Organizational Tools

Query tracker is a great resource.

http://querytracker.net/

The new version is a little intimidating but it's okay once you get the hang of it.

I think one of the key things is to find something that works best with the way you work. I ran across an article in Writer's Digest (maybe two issues ago) about this subject. The author of the article talked particularly about a progress log, but one of the things she said was that it had to be in a notebook and recorded by hand. Instant turn off for me. If I kept it in a notebook, I'd stop recording anything after about two weeks and then the notebook was likely to get lost after that. Excel, with a shortcut on my desktop, worked better for me than handwriting something out. All noted because maybe it isn't a software solution. Maybe it's a pretty calendar or maybe it's a whiteboard. Maybe it's index cards.

Query Tracker's not bad, but it does have an inherent problem with it. It lists all agents, including the scam ones. The scam ones are marked as scam agents--that was an improvement they made in the versions--but early on, one of the scam agents (a top twenty one!) had gotten favorable comments from writers who hadn't checked them out and had just submitted to them. It does rely on the writers to add agents into the system, and that's how misinformation and scam agents end up in there.

In response to Linda's post, listing the scam agents was a touchy subject. I wanted writers to know about them and be warned. If I left them off the list, some writers would find them elsewhere and, not knowing any better, contact them. I figured information was the best weapon against these guys.

But, as you stated, some writers may have missed the flashing red skull & crossbones and the bold red lettering stating that they are scammers. So I have added even more warnings, but there is only so much I can do. All the warnings in the world won't help if people do not read them.

Here is a sample. This is the listing for Writer's Literary Agency. The warnings are hard to miss. There are also warnings from other writers in the comments section.

Yes, it is true that users can add agents to the list, but no agent is added into the system until after the information has been thoroughly reviewed. About half of the submitted agents are not listed due to questionable behavior.

Esopha, please let me know what it was about the new version that you didn't like and I'll see if there is something I can do to fix it.