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 […]
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 work. […]
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 – get […]
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 one […]
I recently published an academic book (Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War: The Influence of Foundations, McCarthyism and the CIA, since you asked) and one of the tasks I was responsible for was creating an index for my book. Yes, I could have asked them to send it out to a professional indexer, […]
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could stand in the bookstore next to your books and recommend them directly to anyone who stopped to take a look? You could answer questions, talk about how you came to write it, mention the sequel you’re working on, and just generally connect with your readers. Wouldn’t it be […]
If you’re blogging, there’s a little bit of HTML code you should know. Yes, there are plenty of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) tools out there that require no coding, from the visual editor in WordPress to offline blogging tool like Windows Live Writer (which I’ll write about in another post). But […]
One of the reasons I recommend WordPress as the backbone of your writing website is that it is very easy to extend what WP can do using plugins. Installing a WordPress plugin is easy — for the most part, you just upload the folder to the wp-content/plugins folder on your server, go to the “Plugins” tab in […]
