Submission Database [and publication tracking]

Scrivener Wish List
1

When it is time to submit a manuscript to agents or publishers, things can get complicated.

It would be nice to have a system for helping manage this process built in. I got this idea when I used Scrivener as a database to manage all the submissions to a bunch of agents, using scrivener “scenes” for each submission, and moving them between folders based on status.But that is not how I’d do the database.

The parts of this function might be:

  1. Contact list for agents/publishers
  2. a non-manuscript folder including email text, cover letter, treatment or narrative summary, etc.
  3. The ability to “compile” a submission using the items in the non-manuscript folder and check boxes for which sample chapters to include, etc. The generated product might be a copy of an email to copy and past into client (or scrivener could access email directly) and a list of links to attachments. Or something.

A related idea is the Publisher’s/Editors version of Scrivener, which I’ll submit as a separate idea.

2

You might like to look at

andrewnicolle.com/all_apps/story-tracker-for-mac

Also available for iPhone and iPad.

Mr X

3

See also.

4

Story Tracker looks good, but it’s Mac only.

It might be possible to construct the kind of submission database you suggest in Scrivener, using MMD, but I think Scrivener is the wrong tool for that job.

I wrote my own submissions manager years ago, and tweak it as I go along and discover new things I’d like it to be able to do. I’m writing a series of articles about it, discussing some of the issues that arise, such as avoiding simultaneous submissions. You can read the first article by going to my Writer’s Journal at http://scarterfrogs.phpwebhosting.com/maatpublishing/steve/writers_journal.php, or go directly to the PDF: http://frogstoryrecords.com/maatpublishing/steve/submit1.pdf.

If you’re willing to do a little programming, it probably would be possible to write a program like this in Something like FIleMaker Pro or even FreePlane.

Steve

5

Hi everybody!

I really hope someone from the Scrivener team is reading this.

As an absolute fan of Scrivener, I recommend it to everybody who asks and sometimes even to people don’t ask. LOL

As an author you will hardly wish for anything. When it comes to writing at least.

However there is one thing so many authors, if not all published authors who have multiple projects, wish they had: a simple database/ app to keep all information about their projects (including publication) in one place.

Scrivener already has most of what’s needed but with only a few adjustments it could turned into a perfectly suited new app. I certainly would buy it instantly. And I know literally dozens of authors who would weep in happiness.

Based on Scrivener, simple masks aiming for keeping publications and all needed details easily sorted would be a game changer.

What I mean: let’s say you have twenty publications. For each you have typical meta data but also information like content editor, line editor, maybe beta reader, of short blurb, regular blurb, narrator, you name it. Additionally, it’s difficult to keep track of all the selling platforms, formats, prices (in different countries), editions, and so on.
It would also be great if the cover (or multiple, e.g. an additional one for audiobooks) could be stored in one place, directly with the project.
Selling statistics and income data directly in one place together with each book would also be a dream come true. All in one place for each book and Series of books etc. if needed.

There are cloud solutions and different apps for parts of this but I truly believe that, based on Scrivener, something like this could be realized without too many changes needed.

Nowadays it’s so difficult to find great apps that are not cloud-based but many still want that. And that’s where Scrivener could really make (even more of) a difference!

6

Sorry, I’m going to be a dissenting voice here! These features worthy as they are for some authors should be in a dedicated tracking app not causing “code bloat” in Scrivener itself. Using shortcut keys and scripting to integrate as-is Scrivener into a full on publishing workflow setup would be fine.

Remember not everyone who uses Scrivener is looking to write books — whether fiction or non-fiction — but could be writing papers that will published in the academic literature, coursework submissions, dissertations, heck I’ve used it for emails and even posts here that go over more than a paragraph or two.

And if I were to use Scrivener as part of a publishing workflow I would use something more appropriate for pre-press, maybe Scribus or some other DTP package. Although at the moment I occasionally compile to LaTeX for really good camera-ready copy.

