Submittable Information Reviews & Insights

Score8.8 out of 10

101 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Submittable are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Efficient Communication Management: Users have consistently praised the platform for its efficient management of communications. They appreciate the seamless handling of emails, notes sections, and the convenient feature that allows them to access reviews during calls while attaching necessary documents.

User-Friendly Interface: Reviewers find the platform's user-friendly interface intuitive and easy to navigate. The ability to view all relevant documents on a single screen without opening multiple windows has been highlighted as a significant advantage by users.

Effective Organization Tools: Users value the platform's effective organization tools for submissions, reviewer assignments, and process tracking. The segmentation of data by project is particularly commended for streamlining the review process efficiently.

Submittable Reviews

8 Reviews

InformationTelecommunications1Publishing2Information Services1Media Production1Writing & Editing3

Submissions made easier, more streamlined, and trustworthy.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 29, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Submittable to administer two award programs. It allows us to combine the entries in a streamlined way and then conduct judging for the award winners. It’s all done digitally, and it saves lots of time. Our award program was not affected during the pandemic because we had already done the online judging. It’s been an invaluable tool.

Pros

Maintain archive of all entries over the history of your account.
Stream lines the collection of documents.

Cons

It used to be easier to download submission files from the submissions screen; now, you have to run a report and request a download.
Giving access to reviewers could be easier. It would be nice if we could create the email account and password and then give that to the reviewer. Right now, the invites are often junk, spam, or quarantine.

Likelihood to Recommend

Submittable is a great platform for collecting entries for review in various settings. Whether it’s grants, awards, contests, or such events, It offers security, vetting of people to a high degree, and a non-destructive history, which can be essential if you are audited. The platform is easy to set up and can be used in simple or complex ways for judging and reviews. I am unsure in what cases the platform would be unsuitable; it just works.

Verified User

Consultant in Marketing (Publishing company, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

Easy and efficient submissions management

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

May 29, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use it to manage submissions for the literary journal I run, and also entries for writing competitions. I receive on average about 2-3000 submissions each year and it makes managing the submissions, assigning them to readers and judges, and notifying submitters easy and efficient. It has saved me many hours of work compared to when I managed everything via email submissions.

Pros

Accepting submissions on my behalf
The review process is easy, efficient and I can swap judges out for different competitions
Contacting submitters and notifying them of status.

Cons

They removed the ability to easily see who had paid for extras in the submissions list for each project. I now have to generate income reports which isn’t as quick and easy. Despite repeated requests for this update to be reverted I’ve had no response.

Likelihood to Recommend

It works well for my needs to manage submissions and that is all I need it to do.

Verified User

Director (Writing & Editing company, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

10 years of experience

Excellent tool for use in literary editing and publishing!

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

July 26, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Submittable to read through submissions of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction our literary journal housed at a university. Submittable helps our team of editors to keep track of how many submissions we have, who the authors are, as well as assign these submissions to the various readers. I read through the unsolicited submissions pile and decide which one are worth passing forward as well as which submissions to reject outright. I've found Submittable to be a very valuable tool and reasonably intuitive to use for my purposes as a reader for a literary journal. In addition to being intuitive, I've found Submittable to be excellent in its precision as well. I can use the various filters to see what other readers at the journal are reading and what comments they've made. Submittable is great for efficient collaboration and is a strong tool that I would recommend to any organization, especially in the literary editing world.

Pros

Intuitive interface
Extensive search filters
Great for collaboration with my team

Cons

The interface be a little confusing at first
Potentially too easy to accidentally accept submissions without meaning to

Likelihood to Recommend

Submittable is well-suited for our organization's purposes. As a literary journal, I've found that Submittable works well for receiving submissions for literary contests, as well as just for our regular publication purposes. It works extremely smoothly and fluidly if you need to receive and vet thousands of submissions. In terms of scenarios where not so appropriate, I would guess that if you aren't having to go through as many submissions as we do, it might not be as cost-effective, although I don't handle the financial side of our organization, so I cannot speak to this point with certainty.

Verified User

Employee (Writing & Editing company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

From Chaos to Clarity: Unleashing the Power of Submittable

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

July 20, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Submittable for manuscript submission and evaluation. It helps us to organize submissions, easily interact with the authors, and send responses once a decision has been made.

