By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Frequently I find that I need the same information over and over again for a wide variety of different tasks. I might be signing up to have my book considered for translation, or pitching BookBub, or submitting my book to a library for consideration. I spent a lot of time looking the same information up online over and over again.
I finally realized that I would save myself a good deal of time if I compiled these things into a document that I could easily put my hands on…and do it for all of my books.
Amazon Affiliate links for all books in digital and print form. I’m an Amazon Affiliate, which means that when a reader clicks on one of my tracking links to get to my books on Amazon, I get a small commission based on what they buy when they’re on the site. It’s a passive way to make a little money. For a while, I was plugging in my book’s links into the Amazon Affiliate link generator, copying the link, and putting it wherever I needed to list it (Wattpad, Facebook, etc.)
Now I’ve got a document on my computer with each book’s print and ebook Amazon Affiliate link. I can just pull up the document and copy-paste it. It’s especially a time saver when I need to list all of my books (like in the backs of my Kindle ebooks).
ISBNs and their corresponding books, if we use ISBNs. Same principle, here. Sometimes libraries and other sites will ask me for ISBN numbers and I was having to look them up on either retailer sites or on Bowker’s site. This has saved me a good deal of time lately.
Bios. I need different types of bios for different types of things. Sometimes I’ll guest blog on a site that needs a short bio. Sometimes I need a micro bio (for sites like Twitter). Sometimes I need something long if I’m speaking at a library and they want something to put in their program.
Keywords for series. When I’m uploading a book, I can quickly pull up the keywords that I used for the other books in the series. Keywords are something that need to be tweaked later, but at least when I’m uploading the book, I’ve got good keywords to start out with.
Lecture notes: libraries, writers’ groups, schools. I tend to talk about similar things when I’m asked to speak at libraries, schools, and conferences. By saving my notes and PDFs of my PowerPoints, I make life a lot easier for myself when I’m asked to speak.
Tax info: write-offs, subscriptions, ads, supplies, cover design/formatting, website hosting costs, domain costs, literary agent fees, tools like Feedly Pro, Hootsuite, home office costs, postage costs, mileage, conferences.
Book descriptions. There are many times when I’m submitting my book for something (most recently AmazonCrossings) and they ask for my book description. I’ve found it helps to have all of my descriptions in one play.
Book covers. I used to file my covers in the folder with the rest of the book documents (drafts, formatted epubs, mobi files, etc.), which does make sense. But it also makes sense to have these covers in a folder together when I need them (and I tend to need them a lot for creating ads, uploading my information to sites, etc.)
How-tos. I use my own instructions for things that I’ve figured out to refer to later: MailChimp giveaways, SoundCloud, box set formatting, etc. It takes so long, sometimes, for me to figure out something that I want to avoid the time suck of figuring it out again…and just make a cheat sheet for myself.
Speaking of cheat sheets: I also keep cheat sheets of my book plots, characters, etc. This has saved me a few times when book clubs have asked me to speak on a book that I wrote years ago.
Book bible: I’ll go ahead and list this here because it’s a time saver, in a way, too. Whenever I give a detail about a character’s past or their likes or dislikes, etc., I list it in a book bible to refer to whenever I’m writing a new book in a series. This is a good way to avoid continuity errors in later books in our series (and readers do catch them!)
Back matter: I’ve already mentioned above that I keep a list of my books that are hyperlinked to Amazon Affiliate links in a document. But I also keep other back matter: my bio, a call to action to sign up for my author newsletter, etc. in a document. This helps me remember the different elements I like to include in this important section of my book.
These are some of the things that I keep track of to help me save a minute here and there (especially when I was feeling scattered). Do you do this too? What types of things do you keep track of and document?
Keeping records and organizing docs can save writers time: Share on XImage: MorgueFile: Dianne Hope
Never thought about a book Bible. I do keep my book information and images in one spot. My PhotogShop folders are probably the most organized. You’ve seen how many images I use per post – I have to stay on top of that mess.
