Over the past three years the ways I schedule my blog posts and reviews has changed a lot. Today I’m reflecting on what my current process is to keep track of ARCs and my content calendar.
ARCs
I get my ARCs from a variety of sources: Netgalley, Edelweiss, Bookish, and publishers (and also conferences sometimes if I can go). The process for my physical ARCs is pretty straightfoward. I have a special section on my bookshelf which I organize according to release month. That way I can see how many I have left as I read and how many for the next month, etc.
For e-arcs it’s been a different story and my process has changed a lot. I just want to say I am a huge believer in writing things down physically. For me that just works better and I find it easier for me to keep track then many Google docs or documents in general. Did you know I used to just write down physically in notebooks what e-arcs I had?
Trello Organization for e-arcs
But now I want to track the source, representation, and more. A few months ago I developed a Trello board. This is a teamwork website and you can join for free. You can basically create a ‘card’ for each e-arc with different information and labels. I format it, “01/20 The Birthday of Lili” so that I can sort the dates if I want. Then I color code different labels that tell me the source of the e-arc, if I requested it, or if it’s diverse. I’ve gotten pretty good at the colors so I can just tell the source from the color without having to expand the label.
In Trello you can create different lists and for these I have a different list for each month. That way I can see quickly how many e-arcs I have for that given month. I always sort mine by date and this helps me figure out if one day is especially heavy for releases.
When I have finished reviewing the book, I move the card to a list I have called, “Reviewed”. That way I have a record of which books I have reviewed and where I got them from if I need to look back. I also have a list called, “Overdue” which were e-arcs I didn’t manage to review by release day. For these, I change the date format to: 2019/01/20 for example. This is only a problem if you have multiple years of overdue arcs…like I do. I used to also make my TBR for the current month, but I haven’t used that list since January…
I also have a special two lists for blog tours. One for the dates I am scheduled and I move them to a new list, “Scheduled” for when I am finished. That way I can see the ones I’ve done that are upcoming and the blog tour stops I still need to take care of.
Monthly TBR
But this just is how I keep track of what e-arcs and arcs I have. Each month I make a list in my bullet journal of the books that will release for the next month with the release date. I have special notes for this list like if I have a blog tour for that book, if I requested it, or if it’s special or highly anticipated. I put both e-arcs and physical arcs on this list. This helps me because I ca physically cross off a book when I finish it. I need that satisfaction personally.
And then I just try to read by prioritizing the ones I have for tours and that were sent to me, and then which ones I am highly anticipating. I didn’t used to do a physical TBR, I used to use Trello, but this list has a higher success rate especially since it’s in my bullet journal and part of my routine each month.
Blog Calendar
And the last part of how I keep track is by having a separate date calendar just for blog posts. This is where I can see a week glance at how many posts I have for the week and so I can balance the types of posts. I also include the blog tour stops here as soon as I’m assigned a date. Otherwise I don’t write a post into the calendar unless I’ve actually scheduled it.
Last month I started writing symbols that reminded me if I needed to link the review to Netgalley or send it to a publicist or Bookish First. I don’t always check this everyday, so I also include a weekly list of what links I need to send to publishers in my bullet journal.
As you can tell, I have a few different systems and I rely a lot on writing things down in my bullet journal, but this is just the method that has been working for me this past year. It’s been such a lifesaver to see these different types of systems. I love each part for a different reason. I need the constant lists and physical writing down process for my monthly TBRs and link reminders. While I also enjoy the Trello for ease of use and a quick way to assess my work load.
Social Media Scheduling
I did want to mention that I schedule all my Tweets and Facebook posts ahead of time. I use Hootsuite to see an overview of these social media platforms. This way I can make sure that each post gets about three tweets and one Facebook post. I make sure to post during the morning, afternoon, and evening for each post. I can also schedule posts on Twitter for interviews or longer posts which I post about for a whole month after publication on my blog.
You can only schedule so many messages at a time so I have to go in every so often and schedule the posts I have saved as drafts. This means I don’t need to remember the caption or link, just go in to each draft and schedule it. I also like the mobile app for on the go scheduling!
For Instagram I use an app called Preview which Novelknight recommended to me to preview what my feed will look like because I need to balance outdoor and indoor posts. I also have a Google Keep with the hashtags I like so I can just copy and paste into Instagram which I have a few different sets I like to alternate between. This way, I can see what posts have been published and see what any future posts would look like to the overall layout. I am in love with this app so much.
Another insightful post – thanks for sharing! I don’t have nearly as much reading or writing to keep track of you, but it’s neat to see how one blogger has developed a system that works for them.
Thank you! Ohh it’s interesting, how do you organize it?
I essentially keep track of everything in a Word document called ‘Scheduling’ 😛 I have lists for upcoming posts, challenges, events, upcoming releases, post ideas when I’m not sure what to write about, and a table for when to read and review ARCs by. I also have a calendar plug-in for my blog that I find helpful when scheduling my posts and making sure I balance of a mix of content.
Ooohhh a calendar plug in sounds amazing! I need to be better about writing like…discussion posts lol
The one I use is called Editorial Calendar. 🙂 Ah, discussion posts. I try them every now and then but I can’t keep them up and make them interesting like some bloggers can lol.
I’ll look into it! I just like never have ideas for discussion posts lol..but I want to try to write a few…It’s like where do those ideas come from??
WOW! Incredible to read all these “ways” you use to keep track of all the reading, ARCs, books, publishers, and more…but quite frankly, I would need a semester course in “computer apps,” or whatever they might be called,
to even begin to understand all you are doing! It’s absolutely amazing! You are amazing! Maybe you can show me a tiny bit someday, though I doubt I’ll ever “keep up” with you!!!!!!
Hey! I’ve been transitioning over to Trello to organize my ARCs and I have a huge backlist for Netgalley. I was wondering if you’re willing to share a template for your Netgalley board?
Such a great post!!
Sure, for me I just have a tag for the Netgalley ones. That way I always know, from the color alone, which ones are Netgalley. Otherwise my board for the backlist isn’t organized at all. It’s one of the things I have to change, but I do organized it by priority just in one board and it says overdue. does that answer your question?