Submittable Reviews

Their customer service department is outstanding. Their innovation team seems to be open to feedback from those of us who use the software. I will say, Submittable gives us virtual space to complete our work from all over the world. This keeps our organization and our entire field growing, and our talented team together.

No cons were added to this review

Making the decision to shift our application process to online, I was concerned that it would meet the needs of the artists and writers applying and also ease transition for a middle to senior aged office team with varying degrees of electronic saavy. Needless to say we continue to remark on an almost daily basis how we LOVE Submittable. Ease of use was foremost and the Submittable staff are always...

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Do I miss having USPS delivering stacks of applications for weeks on end around deadlines, when apps just pop up on the list in Submittable? Do I miss the file prep for each application as materials dribbled in little by little and were sometimes incomplete even after the deadline due to weather etc. when that is all tracked by the software? Do I miss handling over and over sections of the application...

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You never lose anything because it saves it for you as a PDF. A full history of everything you have submitted and whether it is processing or whether its been accepted or declined.

Limited functionality. I can't really use it for anything personal. Only when I'm submitting work and the publisher/competition prefers this method. It would be cool if I could save workable, InDesign or Word copies for my own use. If I have to download a PDF then I have to use another software to make the text editable which is always a hassle.

Submittable is easy to use and intuitive. With drag-and-drop options, creating an application takes minutes. Logic branching also helps when you want to gather more info based on an applicant's response. The file upload features are also very helpful. Once your application is live, you can track and label applications as they come in. This is helpful since a quick perusal of an application can determine...

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Recommendation letter request emails don't get sent out until AFTER the applicant submit their application. This is fine in most cases but you do have to offer a small grace period to recommenders. It would be great if applicants can enter a recommender and hit a button "Request Letter." The forms can also become rather long if you have a lot of questions. It could affect completion rates. Finally, just as you are able to remind reference letter writers through the portal, it would be great to be able to remind those with incomplete application about the upcoming deadline. Right now, you can request a list of incomplete applications but you only get name and email addresses. It would be good to see some of the data that the applicants have completed so far.

What we like most about Submittable is that it allows us to manage submissions more efficiently. I'm not a fan of documents and tasks "living in email." Having a robust product like Submittable saves us time in reading and replying, as well as offering a way to capture and analyze submission data. I cannot imagine handling hundreds of submissions at a time via email, especially with a large reading panel. The built-in tools, such as sorting, labels, varying permission levels, templates, etc. allow us to customize it for our needs. I should add that any time we had a question, customer service responded right away, sometimes within minutes. Even over holidays. What did we do before Submittable? Seriously! What. Did. We. Do?

There aren't any major cons with Submittable. I'd love some more robust reporting and sorting features and maybe custom permission levels, as there are a few things I'd like to do, but cannot. For example, I'd love to see team member data by specific category, not just by a duration of time. But these are more feature ideas, nothing that I'd consider negative about the existing product. If I had to say one thing, since our reading panel (the ones who use the software) has a varying level of comfort with tech tools that maybe some of the icons could be more intuitive.

I am able to manage my submissions quite easily with Submittable. It has many sorting options, and several tools to make reading a large amount of work manageable. Working collaboratively with other editors is possible and efficient because of the filtering functions (such as the use of labels, storing submissions, ordering them by date, alphabetically, etc.) and team management tools (such as the assigning of certain tasks to certain individuals, easy messaging, dissemination of work, etc.) I like the basic look/visuals of Submittable, as it is relatively intuitive to use. Furthermore, when I encountered troubles or had questions, I was given friendly and quick help over the telephone, as well as through their chatlines. Editing our site is also very easy.

I don't like that some services are offered to certain levels of subscriptions and not to others. I'd rather have a good, fair price for the use of Submittable's full functions. It's not always clear to me what I have in my subscription, even though not too hard to check, I suppose. Also, to "test" how forms will look to submitters seems a little complicated, but not too bad once going through it. I feel a little "blind" when sending out ACCEPT/DECLINE. Not sure what the solution is, however, and really does not present any real trouble for me.

It works VERY well for receiving, tracking, reviewing literary submissions. So organized. Helps our statewide editorial team stay connected for working and communicating. Tutorial and articles are helpful tools when setting this up.

"Up ad running in 15 minutes"? Not likely. Big down side, is that it is EXPENSIVE for non profits, despite the discount. Monthly plans ding you bigtime for signer and submission allotments. We use Premium plan, the next step up is a GIANT leap up in price but also benefits. But we cannot afford that. I would like to see a product for bonafide all-volunteer non-profits with small budgets. Arts organziations are struggling these days.

As a freelance writer, I use Submittable on a weekly (and sometimes daily) basis, and I am so grateful that it's become so common in publishing circles. Its ease of use sure beats licking stamps and endless trips to the printer, and I love that I can track all my submissions in one place.

The one caveat I have about Submittable is that, unlike some of its predecessors, it does not provide a place for applicants to enter an alternate name, as in a nom de plume. I use a pen name myself, and the absence of this feature has caused me some trouble. (I was once awarded a prize and the site listed my legal name instead of my nom de plume--which was fixable, but also avoidable.)

Relative to other grant management software solutions we looked at Submittable was the most modern and professional in terms of look/feel and the easiest to use both from an administrator perspective and grantee perspective. Plus, Submittable was by far the most affordable solution and offered the best value for money in our opinion.

