Projects & Deadlines
This table is where all of the magic happens.
I have this table synced with my book sheet from my Series Bible, so it automatically pulls over any of the information I need. If you don’t know how to sync or don’t want to get into that, you can easily add any of the information you need by copying and pasting, or entering it manually.
This sheet breaks down all of my projects and includes their status, start date, deadline, target word counts, to-do list items (if I click any item in this column, it will show me the details for each task), plus it calculates the number of days until the manuscript is due, and how many words are needed per day to hit my goal. This sheet automatically pulls information from the next sheet to calculate the number of words still left to be completed.
Under views, I also have it broken down by month, to see what projects are most pressing at the moment and plan accordingly.
At the very bottom of each month’s view, you can see how your writing goals and deadlines will affect the total number of words needed each month by looking at the Sum under the Avg Words Month column.
Chapter Progress
This is where I keep my notes and word counts for each individual chapter. The view is grouped by book, so I can easily see my total word count for the book in the SUM above the word count column in the header. All of these numbers will autofeed into the Projects & Deadlines sheet so you know approximately how many words you have left to write before the deadline.
To-Do
I am using this to block out any separate items that need done for projects. Currently, I have the release dates and Radish uploads planned out. I use a checkbox to send items to my Todoist Calendar on Google when I’m ready for them to be added to my list.
I also have separate views set up so that I can see my list on a calendar in Airtable, broken down by project, broken down by type of task, or chronological.
Promotions
Since I’m using this base to plan all of my content, not just books, I have this sheet to track promotions so I can easily see what posts need to be scheduled on social media or included in my newsletter or blog.
Featured Reads
I use this sheet to track any features that will be mentioned in my newsletter, like swaps from BookFunnel, promotions, etc. I can break it down by date or by newsletter and easily see what’s coming up, who I’ve swapped with previously, and what books are going to be shared by someone else.
A second perk to this sheet is that I can also create a gallery to display and automatically update. I have this gallery embedded on my website, so that readers who miss the promotions can still stop by and see any of the books I have shared.
Newsletters
I recently added this sheet to condense all of the information I’ll be including in each newsletter, and share it to my Google Calendar, so I can quickly see that I have a newsletter going out and click the link to see what I need to include. I will also be adding images created for the newsletter round-up shared on my blog and a space to keep additional notes.
Clicking any of the titles under the featured reads column will also allow me to see the details for that promo from the previous sheet.
Marketing Copy
This is a combination of 2 sheets I kept in the past for teasers and review quotes so I can easily see the reviewer’s name and break the marketing copy down by book while still keeping everything in one place.
You can break down your teasers and promo materials as much as you like by adding headings, text, and attributions, and this table brings everything together (with the help of the following sheet) to create copy for social media. The Twitter column truncates the text used and the following column lets you know if it’s under Twitter limits after being combined with hashtags and the link.
Clicking the title in the book (section) column will reveal any of the marketing materials I have saved for that title from the next sheet.
Marketing Materials
This is where I organize my links, hashtags, images, etc, that can be used for each book. Clicking on any of the items under copy will reveal the teaser or review linked to that book. All links, instructions, or hashtags used here will be brought over to the proper book in the previous sheet.
Automations
These are the automation I use to share my promo dates, newsletter dates, and deadlines to my Google Calendar.
If you’d like to download a blank copy of my Content & Project Planning database to customize it for yourself and plan your goals, you can get it here.