Before You Write Your Book, Organize Its Parts - Part 1

If you are a serious writer who wants to publish and sell books and informational products, you need to be able to find all of its parts in a minute or less. Filing only the important parts of your book will yield fast-writing your book. With the tips below, you will find any book-related paper within two minutes!

After you decide on your topic, working title, audience, thesis, and "tell and sell" and before you write a single page of a chapter, it's best to organize your book, its chapters, even your promotion how-to's.

Five Hard Copy Filing Tips

1. Stop Piling and Start Filing!

Maybe you're a stacker (horizontal multiple piles), a stuffer (look organized, but can't find things, a spreader (spread one pile to another place, then another), a slinger (undecided, you sling into a place behind closed doors).

For those of you who want a hard copy of your book's parts, you'll want to leave the bad habits above.

2. Make all important files vertical and A-Z. To retrieve your book's chapters, place the name "all chapters" (table of contents) on the flap of your manila folder; then place each chapter title and number on one manila folder. Here you will also add other parts of your book such as the introduction, the hot-selling points such as the "tell and sell," and your "audience profile." Keep these files alphabetical and vertical and you can find them fast. You may choose a file such as a box, filing cabinet or three-ring binder.

3. File each scrap of paper of useful information on an 81/2 by 11 piece of paper. Give it a category (title) at the top and file it alphabetically. Whenever you see something, a book title, a quote, an article that relates to your book, pop it into the proper file. One may read "useful quotes for chapter one" or "sample working book titles," or "signature stories and analogies." When you take different notes on one page, or allow your scraps of brilliance to get into the horizontal piles, one of your great ideas will get lost.

4. Write on one side of the paper only when you want to save useful notes. Again put only one subject at the top of each page and the correct word on the manila folder to retrieve quickly. It's far easier to read handwriting on one side only. Staple and number pages of related parts for easier retrieval.

5. Keep every piece of important paper vertical and file it in its proper place. The Pareto Time Management Principle says that only 10% of our papers are important. That means those related to your book--it's chapters, front matter, back matter and the all-important promotion-marketing folder. When you give each paper a special place in your book file you will find it fast and also write your book fast!

Four Computer File Tips

For those who also want to keep files on your computer, you need to think Word folders and files within the folders. If you aren't savvy, hire a high school or technical school tutor or computer assistant.

1. Put your major topic in a folder. One client gave her main folder the name of her book. Within that folder she kept three other main files--the three 3 sections (can be chapters) of her 70-page book. Now that she has these organized, she can add new material, as she needs in the proper folder and file. And, she can find it within a few minutes. When important information comes your way, immediately file it and add the date to the end of the file to help you retrieve it fast.

2. Put your unfinished work in a file in My Documents. We are not always sure what category or chapter new information will go in. Located right after your folders, these files are alphabetized, and you can skim right to these files over the next days or weeks you want to work on it before it's ready to re-file into your book folder. This works well for ongoing, unedited work because you can find it fast.

3. Take care to name your files correctly. In one book I wrote three chapters on how to write articles, subscribe to ten opt-in ezines out of 400,000 possible ones, and how to submit them to the ezines and top web sites for the big payoffs of getting into the top ten search engine placements and getting my web site listed on over 900 other web sites. All related, but they each needed a separate file. When you think filing always think specific categories.

4. Save your files with first the name, then the date you last worked on it. Including the date shows me and my assistant the latest revision fast for easy retrieval.

Without organizing your files, you will waste a lot of time looking for the correct one. One figure is over 150 hours a year time wasted looking for misplaced paper. You will also waste money because unfinished projects that don't get shared, don't make you money.

Without organizing your book folders and files, you will waste a lot of time looking for the correct one. You will waste money because unfinished projects that don't get shared, don't make you money.

Part two of this article is available at http://www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-65.shtml.

Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The BookCoach Says...," "Business Tip of the Month," blog Q & A at http://www.bookcoaching.com and over 185 free articles.

===============
Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com or Cullinsbks@aol.com Phone: 619/466-0622 -- Orders: 866/200-9743

---

The Myths of Writing: Have You Bought Into These?

There is an image most people carry of the artist... Read More

To Transcribe or Not To Transcribe Interviews?

11 Secrets from an Experienced InterviewerOne of the unwritten rules... Read More

Time to Write

SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER?Many people have entertained... Read More

Writing Tips For Novice Authors

If you are reading this article then you probably have... Read More

Write On! - Key Components of Successful Business Communication

Written communication is often the first impression you make on... Read More

Memories Dont Fade Like Hair Does: Memoir Writing Help for You, Our Elders, to Tell Your Story

~~~Old age, to the unlearned, is winter; to the learned,... Read More

Top Ten Tips (Part 2)

Golden Rules For New Writers - Things you need to... Read More

Does Your Fight Scene Pack a Punch?

Long ago, movie directors mastered the technique of creating a... Read More

Dont Make This Huge Writing Mistake!

You can create a great headline, a dynamic first sentence,... Read More

Sick of the Traditional Publishing Path?

A book coaching client recently emailed me that she was... Read More

Writing With Power: 5 Snappy Rules For Success

Almost everyone could profit from enhancing their writing skills. From... Read More

Writer School?

Here's something from my mailbag. "Dear Michael, do you need... Read More

Writing Good Dialogue.

There's nothing that kills a scene like hackneyed dialogue. Just... Read More

Pages: Your Book of Life

Many of us dream of writing a book. Why not.... Read More

The Writers Angst

What is this annoying, insidious angst that permeates my psyche?... Read More

Writing Dialogue That Make Your Characters Come Alive

Characters in a good novel really carry the story along... Read More

Planning Time To Write

In his book, "Achieving Financial Independence as a Freelance Writer,"... Read More

Imagine The Imagination

Imagine a three hundred page book was in the author's... Read More

Writing About Writing

What am I going to write about?Which topic is the... Read More

10 Secrets For Everyday Writing Success

During my 25-year career in a variety of professional positions... Read More

How I Became a Syndicated Columnist -- And You Can Too!

Real Estate has "Location, location, location," and writing has "Clips,... Read More

Writers Block - Melting the Ice

What does one do as a writer who loves writing... Read More

Grow Your Ideas Without Letting Words Grow Like Weeds

Q: How do I expand on an idea without getting... Read More

Story Building with Imagination

In the words of Aristotle, "happiness is self contentedness helping... Read More

Building a Character Wall

For any great novelist, defining your cast of intriguing characters... Read More

COULD YOU (not) REPEAT THAT PLEASE?

I recently read a book where everything was akimbo. Arms... Read More

Write With Passion: 4 Steps To Emotionally Charge A Nonfiction Article

You have just completed a draft of an article. It... Read More

You Cant Always Believe What You See On Your Computer Screen

You may not remember this, but in the early days... Read More

Every Result is an Asset

Not long ago, I went to an Internet Marketing Seminar.... Read More

Revising Your Manuscript: Fourteen Questions to Ask Yourself

1) Can you summarize the story in about a sentence... Read More

Getting the Story Down

Questions and answers on writing life experiences for ourselves and... Read More

Make Your Readers Cry

You know, I really hate it when someone catches me... Read More

Ten Tips to Help You Finish Writing Your Novel

1. Set aside a time to write and keep it... Read More