The only real downside was in terms of features/functionality; Submittable does not offer automated initial screening of applications. With that said, however, we were able to meet our specific business requirements with branching and Submittable was always willing to help us find workable solutions.

As a writer, I absolutely love how easy Submittable makes the submission process to me. I simply on the name of a publication, review what they're looking for, whether they have fees or not, their deadlines, and choose to submit my writing or not, all in an easy to use interface. Also, I can easily review all of the work I've submitted under the submission tab, so I can what was accepted or denied, and keep track of all the publications I've submitted my writing to.

I honestly can't think of anything, because before I found Submittable, I did had to research publications, deadlines and all of the information has at just a click away, by myself.

Easy to use, and can be used very broadly. Great customer service. Great design. Feature rich.

Managing other users and exporting info can be better.

Submittable offered the layout and tools needed to improve our submission process. Creating submission forms & portals is super easy and takes very little software experience to understand.

While it is easy to use and offers a great layout, the software is still in development changes and can be a bit limited to how creative a user can be. Submittable currently has a gallery view setting but only works with pictures- would love to view PPTX and PDF files as well.

It's ease of use. Straightforward layout. Very user friendly. I like the app. Allows me to organize my submissions to literary journals and keep track of when I need to submit them before deadlines.

The navigation within the new "Following" area. I feel like there should just be a direct submit button rather than a "save" button. Right now I find myself having to go to a drop down menu up top to get to the submissions page. This is an easy fix though.

Submittable saves money and trees and time. It's easy to track submissions (and track exactly how much you're spending on submission fees.) It's fairly customizable -- you can choose whether or not you want to be emailed when the status of your submission changes, which, for a sensitive artist type who tries to stay even-keeled during her 9-5, is key. Uploading documents is very easy.

I wish they had an option for users to save a cover letter template -- a letter that would auto-fill and then you could tweak as necessary. It would also be great if you could add a permanent​ bio to your account for prospective publishers -- they generally ask for this in the cover letter so it would save time.

We found it very easy to adapt/program Submittable to fit our specific needs. With the extensive online help library and a quick-response technical support team, answers to our questions were never more than a few minutes away. Additionally, neither those high school students who submitted entries to our business pitch contest nor our panel of judges who used an online rubric to evaluate submissions...

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Thanks, Jim. We love hearing the word 'perfect' from our partners!

I appreciate the back-end tools that allow so much flexibility for reviews, judging, and organizing. Not only can I easily sort entries and entrants, I can download all their data for reporting and further contact. And the pricing structure allows me to use the software only when I need it, but still have access to all the archived data and photos.

I used the Gallery View feature for the first time last year and would like to see continued improvement in its user interface. Opening a new account is a barrier to lots of users, and I'd like to see it simplified so more people will participate in voting.

Really user friendly on both ends. Easy to make new categories, add team members, etc. And whenever I have questions, Submittable customer service is SO helpful.

There are a few features it would be great to have that aren't there yet, but they are always making improvements!

The organisational aspect is a life saver. All our subs in one place, easily seen and a very easy interface. Using submittable gives you an edge. Creatives know that Submittable is used by the very best who will pay a bit extra for a superb, efficient, friendly and professional service. Customer Service is exemplary. Always get back to you quickly and nothing is ever too much for them. Thank you!

Not really a con but a nitpick. Trying to find the 'send to kindle' button was a bit of a challenge but really good service when used.

It's easy to use, easy to train my team on, and seems to offer great collaborative features I haven't even tried yet.

Only very rarely, it seems to get overloaded and become slightly slow. Other than that, it's very reliable and has few faults.

Using it is very straightforward and it is thoroughly reliable. We never have to worry if the system is "up" because it always is.

I like that I can view all my submissions together at any time to see if the status of any of them (accepted, rejected, etc) has changed so I don't have to keep track of that myself

Some publishers require me to pay a fee to submit work to them, however I know this isn't really an issue with Submittable as the fee comes from the publisher and not Submittable itself (which for many places I've submitted has been free)

As an artist, I am constantly applying to various opportunities. I have used Submittable for several years and it is the most streamlined software of this kind. The design is clean, it is very easy to use, it saves progress in your applications so you can return back, and it has the option to pay the organization directly via secure checkout.

After all these years of using Submittable, I do not have any issues with it.

It allows you to make revisions without having to call for support. It also allows you to navigate through the system easily. IT Support is also easily assessable and helpful and for me very patience. Once you have created one application the rest are simple to follow, just as simple to make a duplication of the existing application.

I have no complaints about the software. I only fear is when requesting assistance and I receive a auto reply email stating it will take about 1 or 2 days for a response turn around that is entirely too long so I call for service. I would highly recommend this software to other organizations.

Cloud storage makes all the difference in collaboration and keeps everything organized. Sure beats email.

The inability to do copy and paste from the preview window makes it necessary to download files and open them with another program.

Comprehensive database of literary journal/magazine venues. One login and master view page of all submissions received/sent through software. Friendly weekly notifications of new opportunities. Ability to link login to other logins (i.e. Facebook).

Not all journals/magazines update your submission status from "received" to "in progress," which can confuse your understanding of the progress of your submission.