I highly doubt WotC has anyone doing the same with the things put on the Guild, and as far as I know, that's the only way to "submit" anything to WotC. And with the amount of items published on there in a day, it is really easy to get your's lost in the stream. So how does one exactly get noticed by WotC (or another publisher) from something they put on there? Is it number of sales?
WotC won't say what criteria they use. And I hope they never do. As soon as you outline an official process, it will be abused by folks. Not having a 'process' means they can remain flexible. And to date I can't really argue to much about those they have picked as adepts or to contribute to DoMM etc.
There's a large amount of "Pay what you want" on there, and the number of those paying anything (with a lot being 1 penny at a time) instead of just putting a 0 in the price box is very low. I have 4 things on there personally. Their numbers are 1185, 1242, 1324, and 1835 (I believe that's more than enough to get everything Gold Seller badge). That's including the free. Take out the free, and those same ones are 93, 118, 112, and 159.
I doubt PWYW counts much towards anything, and zero cost sales count nothing towards medals or rankings. In short, if you don't value your work, why should anyone else? (Yes yes, I know the arguments on both sides.)
DMsGuild is easier to get your stuff out to the masses, depending on how many pages they browse through. I am not being negative towards the Guild. I am glad it is up there. I have gotten a number of good items. I just wish I knew the metric on what they use to notice people. Is it just the ones that manage to get into the top 10 in the "Most Popular DMs Guild Titles"? I know you don't know the answer to that.
But 4 works are not going to get you noticed, not unless each one is so exceptional that it's the best thing ever. The other things to be aware of, the Guild is not a marketing system, its only a distribution channel. You need to market and advertise your products on your own.
Those that have been noticed, are folks that put out dozens or hundreds of products. That are involved in collaborations with others, that continuously create original content and top the charts over and over.
The have a cadre of folks that follow them, that look for their next product. That socialize it when they release something and spread the word.
And, realize that we really have very little data or examples to draw from. WotC's products take over a year to go from the design table to public announcements. (DoMM was in playtest something like 10 months prior to release). So, anyone from the Guild who may be involved in any of the 2019 products have already been selected and are under an NDA, and have been for months.
Getting noticed is not something that is going to happen in a few months or a year. It's not going to happen on your first or fifth product. Expect it to take years. And expect that it is going to take more than just your writing skills. You are going to have to advertise/socialize your works. You're going to show you not only can write, but you can contribute to a team. i.e. you are promoting yourself for a professional job, not a hobby.
