My husband, Fahim, programmer and fellow writer, has written & released WriteTrack. WriteTrack is software designed for writers to track and make their writing submissions, ie articles, novels, short stories, etc to agents, editors, and publishers. It's free.
You can read more about it here, or download it directly from here.
Fahim is looking for feedback and feature suggestions. In non-geek speak, that means he wants to know what's wrong, what doesn't work, and what you think needs to be added or changed. Please go to his forum to give him aforementioned feedback and feature suggestions.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
I haven't looked it over yet, but here's what I wish a program would do for me.
Let me list markets Let me list stories Let me tell it when I submit, publish, or get rejected
and (the thing I haven't found yet)
It should tell me when too much time has expired and I should assume the MS was lost, and resubmit or market elsewhere.
Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :
I'll take a look at it and let you (or your hubby) know what I think.
Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
Well, the database software I had been using has annoyed me for the last time. It keeps reversing the dates I put in, so that 01/02/2006 turns into 02/01/2006. So I'll try out Fahim's software and see if it's any better.
--Mel
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
You mean the dates are auto corrcting to British format. There may be a preference you could change.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
In all honesty, it could also mean auto correcting to American usage. It's not clear from the example which way it's going.
Fahim tells me that the date format in his program is based on regional settings.
Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
quote:You mean the dates are auto corrcting to British format. There may be a preference you could change.
Nope. It's an error, not an auto-correction. The input does require dates in British format, which doesn't bother me. So August 16, 2005 is entered as 16/08/2005. So January 2, 2006 would be 02/01/2006. Yet when I come back to it, it has been changed to 01/02/2006. No matter how many times I change it back, it never stays fixed.
So I tried out Fahim's program last night. It's mostly functional at this point, and I think it has a lot of potential. I have a list of comments that I'll post at his forums when I get a chance.
--Mel
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Cool beans! Yep, he wants comments and he wants to know how it can be improved, so yes, please!
Posted by Karloff (Member # 3143) on :
And the point of this software is what? When John D. MacDonald started writing he kept 30 stories in the mail at a time. This was back in the 1940s. He worked on a typewriter. There were no computers. Yet he managed to keep track.
Would someone please tell me other than knowing which story is at which market, and when you sent it, what more do you need?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Um, if that's all you need, that's fine. Others have other requirements in mind.
No one is actually requiring that you either download it or use it.
Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
It's the same point that any business software has: it makes it quicker and easier to keep track of information. Sure, you could do everything by hand, but I would rather spend that time writing (or procrastinating, as the case may be).
*taps foot impatiently*
Still waiting for the forum registration to go through...
--Mel
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Mel, he's asleep (I have insomnia) and he approves manually due to excessive spammers in the past. He'll do it when he wakes up in *checks time* six more hours-ish.
It's that whole dang living halfway around the world from everyone else we communicate with online thing.
Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :
quote:other than knowing which story is at which market, and when you sent it, what more do you need?
Well . . . you might want to keep track of which stories have actually sold. Also how much you got paid for them. Also, how much you've spent on postage, paper for cover letters and printouts, envelopes, etc., for tax deduction purposes. Also, who is the editor at that market? If an editor changes magazines, for example, you don't want to submit your story to the new magazine when the editor has already seen it. In fact, you also want the name of the first reader (especially if the story never got to the editor's attention) for the same reason. You can also use this information to decide to resubmit to the same market, if both the first reader and the editor have changed.
Stuff like that. You don't need a computer program for any of this. And you can still type your stories on a typewriter. But who would want to?
[This message has been edited by rickfisher (edited January 17, 2006).]
Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
I was hoping that if you were awake, so was he. Oh well, I'll check back later.
--Mel
Posted by Karloff (Member # 3143) on :
So in other words, if you're regularly selling your work it's a good thing.
Not there yet.
Q: Who would want to work on a typewriter? A: Harlan Ellison.
[This message has been edited by Karloff (edited January 17, 2006).]
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Mel, assuming I remember this in the morning, I'll suggest to him that he make me a mod so I can approve new members. You know, make the lives of other people easier. Not you, unfortunately, cuz it'll be too late... Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Mel, you're approved. Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
I saw! I've already posted all sorts of features that I want.
--Mel
Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
quote:wbriggs said: and (the thing I haven't found yet)
It should tell me when too much time has expired and I should assume the MS was lost, and resubmit or market elsewhere.
WriteTrack has this functionality now, Will.
--Mel
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
How is this better than the spreadsheet that I keep?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Since I have no idea what your spreadsheet is like, this is impossible to answer completely.
What I can tell you, though, is that WriteTrack has a database of agents, publishers and the like, and not only can you use it to track your submissions, you can also use it to make your submissions. That is, it has mail merge with templates that you can use to send out printed queries or email queries.
Posted by Minister (Member # 2213) on :
Whoah. That's pretty cool. I didn't know it had that stuff. I'll probably never use the mail merge feature, but just how extensive is that database?
Posted by MCameron (Member # 2391) on :
You have to build the database yourself. Would your really want to have to scroll through a hundred markets that you've never used to find one that you have?
The way I do it is every time I send a story to a completely new market, I enter the information then. That way my database only contains markets that I've actually subbed to.
--Mel
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 2240) on :
Fahim has considered compiling a database of all agencies/publishers that we have information for, but it would be labour intensive. Also, that database, if he/we did it, would likely be a paid feature, unlike the software itself, which is free.
Mel, thanks for being so quick to answer questions.
Posted by Minister (Member # 2213) on :
Okay, I've downloaded the software. I see that now, and it makes perfect sense. I'm still trying to feel my way around the program and haven't had much time to play with it yet.
Posted by Smaug (Member # 2807) on :
I like the fact that Fahim isn't asking any kind of payment for his creations. You don't find people like that out there very often. I've downloaded the software, but with me, there's always a fairly lengthy learning curve with stuff like that, so it may take me awhile to offer up suggestions--and by then he may have already updated it significantly. Still I'm going to try it and see what I think as I'm planning on subbing a lot in the next couple of weeks.
