It is important for a writer to know how soon he may expect a decision on his contributions.  If he has prepared an article that depends on timeliness for its interest, he cannot afford to send it to an editor who normally takes three or four weeks to make a decision.  Another publication to which his article is equally well adapted, he may find from his manuscript record, accepts or rejects contributions within a week or ten days.  Naturally he will send his timely article to the publication that makes the quickest decision.  If that publication rejects it, he will still have time enough to try it elsewhere.  His experience with different editors, as recorded in his manuscript record, often assists him materially in placing his work to the best advantage.

The rate and the time of payment for contributions are also worth recording.  When an article is equally well suited to two or more periodicals, a writer will naturally be inclined to send it first to the publication that pays the highest price and that pays on acceptance.

A manuscript record also indicates where each one of a writer’s articles is at a given moment, and by what publications it has been rejected.  For such data he cannot afford to trust his memory.

A writer may purchase a manuscript record book or may prepare his own book or card index.  At the top of each page or card is placed the title of the article, followed by the number of words that it contains, the number of illustrations that accompany it, and the date on which it was completed.  On the lines under the title are written in turn the names of the periodicals to which the manuscript is submitted, with (1) the dates on which it was submitted and returned or rejected; (2) the rate and the time of payment; and (3) any remarks that may prove helpful.  A convenient form for such a page or card is shown on the next page:  _______________________________________
____________________________________ |Confessions of a Freshman. 2,750 Words. 4 Photos.  Written, Jan. 18, 1919.| |----------------------------------
---------------------------------------| | |Sent |Returned|Accepted|Paid |Amount|Remarks | |-------------------------------------
------------------------------------| |The Outlook |1/18/19 |1/30/19 | | | | | |The Independent |1/31/19 |2/10/19 | | | | | |The Kansas City Star|2/12/19 | |2/18/19 |3/12/19 |$9.50 |$4 a col.| | | | | | | | | |_______________
_____|________|________|________|________|______|_________|

ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS.  Contributions accepted for publication are paid for at the time of their acceptance, at the time of their publication, or at some fixed date in the month following their acceptance or publication.  Nearly all well-established periodicals pay for articles when they are accepted.  Some publications do not pay until the article is printed, a method obviously less satisfactory to a writer than prompt payment, since he may have to wait a year or more for his money.  Newspapers pay either on acceptance or before the tenth day of the month following publication.  The latter arrangement grows out of the practice of paying correspondents between the first and the tenth of each month for the work of the preceding month.