Your dream of writing is daunting when you've got to start out doing everything yourself. Many indie authors work up to hiring stellar editors, book cover designers, formatters, social media coordinator, and the whole works, but in the beginning, they've got to maintain and organize everything on their own.
Until we can hire an incredible support team to streamline our works-in-progress to a polished product ready for public consumption, we've got to muddle through the mud and muck of growing solid business habits.
Learning how to do each step is a pain, but I'm dedicated. I write, read, then write some more, every day. It's an endless cycle, and my reading material consistently includes eBooks about the Indie industry, but I've got to take extra efforts to process all the topics I'm consuming.
After studying the masters of our craft and after reading the latest eBooks for Indie Authors, I work to apply my notes in a practical sense, but that means I must first get and stay organized.
I began wading through the treacherous waters of the Indie Industry by snuggling up to my Kindle and by finding fantastic writing groups. As for Kindle reading, you don't have to buy a special reading device; all you need to do is download the FREE Kindle app from your app store, then you can read from your own device.
I designate a monthly budget for eBook purchases, but I also find FREE eBooks to download by going onto Amazon and typing "Free Books" into their search box, and you'll get a huge, ever-changing list. Writers need you to read and to review their books, which I always try to do on a constructive level, and I've read some wonderful books during their brief time for free on a virtual shelf.
One thing I've noticed is... once you tap to load a free book onto Kindle, make sure to open the app afterward, then click onto the book cover to download it into your library. This is important because it's usually offered free for a very short time, and once it goes up for sale again, your chance to read it for free will disappear, unless you've tapped it to download. You can go then close it out and back to read it later, when convenient.
My Kindle app is my #1 best-friend and teacher for navigating life as an Indie Author, and it allows me to read everything I can find about writing, editing, publishing, formatting, advertising, and it makes it easy to highlight passages or bookmark pages with a fingertip, but I've got to organize useful information for future, quick reference.
I do keep electronic records, but I consistently incorporate an old-fashioned, hard-copy system, and this has proven priceless for my indie author organization.
For instance, I use a Pendaflex (green hanging folder) with a clear tab on it that says, "Marketing." Inside this hanging folder, I keep multiple manila/yellow files for each marketing route... each one is for a separate marketing endeavor, such as one file for "AMS Ads," and another one for "Facebook Ads," or "BookBub," etc. Each file has its coordinating sign-in data with account usernames and passwords written on the inside cover.
Once you set up a file, you know where to find it... fast and easy. When working on your AMS ads, you pull the file, jot down notes on a piece of paper with the dates and actions taken, then you have a comprehensive record of your work, whether or not the system crashes or you lose your electronic history.
With today's requirement of multiple accounts and sign-in's, this filing system allows me to stay organized and on track with what I'm doing by date and activity. It's a hard-copy back-up that won't crash or fail, unless the office burns down. Even then, I still have another hard-copy back-up in place... more on that in a moment.
As for my filing system, If I want to know what's going on with a particular title on Amazon, I can look inside my "AMS Ads" file and review the desired information via pages of lined paper I've headed with pertinent data. Gasp... I'm having to write neat and nice and legible.
The best part about this system is the protection it provides from losing an electronic data, but there's another benefit - the process seems to foster another layer of cerebral application from the efforts to hand-pen ink to paper, as if it etches the data deeper into my brain.
To set up this system requires Pendaflex and manila folders and a label-maker or marker, then you're ready to go. The good new is - the more bent, coffee-stained, and crumpled the files become, the more you're working and using them... all good signs. Maintaining this system takes two minutes a day, but it offers a priceless security blanket. It still works when the transformer is blown.
One other organization system I use on a regular basis is via the color-coded index file box kept on my desk. The little box has alphabetized dividers (easy to find) and a pack of lined index cards, I head each card with a title, such as "MAILCHIMP" then I log sign-up data, email used, password, payment method, important dates, and any other information I might need to find fast. This serves me well, and I take great comfort in knowing my data isn't floating around on an electronic device.
In your office, whether that's a corner in your room or a spacious dedicated suite, it's helpful to create an easy-to-reference cheat-sheet listing your accounts and sign-in info. This at-a-glance list can help you bounce around... just remember to keep this hidden from prying eyes when you have visitors or from times you snap a shot of your writing space. I keep one tacked to the wall with a cover sheet overlaying it and protecting it from prying eyes of visitors for from getting caught in a snapshot.
It's a time-saver to have a comprehensive list readily available, and you don't have to stop to dig for a password and won't have to reset a password or username, yet again.
With my system, if I change a password, I consistently notate the index card and the file's inside cover (if there is one for that account), and presto, my hard-copy back-up is updated. Going against the grain of today, my motto is, "Commit important details to paper." Well, I do have many accounts with their passwords memorized; however, with indie author and publishing activities, the layers are thickening every day, so I'd rather stay organized and focused.
Can we imagine the literary greats who sat at their desk writing classics without spellcheck or typing 110 wpm... without grammar programs or the internet to conduct research? How often did their hand cramp? How well did burning candles light their workspace as daylight faded? What's a little work with file organization compared to the dismay they felt over worn out quills and dried up inkwells?
We've no reason to complain. Get to it! Be kind to yourself by staying organized, and enjoy writing.
