SiteCreating Efficient Workflows for Article Assignments
I’m working on a new 6-week e-course called Get Unstuck! for Freelancers (which starts September 14), which will give advice and assignments on motivation, organization, and productivity. (And yes…I am generally highly motivated, productive, and organized!) I’m packing tons of information into the six lessons — from beating procrastination to overhauling your to-do list to making time for writing. I’m in the middle of writing the lesson on organizing your workflow, and I thought I’d post the section on how I handle an article assignment, step by step.
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Working Your Work
When you’re working on several projects at once, as most of us writers do, the result can be a typhoon of information. On any given day, you may create interview sound files, receive contracts, gather research for your novel, receive rejections (or acceptances!) on queries you sent six months ago, follow up on queries and proposals, send e-mails to editors and agents…okay, I’ll stop there because I’m going a little crazy just thinking about it.
Luckily, if you have systems in place that work for you, you can streamline how you handle and store these bits of information. Let’s get started!
An Overview
Curious about how setting up systems can help a project flow from acceptance to payment? Let’s say I get a new article assignment. Here’s how I organize it. I:
1. Enter the assignment due date into my iCal calendar and mark it blue (to separate it from interviews, which are red).
2. Enter the name of the assignment, the magazine name, the amount due, and the due date for payment into my Excel income spreadsheet. This spreadsheet tells me how much I have coming in, how much I’ve already been paid, and what’s overdue.
3. Create a folder on my hard drive called NameofMagazine-NameofArticle, and move it to my “Articles in Progress” folder.
4. Create a Word file called NameofMagazine-NameOfArticle-NOTES and store it in the project folder I just created on my hard drive. This is where I’ll put the assignment specs (word count, instructions from the editor), enter in contact info of potential sources, and dump any bits of research I come across online.
5. Create a folder with the name of the magazine and article in Gmail so I have a place to store e-mails related to the article.
6. Start finding sources and trying to set interviews right away. This is the one part of the process you can’t control, so it pays to start early in case you have trouble nailing people down for interviews. Whenever I call or e-mail a potential source, I enter the information into the NOTES file I created. I go over the file every day so I know who I need to follow up with.
7. Enter interviews into my iCal calendar. I include the name of the interviewee, the name of the magazine, and the source’s phone number so I don’t have to look it up come interview time.
8. When I do an interview, name the sound file NameofSource-Interview-Date and save it to the article project folder. I then send the file to my transcriptionist. When I get back the transcription, I name it NameofSource-Transcription-Date and save it to the same folder.
9. Write the article! There’s much more on this in the lesson on researching and writing faster. I name the article NameofMagazine-NameofArticle-Formichelli and save it to the project folder.
10. Send the article (attached and in the body of the e-mail) and immediately send an invoice. (I say immediately because otherwise I forget.) I give the invoice a number and name it Number-NameofMagazine.
11. Enter the invoice number into the Excel spreadsheet with the rest of the assignment information for easier tracking if I have to follow up on an overdue payment.
12. Move the article project folder from the Articles in Progress folder to a folder titled Articles Completed. That way, when I open up the Articles in Progress folder I’m looking only at current projects and am not distracted by old assignments.
13. Wait for payment. Every couple of weeks, I go through the Excel spreadsheet to see which invoices I need to follow up on. When the payment comes, I enter it into the spreadsheet by moving the amount from the Owed column to the Paid column.
14. Party!
By now this routine is so ingrained that it’s second nature. I don’t have to think about what to do next — I already know what to do. I’d use a similar system if I were writing a book.
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So, Renegade readers: Do you have a system for handling article assignments, and if so, is it similar to mine? If you don’t have a system, why not? [lf]
5 Responses to “Creating Efficient Workflows for Article Assignments”
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Chanize
Said this on August 21st, 2009 at 7:25pm:Linda,
I love this article!
I’m working my way to being more organized. I do have a system, but it needs fine tuning.
I use a ledger book to track story title, due date, fee, invoice date, and a have a paid column where I put a check mark next to.
It’s done by month, so at the end of the month, I highlight what’s outstanding so I can easily reference it.
I set up a folder on my email and put the name of the story and then put an any emails pertaining to it in that file.
So far, that’s all I’ve got going..lol
Procratinate for these Posts: 8/22/09 : Bizzia - Business News and Commentary – Finance and Business Tips
Said this on August 22nd, 2009 at 3:11pm:[...] Creating Efficient Workflows for Article Assignments from The Renegade Writer [...]
Laura Cross
Said this on August 23rd, 2009 at 1:54pm:Great post Linda. I’m not a freelance magazine writer (I’m a freelance editor and ghostwriter), but like magazine writers, I juggle several assignments at the same time. I use a similar system as you (which is great validation that I’m doing something right). iCal is the GREATEST ever! I also set up folders in my email program (Entourage) for each project and track my pending revenue through Quickbooks (as compared to an Excel spreadsheet).
cal
Said this on August 24th, 2009 at 6:03am:Love the idea of a “getting unstuck” course…
My system is much simpler, though after looking at yours if you are so productive because you’ve got a such a system in place or vice versa.
A few observations:
Do you use iCal as a separate application from your email? I use the calendar for Entourage for most of what you’re doing, I like the reminder function, use it to send “invites” for appointments (remind my wife we’re having dinner with friends) and recurring events (birthdays etc.) I have never used iCal, just opened it after reading your article and wonder what plusses it has…
I work mostly pay-for-word, so the excel system wouldn’t make much sense for me. I never know exactly how much it’ll come to until it’s finished — I also take pictures so until I know how many will be used so I don’t know what the final fee will be, either.
I use a database program called iOrganize — it cuts out most of what you use Word and folders for. You can create a category for the article and throw all of that stuff into separate notes, plus other articles or links for stuff you come across and might find useful.
When the piece is filed, I usually follow up with the ed, that last email is what prompts me to bill.
For the “finding sources” part of the article, I map out what voices I’m looking for on a notebook (an 8×10) that I flag with a post it at the top for each story that I jot down phone numbers etc.
So to fill out a piece that starts with rising obesity statistics, I need a serial dieter, a nutritionist, a researcher, an author or whatever.
LindaFormichelli
Said this on August 24th, 2009 at 10:45am:Thanks for your comments!
Cal, I use iCal separately from my e-mail. I’m probably using only a fraction of the functionality of iCal…I use it to schedule interviews and deadlines. I don’t use the alert function. I put interviews in red and deadlines in blue. That’s it!
iOrganize sounds pretty interesting…I’ll check it out.