SERIESous Tips: Keeping Organized Part 2 – ARC/Requests

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When I participate in Twitter chats, a common question people ask each other is “how do you stay organized” and so I decided to share my methods with everyone (not that anyone asked me specifically). Normally, I post this sort of thing as a guide but I wanted more interaction and felt like a post would be better.

I’ve separated this post into the various sources I use: library (Part 1), ARCs/requests (Part 2-today) and purchases (Part 3–tomorrow) as well as scheduling posts (Part 4–day after). Each part will be posted over the course of four days.


 Part 2: ARCs & Request Copies

*I want to be clear that this post isn’t affiliated with Trello in any way, this is just my personal experience!*

To keep track of my ARC requests and reviews, I use Trello first and foremost. For those who don’t know, Trello is basically a virtual to-do list board that allows you to create different categories and cards to put under those categories. In addition to tracking ARCs and reviews, I also use a Trello board for site maintenance and reminders.

My first board is the one I use to track all NetGalley Requests, Blog Tours and Other ARC Requests:

trellonetgalley

As you can see, I use it to keep track of books I want to request from NetGalley (don’t you wish NetGalley had a wishlist feature?), books I have placed a request for (this is really helpful when thinking about signing up for blog tours and the like), books I have received for review as well as books I have reviewed. The “no longer available one” is basically for me to remember what books I saw on NetGalley and want to read now that they are published/removed.

I have different coloured labels that mean different things (mainly the source of the book) and I note the publishing date or the date I have to have the review published. That last part is what is helpful when trying to sign-up for Blog Tours or ARCs because it gives me a rough idea of how many review posts I have for that week/time-frame.

Once I get approved for a review copy, I move that title over to my “Review” Board:

trelloreviews

This is where I keep track of all my posts for my blog. I write down various ideas in my “To-Do”column, note the ARCs I have to review, what reviews/posts are in development, cross-posting and a few other boards.

What I really like about Trello is that each card can have mini checklists, a due date, a place to write notes and of course, coloured labels.

trellochecklist

The checklists feature is really, really helpful when it comes to cross posting my reviews on other sites or making sure I hit all the requirements of a blog tour post. It’s also super easy to copy checklists from previous cards so I don’t have to rewrite all my checklists every time I add a new card.

Because it is a web-based system, I can access Trello anywhere so long as I have internet. I can get it for my phone and tablet so that makes it super easy to add cards while on the go.

I also keep track of all my review posting dates on my master list which I will be talking about in Part 4 of my series.


 

There you have it! Join me tomorrow when I explain how I track my eBook purchases.

Do you have a specific way for keeping track of your ARCs/requests?

Let me know below!

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Comments 10

  • YOU ARE SO ORGANIZED I AM IMPRESSED <3 I had no idea such a website existed, it sounds kind of fabulous to keep yourself in touch with everything you want and have to do, I love it, will have to check it out 🙂

    • I try to keep organized! I have such an awful memory!

      I didn’t know Trello existed until a co-worker wanted to implement it for our event planning and I instantly loved it! I recommend it to everyone when they ask about online organization tools 🙂

  • I wish I were that organized. Since stopping digital ARCs (re no e-reader) and mainly juggling their physical counterparts, I just place them by month in a pile on my desk that I know is the “oh shit I have to [try to] read these soon books”. Admittedly, when I had Netgalley ARCs, for example, I just used the generic Windows Notepad to keep track haha. Your way is much more intuitive!

    • Because I only read eARCs (I read a lot of Indie stuff so I feel bad when people offer to ship to Canada), it’s so easy to lose track of them! They just disappear on a page in my eReader! So having a list with dates really, really helps!

  • Oh wow, this sounds fantastic. I didn’t know about this resource but I need to check it out. I’ve mostly been using a print planner, but I DO think that having some way to keep track of things online would be a lot better/easier for me sometimes.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Lauren

    http://www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

    • I used to use my extra school planner as my paper tracker but I often reschedule posts, so I was erasing to much stuff and the boxes were so small! It was too much and I like the ability to easily change things when I need too. Having it online in a cloud is great for when I am blogging from some where other than my laptop.

      Thanks for reading 🙂

  • this is fantastic!! I have an account with Trello but hadn’t figured out yet how to use it for my bookish purposes – this is so helpful! Thank you!!!

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