Alex–Great idea to keep your images organized! I hadn’t thought of that.
This is where my #1 skill comes in handy. I’m scary organized.
It’s nice we have the Amazon Affiliates option back.
Diane–Isn’t it? I probably only make enough from it to buy myself lunch once a month, but still…nice to have.
These are such great ideas for time-savers, Elizabeth! Thanks for sharing. I think any time you can copy/paste, you’re saving yourself time and annoyance. And I’ve found that keeping it all documented in the right folders makes it easier for me to look for something when I need it.
Margot–Exactly. And anytime I don’t have to *think* about where something is, it’s so helpful, too. Folders, as you mentioned, are really key to keeping things in the right place.
As always, this is extremely helpful, Elizabeth.I’m a pretty organized person, but the older I get, the more I forget things, so these ideas will surely help me. Thanks.
Karen–I’m forgetful too. Hope it helps!
This is a great list! I’m not particularly well-organized – I have the bad habit of trying to keep everything in my head – but I’m early enough in my career that putting some of these things together wouldn’t be too hard.
Of course, the problem lies in setting aside time for organization in the first place. I think I need a daily schedule that includes this!
Rebecca–Doing just a little bit each day is definitely best! Otherwise, I tend to get burned out.
This is exactly what I need to do, Elizabeth. I started a big fat notebook for some personal information I needed to keep track of and that has really worked well. Doing the same thing for writing-related information makes good sense. I tend to prefer an intact notebook with college-ruled lines. It’s interesting how our brain helps us remember exactly in what part of the notebook necessary information is located even if we don’t use a three-ring notebook with dividers.
Patricia–It’s a great idea to have it for personal info, too! Sometimes I use OneNote or Evernote for that. I’m like you–sometimes I *do* have to see something on paper. Usually what I’ll do is print out whatever I’ve got online/on my computer and look at it that way.
I first heard about a “Book Bible” when I was reading an article about Steven Moffat and his Doctor Who Bible. It beats having to go through the entire story on Word using CTRL-F which is, unfortunately, what I had been doing until this brilliant revelation. Well, I know better now.
Red Wolf–Oh, and my memory is wretched. After readers started correcting me…the book bible was born!
Hi Elizabeth–was about to write a comment when I read this post twelve hours ago, but had a plumbing emergency then a family visit (why do they happen on the same day?) so I’m just catching up now. Great list, and I’m adding to my must-check list.
Question re affiliate links: I used them when I first started blogging seriously, five years ago, and the done thing back then was to label Amazon links as affiliate or not, as the case may be. Is that no longer considered necessary to disclose? I’m not aware of having seen that label on any links anywhere for some time now, but obviously the affiliate program is still going strong.
Meg–Oh no! I had a plumbing emergency myself about a month ago. Expensive!
For the Affiliate links…yeah, FTC, you have to disclose. But somewhere on the site. So mine is in my WordPress widget at the bottom of the webpage. We’re not allowed to use them for newsletters (this I truly don’t understand), and Facebook frequently won’t allow them. But they’re still great for blogging. :)
You have done it now. I’m going to follow your post with “time squandering effort sucking gimmicks” for writers. That’s more in line with my expertise of late.
My favorite? Snows tires. My cars was “almost ready.” Does “almost” mean 45 minutes to tires guys? Really? I got a few good scenes blocked and structured anyway but that sort of “half speed” writing has been too frequent.
These are great ideas, by the way. They’re way better than “trip on cat …spend fifteen minutes cleaning up coffee” from my Tuesday morning session. Oh – only rug in the house, too. Foxhound would have just licked it up on the wood floors but no …carpet.
Off to finish a story. Finish. Elusive bloody word.
Jack–Ha! And *setting up* the time saving is a time suck, I admit it! But just parse it out through a month or something.
Snow tires….don’t know about those (Southerner).
Cats are wicked. :)
Good luck with the story!