Three trackers. Build each one in a spreadsheet — these are records you will add to weekly for a year or more, and no web page is the right home for that.
What follows is the column set for each, and the discipline that makes it worth keeping.
Submission Tracker
For querying agents and editors. The purpose is not the record itself: it is being able to see, six months in, whether the problem is your query letter or your list of targets.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date sent | The date, not "last week" |
| Agent / editor | The individual, not just the agency |
| Agency / publication | Where they work |
| Deadline | Their stated response time, so you know when to stop waiting |
| Status | One of the five codes below |
| Response date | Blank until it arrives |
| Notes | Anything personal in the reply. This is the column that matters |
Status codes
- Pending — sent, no response yet
- Rejected (form) — a standard no
- Personal (with feedback) — a no that told you something. Read these together, not one at a time
- Requested — a partial or full manuscript request
- Offer — an offer of representation
Marketing Activity Tracker
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | When you did it |
| Activity | Post, newsletter, promo site, ad campaign |
| Platform | Where |
| Time | Minutes or hours, honestly counted |
| Cost | What you spent |
| Result | Sales, sign-ups, clicks — one number |
| Return | Result against time and cost |
Review it monthly, and act on it
Review Tracker
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | When it appeared |
| Platform | Amazon, Goodreads, a blog |
| Rating | Out of five |
| Reviewer | Where you can identify them, for ARC follow-up |
| Key theme | The one thing they responded to, or objected to |
| Responded? | Almost always "no" — see the response templates |
Record the running totals monthly: total reviews, average rating, and the distribution across five stars down to one. The distribution tells you more than the average — twenty reviews averaging 4.0 with no one-stars is a very different book from twenty averaging 4.0 with four one-stars.