I wrote and submitted an article called "Beating the Recession Bug With a Home-based Business " on April 16th. I got a google alert on it by that evening and 9 indexed references appeared this morning.
I submitted to 15 of the 20 directories listed below by hand using a form filler. Took about 2 hours to make sure each one was formatted to specifications and review and set up profiles and several of them, verify email .. ect..
Here are the directories I posted to.
Traffic Generation by Master Advertising: Article Directories
For my reputation sake, I don't rely on software to submit content. I have used Article Marketer with good results but I still submit to the main directories by hand, and I do it before submitting through Article Marketer. That way I know I have got my article where I wanted it first.
Generally I make two versions of my article. I submit one to the top directories by hand then send the other off to the free version of Article Marketer for the extended back links.
http://www.freearticlemarketer.com is a direct link to the free submission form.
Best of luck to you.