File Set Up

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this one since it’s not really an issue about using Scrivener, other than advice on how you all set up. My apologies if it is in the wrong place.

That said, since I’m new to all of this, self-publishing in the first half of 2018 (depending on how horrified my beta readers and then editor are…). Before my computer files get in too much of a mess, I wondered how all of the experienced folks here set up their folders? (For all the different compiles/versions.)

So at the moment, I have something like:
Writing -> Shattering Dreams (book title)

In the book name folder, I’ve saved all the version of the book so far. (it is separate from where I save my Scrivener files)

Of course, my (Book Name) folder is muddled in with all the generic folders like Book Cover, Editing, Receipt, Website, etc., etc. With one book so far, it’s not too bad. Yet Shattering is book one in a series, with book two being drafted now and book three planned. Then I have my second series planned, the rough draft of the first book of that series is sitting in the top drawer of my desk. Still that is a few years off. lol

Looking at how I’ve set it up, it’s going to get messy before too long, it already is.

I figured I might as well ask people who have been doing this for some time, to see what you do. I already know I will have multiple versions of book 1 of each format. I already do since I’ve just sent it to my beta readers, then there will be the next version before the editor, then the version after the editor, then the version after the proofread… at a minimum.

How are you keeping track of each format of each book?

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Each format? The compiled versions I just dump somewhere. I don’t really need them once they have been submitted to Amazon, iBookstore, Smashwords, Createspace, etc.

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I would say the critical thing is not to have your folders set up in any particular way, but to be sure to name everything in a way that makes sense to you.

‘BookOneVersionOne’ is less useful than ‘Fellowship_Draft_KD’ (where ‘KD’ are the initials of a reviewer, say).

Most of my writing is articles. So I have a folder for each major client, and within that a sub-folder for each year, plus an ‘admin’ folder for contracts and invoices and such. Book length projects get their own folder, and might have a subfolder for administrative stuff, another for images, spreadsheets, and similar supporting materials, and so on.

Katherine