Pros

Organizes manuscript submissions
Allow easy interaction with authors
Generic reply templates can easily be edited and make decision responses more streamlined

Cons

Larger file downloads would be helpful. As is, I have to create smaller versions of the submissions to review in some cases.
I would like to see a customized list template that users can create to add additional processes unique to their company.
If submissions are active, once they are reassigned as accepted/declined/etc., it would be nice if they would automatically go into a folder labeled with those same headings.

Likelihood to Recommend

I appreciate the ability to use a system that helps me organize complex projects easily. Submittable has been very useful to me as I manage hundreds of new submissions on a regular basis, keep track of where I left off with each submission, and follow up as needed. I would recommend it to anyone who has the same challenges in their business.

Verified User

Executive in Sales (Publishing company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

An Effective and Versatile Tool for Managing Grants, From the Submission to the Milestone Checks

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

January 5, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Submittable as a fundamental tool for handling the grant process. We use it for all the internal messages and the evaluation process. Also, for handling the underlying documentation, from the submission to the milestone review. It enables efficient focus on the personal task to accomplish and a broader view of the outstanding projects, thanks to efficient filters.

Pros

Notifications
Clear view of the overall process, from the submission to the approval
Efficient filtering for retrieving projects info

Cons

Notification of necessary action in order to proceed forward
Setting a deadline for answering
Setting a reminder when the deadline has passed

Likelihood to Recommend

Submittable is a tool that is necessary if a company, especially a start-up with no clear structure, has to implement an approval process; for grants in our case. The selling point is that you can tune the different steps in the procedure according to your needs and it's properly integrated with a messaging system that enables you to communicate with prospective grantees. At the same time have all the relevant info available in one single place.

Verified User

Project Manager in Research & Development (Telecommunications company, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

Want to love it, but I can't edit my own data, even as an administrator!

Rating: 2 out of 10

Incentivized

July 28, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Submittable as submission software for our product awards competition. It helps us manage the entry process and handle the payment side of things, taking our entrants' credit cards.

Pros

Provides a simplified entry system for our awards program
Makes it easy for us to receive payments for the submissions
Easy to download necessary forms

Cons

The new system no longer allows me to make any corrections on the back end, and I have repeatedly told them that this makes my job much harder. I will not be recommending using the software in the future if they don't allow me to do so. Their answers have been along the lines of "it's for data security" which makes zero sense.
From my experience, their customer support isn't great, and I wish I had one dedicated person to reach out to.
In my opinion, I think their sales tactics are suspect and sketchy. It's like paying $3 for a bag of chips, and next time, you're told, "Well the chips are $40, and we've been giving you a 92.5% discount on them. The new price is $22 for the chips, but that's still a 45% discount." Ummm, no one pays $40 for a bag of chips. I guess it's meant to make you feel bad for asking for anything close to what you're paying. And a final note ... this has been happening for years, it's not a new inflation-oriented thing.

Likelihood to Recommend

I can't edit typos, etc. on anything that's submitted.

Paul J. Heney

VP, Editorial Director in Product Management at WTWH Media (Media Production, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

View profile

Submittable Has Value

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

February 18, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

People send their contest submissions to us through Submittable. It adds to our legitimacy.

Pros

Keeps all submissions in one place.
Answers questions quickly.
Wants users to succeed.

Cons

I'd love to see the newsletter with opportunities for writers come back.
Maybe it's just getting more sophisticated, but I have some trouble updating contests.
Maybe have a way for us to endorse other people's services and products?

Likelihood to Recommend

It's great for contest submissions. I've never tried having people submit questions that way, but that might work too.

B. Lynn Goodwin

Managing Editor and Manuscript Consultant at Writer Advice (Writing & Editing, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

10 years of experience

View profile

Submittable is a great choice for grant management!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

July 30, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize Submittable to manage applications for grants and distributions for our foundations.

Pros

The sales team did a great job presenting Submittable to us and the stakeholders. They were very clear on which of the requirements they met and didn't meet--unlike other sales teams that promise you their system does everything only to find out it doesn't.
Implementation--The team that helped us was amazing. They had a great approach and keep us on track. They also helped us with the specifics of our grants that other companies couldn't--specifically the import of historical data that we required.
Support--So far, support after the sale has been great. We have contacted our account rep, and he has been able to address any questions we might have or provide a resource that can.

Cons

So far, the only thing I can think of is that personalization of the main page is minimal.
I wish the email generated by the system could have our email address.