Are you an author who has just completed writing a book? After your book has been written and edited, you may be ready to start approaching publishers. If you are like most first time book authors, there is a good chance that you will send your book manuscript to a fairly large number of publishing companies. After all, the more publishers you approach, the better your chance of getting a book published are.

Although sending your book manuscript to a number of publishers may increase your chances of getting your book published, it also increases the chances of confusion and error on your part. If you do not create a system for you to use and record your findings, you may end up making a number of costly and embarrassing mistakes. That is why it is important to know what publishers you have sent your book to, which publishers have responded, what their response was, and so forth.

A lack of organization in this endeavor can have a number of consequences. One of those consequences is that you could mistakenly send your manuscript to the same publisher twice. This has the potential to be very embarrassing and you may also, unintentionally, create a bad name for yourself. If a book publisher sends you a rejection letter, you do not want to resend them your book, especially if you didn't make any changes.

Your manuscript submission tracking system should include information on:

• Which publishers you have submitted your manuscript to.
• The date that your package was sent out.
• Responses received from publishers
• Date of response
• Followup, if any, and date of resending

As for how your information can be arranged, you will find that it all depends on your preference. If you are computer savvy, you can use your computer. You can create a spreadsheet. Be sure to include the information outlined above, including the publisher's name, the date the information was sent out, the response, as well as the date that response that was received. What is nice about using the computer is that you can easily add information right away. This allows you to keep a continued list going.

As nice as it is to use the computer, some individuals feel more comfortable keeping important information in print. The same approach can and should be taken though. Create a chart for you to use. Be sure to keep it in a well-known place so that you do not accidentally lose your important information. Also, be sure to remember to update every time that you decide to send your book to new publisher or if you receive a response letter.

As you can see, creating a system for yourself that allows you to track publishers that you have sent or intend to send your book to is a lot easier than it originally sounds. As a reminder, there are a number of benefits to staying organized and up-to-date with your information.