My Writer's Toolbox
This is something I've been wanting to bust out for a while, but it feels like every time I think I have a solid list of things I add or subtract something. I finally reminded myself that being an author in the technological age means that the industry and how we do things is constantly changing, and it's totally fine that my toolbox changes too. I can always write more blog posts. ;)
What is a Writer's Toolbox?
While I bring to mind a bright red metal structure with tons of little drawers and compartments, what I mean is more of a metaphorical set of tools. I mean, in my brain I'm totally seeing a sleek black opal structure with red velvet on the inside, each of my writing tools lovingly placed in its spot and polished to perfection.
But alas, this isn't a corporeal thing (well, some of these things can be). This arsenal of tools is what you use to not only write books, but everything else that comes along with being an author. It's a lot more than scribbling away on a napkin, and we have to make sure that we have what we need at our fingertips.
What's in the Box?!
I couldn't help myself. Here's a general breakdown of what I like to have accounted for:
Writing software
Editing software
Graphic design software
Book formatting software
A planner/scheduler
SPREADSHEETS
Cloud storage/service
Web site and social accounts
Little Black Book of industry contacts
Now, if you're outsourcing any of this stuff, or use a publisher that takes care of some of that, then that's cool, it doesn't necessarily need to be in YOUR box but at least have it checked off somewhere as something that exists. Nice to keep everything accountable! But above is what I think is the best combo of things that make up my well-rounded writer's toolbox.
Now...
Emily's Box
Again, sorry, couldn't help myself. Ahem.
Writing software: I am a Dabble fangirl. Love it. Love it so much. I had always wanted Scrivener but was unable to have it because I was using a Chromebook, but then discovered Dabble and realized that it has everything I wanted from Scrivener without all the bloat that I would never use. Excellent writing software.
I'm also going to count 4theWords here too, even though I don't particularly use it as writing software, that's technically what it is. I wrote a whole post on it here if you want my thoughts on it, because it's so awesome!
Editing software: So I separated this from writing software, because sometimes you need separate things to do stuff. As much as I adore Dabble, the collab and commenting features are super new and most people that I hire to edit work either in Word or Google Docs. Dabble exports to docx files which is fine, and then I can save my editing files on my google drive with all of the comments intact for future drafts.
So, I don't technically use separate software for my OWN editing, but I do export to google docs so others can edit my drafts.
Graphic Design software: Photoshop, photoshop, photoshop. Before I upgraded to a desktop that runs it, I used a plethora of graphic things, like multiple web sites and apps across my chromebook and phone, to do all of the things I needed to do for my socials and branding. It was hell, my dudes.
Now I can do every single one of those things in Photoshop, and Adobe even has subscriptions now so you can pay a monthly fee instead of shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars for this program. If you're not going to outsource all of your graphic design needs, then Photoshop is the way to go.
Book Formatting software: I use Vellum, which has a $2-300 price tag depending on the package you get. It is 100% worth it, and I'll do a post about it eventually, complete with screenshots of all the pretty interiors I can make with it. There are lots of services out there, I've personally used Reedsy, Draft2Digital, and Sigil, all free tools for book formatting. This is also something you can outsource if you don't want to deal with it (or just get Vellum omg it's so awesome).
Planner/Scheduler: This is key for organizing everything. Whether you use a paper and book planner or some kind of software, setting writing goals and having a calendar of when things need to happen for is so important to staying on track with everything that comes with working in this industry.
I use Notion (and spreadsheets, but more on that in the next section), which is a productivity app akin to if a bullet journal took speed and jumped into my computer. I fucking love Notion (big big shoutout to Pixie Stormcrow who got me onto it!) and I use it to organize and catalogue everything from my books to what I'm reading to daily to-do lists to newsletter swaps to my ghosting and editing orders to recipes and just like everything. It's fantastic and free to use! I have a subscription because I wanted to make every single page pretty with custom icons and cover images and stuff because I am extra. We know this.
SPREADSHEETS: This is all in caps because I personally think that spreadsheets are one of the best inventions ever. I use Google Sheets and probably 80% of my entire google drive is sheets. I've calmed down a bit on them since I started using Notion because a lot of my tracking has now migrated into that, but I still use them a lot. I used to even have a mastersheet of mastersheets that linked to all of my other sheets. SHEETS.
When I start a new project or start learning a new skill or need to track anything at all, I start with a fresh sheet. Collab project? Collab sheet. Most people have a gmail account, and if they don't they should, if only just to collab on documents. And spreadsheets are the best way to keep all of those documents organized and on point.
I'm going to do a more extensive post on how I use spreadsheets for my writing and business, so if you're interested in learning more then stay tuned for that. Maybe Dee Rasha and I can collab on that (and you can bet we'll use a spreadsheet to coordinate info).
A sheet to organize a project about sheets. Meta.
Cloud Storage: I use google drive and iCloud, and also back up to my desktop and an external hard drive. Backups of backups of backups. Do not EVER only have one copy of something. Losing something you've written is like...ugh it's the fucking worst. If it's never happened to you, don't tempt fate. Even if you manage to scrape together the will to rewrite the thing, you'll always wonder what it would have been like had you never lost it.
Also, cloud services are really great for sharing files and collaborating. So there's that too!
Web site and social accounts: This is pretty self explanatory. Encompassing all of the internet-facing stuff for your brand.
Andddd the Little Black Book: I use spreadsheets (surprise!) inside of Notion for this. I've got lists upon lists of different types of marketing avenues and reviewer contacts and all the paid advertising sites and all the free advertising sites and newsletter swaps and basically any useful marketing and networking person and site.
This is so valuable, especially tracking the performance over time. So say you release a sci-fi novel and use a set of newsletters and blog tours, and record which ones got a lot of engagement and which ones didn't. Later, you'll know which ones best to focus on for your next sci-fi release. Or maybe you're trying something out in romance and one of the ones that sucked for sci-fi happens to be popping up in the romance circles.
The more you hone and make notes on lists like this, the better each launch will be. Knowing what works and what doesn't, or at least trying to in such a changing market, will give you more confidence and every launch will be stronger than the last.
Which brings me to one more, the most important thing, and I didn't include it in the list because you can't just jam this into a box. I mean, you could try, but that would get messy and is probably illegal.
Community
Writer friends are the fucking best. I am super blessed with supportive family and friends, and also a best friend that is also an author, so my IRL social circle is awesome. However, living in the times of corona and also in the middle of fucking nowhere, it's nice to have an online community too. And having people important to you at your fingertips can make this lonely profession a lot less lonely. Finding other writers to chat with about craft, industry, genre, branding, or just to sprint with or share pet pictures or whatever, it's amazing. Because as supportive as people can be, non writers are just not going to really get the day-to-day.
Try not to get sucked in so much that you're super distracted from writing (looking at you, #writerscommunity on Twitter), but having a group of like-minded writers to hang with in between sprints and cheer each other on is awesome. I've made some super close lifelong friends this way that I've never met in person and I wouldn't trade them for fucking anything. <3
So? What's in your box? Is there anything on this list that you think I missed? And is there anything on this list that you're looking forward to hearing more about?