Sunday, April 1, 2018

More Tracking: Lifetime submission stats, as of March 31, 2018

In light of my previous post, I thought I should also show the chart of aggregated submissions, over the years. So this is all of my plays--full-length, one-acts, ten-minute plays, one-minute plays, radio plays.

Acceptances are not just productions, but also readings, prizes, fellowships, and finalist slots in major competitions.  This is complete scripts, not queries.

As you can see there are years where I submit a lot, and others (like 2000, where we had a baby and moved) where the numbers sag. The creation of the Binge in 2003 has kept me a bit steadier. 2012 was a dip year because I was farming. Not quite sure why 2013 was such a bad year for acceptances--I should go into the records and try to suss it out.

The overall acceptance rate is normally over 10%, which feels solid to me, but again, remember that short play acceptances really boost the numbers here (see previous post).

The non-response rate has stayed pretty high, in the mid 30% range, which is a constant source of frustration not just for me, but for many playwrights. I've come to just accept it.

For me, I find that this level of tracking helps me stay motivated--I try my hardest to submit more scripts each year than the last (often failing, but I like the challenge of it). And I keep a close eye on acceptance rates--if I see another dip, I need to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

I hope other people will post their stats, too.