So now I'm thinking they intentionally set the fee at a rate that casual users wouldn't think of paying. Of course, if I'm right, that would be a rude slap in the face to the people who have provided their data source in general and especially to the many excellent writers and dedicated reporters who boycotted the new subscription fee, which they seem to not be acknowledging.
That said, I really hate change. I've made recent subs and had some good sales that I wouldn't have found without them, so I have ponied up for the $5/mo for now.

It seems the reported times on Duotrope are already getting pretty wonky. I suppose it's inevitable - people reported submissions and then abandoned Duotrope when they heard about the fee, or now are shut out and can't update. I guess we'll be seeing some reaaally long reported waits.

I thought "limited access" meant you get the privilege of staying subscribed to their newsletter and that's about all.

The Submissions Grinder, a new (and free) alternative to Duotrope helmed by Diabolical Plots has begun collecting data points and market listings. You can import your Duotrope data in one fell swoop using the .csv file that Duo's tracker exports. Still looks a little rough around the edges, but they seem to have big plans for it as it takes shape.

January subscriber thoughts: All those subs left dangling in the ether unreported by those who aren't paying $5 this month and the next couple...it seems as though those submissions might never be removed, because Duotrope has said that anyone can decide to subscribe later and regain access to their submission tracker. It makes me feel that the stats have been doubly tainted now and makes me more wary of continuing into February.

zanzjan said:

Actually I'd be pretty happy about that. The newsletter was helpful.

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I didn't get the newsletter last week and I hadn't changed any of my options on Duotrope (I just stopped reporting but didn't withdraw my data or anything) so I think that "newsletter" is another feature only available to subscribers. Unless they didn't send one out last week, but I find that unlikely.

I didn't get the newsletter last week and I hadn't changed any of my options on Duotrope (I just stopped reporting but didn't withdraw my data or anything) so I think that "newsletter" is another feature only available to subscribers. Unless they didn't send one out last week, but I find that unlikely.

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Yep, I got a newsletter yesterday (I subscribe at the $5/month level)

Aggy B. said:

I didn't get the newsletter last week and I hadn't changed any of my options on Duotrope (I just stopped reporting but didn't withdraw my data or anything) so I think that "newsletter" is another feature only available to subscribers. Unless they didn't send one out last week, but I find that unlikely.

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I think people who haven't subscribed are supposed to get a new monthly version of the newsletter instead of the weekly one the subscribers get.

I forgot to check and see if that started in December or not >_<