Spreadsheet Template for Book Promotion

Spreadsheets freeze my brain. All those little boxes are appropriately called cells. Like, they lock you in. I avoid spreadsheets whenever possible, preferring to build tables in Word for what I need.

Sometimes…rarely…a spreadsheet is truly what I need.

And then I whine. Sometimes a lot.

Thankfully, I have a good friend who LOVES spreadsheets. She’s of the rare breed that codes websites for relaxation, when she’s too tired to write or edit. I can tell you that messing with HTML and CSS on my website requires every one of my brain cells in highly tuned working order. The process also usually requires my friend being online.

Meet Margaret Fisk, a long time friend and critique partner whom I first met at Forward Motion for Writers. This photo was taken when she visited me in July, 2010.

Since selling my novella last winter, I’ve been storing up all manner of information on book promotion. Someone somewhere mentioned they had a spreadsheet for keeping track of reviewers, interviews, review copies, etc. I could see the huge benefit of this–and froze!

Margaret to the rescue. She not only built me a beautiful four-page spreadsheet, but she’s offering it as a free download to any other author who could use it. Yes, that means you, and you, and you.

Here’s the nutshell, though Mar explains it more at the link above:
Page 1: A pivot roundup. Hang in there if you don’t know what that means (I didn’t!) Basically it takes the most pertinent info from the other three sheets for a quick…roundup. And WOOT! It’s automatic, if you remember to refresh the data.

Page 2: Reviews. This page tracks blogs and the dates posts are scheduled to go up (Mar even made the cell turn a different color when the date has come and gone!), whether the post is an interview, review, guest post, etc. If it’s about the review, it’s on this page.

Page 3: Reviewers. This page is specific to the people who are willing to endorse, review, or influence your book. There are spaces for email and snail mail addresses and a link to their blog. Also a place to mark the date you sent the copy to them.

Page 4: Paper Review Copies. If you’ve got a box of books in your garage that you’re emptying out book by book, this page will help you keep track of where they went, and when they’re getting low enough that you need to order more.

So, about all those little cells. They still don’t look all that friendly, but Mar’s spreadsheet makes it much easier to keep track of things. I’ve already got a few names listed that want review copies of Rainbow’s End. Thank you, Mar!!