Organizing Your Writing Folders Saves Time and Earns Money

When writing for multiple publishers and publications it is important to have an organizational system to minimize submission errors and maximize earnings. I am sure that most content producers at Associated Content already have a system for organizing their articles, especially those who are prolific writers and submit to many publishers.

I am usually a pretty effective organizer when I set my mind to it, but unfortunately I hadn't quite set my mind to it prior to yesterday, when I thought that I had made a silly error and emailed the Content Managers about the mistake that I really had not made. While I was glad that I had not made the error, I realized that I easily could have, because I hadn't yet taken the time to fully organize. Being new to Associated Content and online publishing, I was fortunate to have this happen now, because organizing now is likely to save me some headache and embarrassment down the road.

The mistake I thought I had made was to publish an article elsewhere, after having accepted an offer from AC for an article I thought I had submitted as "exclusive." I wrote the Content Managers about the error then realized that I had, in fact, submitted the article as "nonexclusive." I then had to write and ask them to ignore my previous email. You know I felt like quite the idiot! I don't know if anyone at Associated Content has had a similar experience, but given my snafu I can see it happening to a content producer who is new to the AC community. I searched the AC library and the forum to see if something had been published about organizing articles, but I couldn't find one. As such, I thought it might be helpful to write a piece that could help someone else avert a potentially embarrassing and legally challenging situation.

If you have multiple publishers and publications to which you submit articles, then you probably already have directories or folders established for each publisher or publication. If you don't it might be a good idea to do so, particularly if you frequently submit to various publications. For example, in my primary "Writing" directory, I have specific folders representing the names of various publishers and publications. Folder names include "AC" for Associated Content, "CharWom" for Charlotte Woman, "Gasp" for Gasparilla, etc. I also have a folder within the main "Writing" directory labeled "InProg" for pieces that I am working on, and another labeled "Complet" for pieces I have completed, but have not yet decided where to submit. Below is a sample of how the directory structure within my "Writing" directory looks.

C:\my documents\Writing\InProg\
C:\my documents\Writing\Complet\
C:\my documents\Writing\AC\
C:\my documents\Writing\CharWom\
C:\my documents\Writing\Gasp\

There is a slight difference between the structure of folders that represent specific publications from which I accept writing assignments and publications to which I submit unsolicited articles. Within the former I set up an "InProg" folder, which contains articles that I am working on for that publication. Once I have completed and submitted an article, I move it to the "Submit" folder. Once the article has been published, I copy it into the "Publish" folder. For example, Gasparilla Magazine is one publication from which I accept writing assignments, so the directory structure is as listed below.

C:\my documents\Writing\Gasp\InProg
C:\my documents\Writing\Gasp\Submit
C:\my documents\Writing\Gasp\Publish

In the folders representing publications to which I submit unsolicited articles only, only two subfolders are necessary, because I work on those pieces while they are in the main "Writing" directory's "InProg" folder. Once I have finished an unsolicited article, I move it into the main "Writing" folder's "Complet" subdirectory. The "Complet" folder is an important one, because it should contain all of the articles that you have completed. Depending on how much you write you may want to include additional folders within your "Complet" directory to categorize your work.

If for example you write on a variety of topics, golf, gardening, tennis, and relationships, and you write multiple articles on each. Having a directory structure that allows you to go to those categories to find something you have published or want to publish on that subject could be helpful. You could place all completed articles into the folders or directories that correspond to the subject addressed in the articles. If an article overlaps multiple topics, it would not hurt to have it saved in multiple folders. For example, my article entitled "Tiger Woods and The Spirit of the Game of Golf" (TWSPIRITfin031507) is saved only in my "golf" subdirectory, while "Use Your Tennis Stroke to Enhance Your Golf Swing" (TEN_GOLFfin031907) is saved in both my "golf" and "tennis" subdirectories since the subject matter overlaps two topics (see sample structure below).

C:\my documents\Writing\Complet\golf\TEN_GOLFfin031907
C:\my documents\Writing\Complet\tennis\TEN_GOLFfin031907
C:\my documents\Writing\Complet\garden\

Utilizing a system of analyzing your folders can save you time when you are trying to locate articles you have written, have begun but not finished, and that you have submitted and had published. The above is an example of what works for me and it may help you organize. But the key is to use a method of organization that allows you to access your work in an efficient manner. Combined with the system of naming and organizing files as discussed in "How to Name and Organize Files Containing Your Work," a folder organization system that works for you will prevent you from breaking agreements with publishers as I thought I had done. The time you save in the long run by implementing such a system is time that you can spend writing and enhancing your bank account.