If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you’ve probably noticed a gap in the software I cover and recommend. For the most part, the software, online services, and other material (like e-books) I’ve recommended have been free. There are plenty of exceptions, of course — next week I’m gearing up to do a series on […]
Every author should belong to Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates. With Amazon Associates, you can create a link which includes your unique tracking ID to a book (or any product) and get a percentage of the purchase from anyone who clicks through to Amazon from your link. You can create links to any product on […]
If your writing takes you away from your home computer often, or if the thought of working “in the cloud” (on the web) just appeals to you, you might want to try an online submission tracking system. Luminary’s Writer’s Database (not to be confused with the desktop “Writer’s Database” I mentioned in Part 3 of […]
Although using a simple spreadsheet to track submissions can be perfectly adequate, the seams can start to unravel as you build up more and more entries. There are several good, free programs that can help you track not only your submissions but also prospective markets and the fate of your work from inception to publication. […]
The simplest way to track submissions is using a spreadsheet program like Excel. You could also use an online spreadsheet like Google Docs. Create a new spreadsheet and put the following as column headers: Title of Piece | Length | Genre/Type | Query or Submission? |Market Submitted to | Market’s Address | Pay | Date […]
IF you subscribe to this site by RSS (or email), you probably saw the first part of my upcoming series on Word 2007 this morning. Yesterday, I cooked up a whole stew of posts, through the middle of next month, and tried to schedule them. But my weebhosts had intermittant failures throughout the day, and […]
One of the least glamorous parts of a writer’s job is keeping track of submissions. Knowing who you sent a query or a finished piece, what you sent them, when you sent it, and whether it’s been accepted or rejected is crucial, but mundane — especially compared with the far more fulfilling work of actually writing our […]
One of the most important things writers (or anyone) can do is set clear, explicit goals about what they want to accomplish. Most of us have a bunch of vague goals, like the “one day novel” (as in, “one day, I’m going to write a novel). We want to “someday” do x, y, and z […]
Thanks for bearing with me for a couple weeks while I worked my way through some things. The Writer’s Technology Companion will be back on a more regular posting schedule next week. While I’ll still cover the same collection of software, web applications, technology, and strategies for using all of them, I’ll also be adding […]
Considering I’m supposed to be semi-retired this week, it’s been pretty busy around here, huh? I posted an epic piece about writing effective blog posts at Problogger yesterday, and I think a lot of my readers here would get a lot of value out of it. The basis of the article is a chapter in […]
