Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Writing Advice: Turning Back Time by Tara Fox Hall


Hello and welcome to the Bradley Publishing Blog. A big thank you to Jennifer and Zeb for setting this Blog up for us BP authors.

My name is Tara Fox Hall. My short suspense and horror anthology, Just Shadows, published in January 2012.


For my first (test) post, I thought I'd share a little writing advice on getting organized. :)



TURNING BACK TIME

The struggle for enough time in any standard day of a successful, proven author is a given. Yet it pales in comparison to the frenzy of a new, yet-to-be proven author. There is advertizing, promotion, reviews, deadlines, book covers, links, blog posts, and a million other details that need to be at your fingertips with a few clicks. You’d need a Time Turner from the Harry Potter Books to get it all done. But Time Turners that really work seem to be in short supply. So how does a struggling author handle the stress?

Answer: get very, very organized.

First off, you’ll need to make friends with spreadsheets, either Excel or another type. Spreadsheets are not just for accountants; they are very a useful, necessary tool you will need to keep track of a minimum of things, such as the publishers and agents where you have submitted your book. If you’re past that stage, and have been published, you’ll still need spreadsheets to successfully promote your work, which is expected of all authors, both famous and not-so-famous. Even if you’ve published only one book, and you’re not sure if there will be a next one, this is important to do. If you plan on being a writer, there will be other books in your future at some point. Copying an existing spreadsheet of places to submit, complete with emails and feedback from your last round of submissions, is much easier than sorting through a ton of emails in your sent box to compile a fresh list of possible places to submit. If you have more than one book a year coming out, you’ll need to have multiple tabs on the spreadsheet, one for each book.

If you are asking for book reviews, you’ll have to keep track of who you asked, what they said, when this happened, and whether or not the book actually got reviewed. Trust me, this is very useful, especially when you last send out requests six months ago, and are wondering if you should bother submitting a new book to a review site that sounds familiar. You’ll want to know if they reviewed your last book, or never replied to a query you spent an hour or two crafting.

All promotiom—whether ads, blogging, interviews, or giveaways—also need to be tracked, the last just so that you don’t miss sending out a prize to a winner on time. Nothing alienates a fan like a coveted prize that never materializes. Have a file for all your frequently used files, such as book covers, so when one is needed quickly, you don’t have to try to pull it off the internet, or look through email. Customize your organization as needed when you discover what works best for you and what needs more organization.

At first, this will seem daunting. But when you’re rushed to finish a blog, hours from your deadline with your publisher, and you get that emergency email asking some random bit of information, like the word count of your second book, you’ll have it at your fingertips. Sometimes something small makes the difference between publishing and not publishing. Being organized will give you more time to write. And it’s far more reliable than trying to mystically turn back time.

Tara's Links:

Website: www.tarafoxhall.com



Tara's Facebook Page:


For info on my recently published work, Just Shadows, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Just-Shadows-ebook/dp/B006V4HB2Y

5 comments:

  1. Great post! As an accountant in a past life I am an Excel fanatic. Keeping track of contact names is so important, I have a few filed away with my readers, reviewers, and contest participant lists.

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  2. Wow- this was very detailed and really worthwhile organizational information. Well done.

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  3. Glad you found it useful, Vanessa :) Thank you for reading.

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