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7

Welcome to the forum! I’ve merged this with a very closely related feature request that was already posted, regarding expanding Scrivener from a writing program into a larger suite of tasks that includes a database for tracking written works, and so forth.

1 Like
8

I totally agree with you. But please read what I wrote again. I am not (!) suggesting merging anything or adding features to Scrivener.

I suggest using the existing Scrivener as a basis for a new(!) app. Creating an app from scratch is extremely time consuming. But most of an app can be simply copied and only modified in certain places, as I believe can be done in this case, the creation of such an app would be relatively easy, need only few resources, but I know for a fact that many authors would love to pay for such an app.

9

@Creative_writer I did read your post about YASSA (Yet Another Scrivener Suggested App)! There is already a new app reportedly in beta — but the first rule of beta is do not talk about beta — which from the few official posts there have been is likely to be Scrivener Lite. Add to that the repeated call for an Android version to complement the iOS/iPadOS version in the mobile space and that latter took a looooooooooooog time to hit the market even when eventually programmed by KB with all he knows about the internals of Scrivener; he wrote somewhere, maybe here on this forum, how difficult and time-consuming it is to take a macOS program and convert it to a touch-responsive iOS/iPadOS app. From memory he said it was not really possible to share common code. Not counting of course the existence of Windows version.

All-in-all any such publishing workflow program using some of Scrivener’s code is likely to be way off if it ever were to see the light of day.

10

This is the sort of thing that people who are not programmers often say. It’s the programming equivalent of “I’ve got a great idea for a book. Why don’t you write it and we’ll split the proceeds?”

In the meantime, I’ve been happy with a site called Duotrope. https://duotrope.com

2 Likes
11

Thank you for the suggestion. But that’s not exactly what I meant.

While I’m not a programmer, I am working with websites and databases. You are correct that the complexity of the process of app creation is often underestimated und undervalued. I am not suggesting only a few changes of lines of code would be enough.

Still, modifying an existing tool like Scrivener can be quicker than building an app from scratch, especially since it already has many features I and other authors need. While UX/UI changes aren’t trivial, leveraging Scrivener’s foundation saves time compared to starting from zero.

To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that instead of agreeing or disagreeing such an app would be great/ useful or simply pointing out that it might not be an option because of xyz, the answers are immediately so negative.

12

I wasn’t aware of similar suggestions. I couldn’t find any with a quick search. Otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it in the first place.

As a Mac user I have to admit that I don’t really care about other platforms and yes, I’m aware that it’s a bit selfish.
What I do care about though is an easy way to store all these data offline. Yes, there are a few apps on the market and I even created an SQL database for my use cases at one point. But nothing I found or created myself did meet my wishes fully. And most people simply can’t work with SQL Databases, so other authors couldn’t use my method.

However, thanks for the info about this beta app. I would love to buy such an app from Literature and Latte und would then recommend them to dozens of authors I know. But until they or someone else brings out an (offline) App, creativity will continue to be needed also outside of writing, I’m afraid. :wink:

13

As an Apple user I care about multi-product cooperation. I use the existing Scrivener on my Macs, iPhone, and IPad. Not sure that it would be viable on my Apple Watch but if the program existed for that environment I would install it.

The question such limited viewpoints pose though is financial. What will make L&L profitable in order to fund current product maintenance and new product creation. Cross platform is the way to go however much you and I might not like the idea.

As a (retired) computing scientist/software engineer that is the starting point of development — listing out the wishes aka the desired features. From there formal requirements can be refined, a system designed, programming defined and created, testing strategy established, etc before any program gets to beta status. And as someone who worked on databases pretty much that entire career even an SQL database does not provide all the functionality necessary; great at storing/retrieving things but no where near being a programming environment suitable for submission and publication tracking, great at handling millions of records — with the right SQL DBMS and a normalised design. There is a whole lot of programming necessary to link everything together with one line of code that starts Scrivener up for origination or editing.

14

I like The Grinder. It’s free and has an extensive database of markets.

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