Monday, June 25, 2007

Multiple Hard Copies

Here’s another tip about backing up your work. Don’t back up with more than one hard copy.

I know people who have multiple copies of their manuscripts in storage or on shelves in the garage. They send a copy to an agent, it gets rejected, they put it on the shelf along with the rejection letter. The same thing happens to the next copy and they stack it up. And the pile gets higher.

You only need one hard copy. And I’d make it the latest version. I usually keep a copy saved on a CD or the external hard drive of the original and the latest version. If I make changes, I save over the “old” latest version.

If you’ve only made minor changes, you don’t need to print a new copy. But if you do make major edits or rewrites, then you can consider printing a new hard copy – throw out the old one.

But, seriously, five, six copies of the same manuscript are not necessary.

You can keep those rejection letters if you want. Put them in a folder, under the agency’s name. Or if you’re tracking your queries on your computer, enter the information concerning the rejection in your files. I like to keep track of things like:
  • Response time
  • Comments
  • Requests for more
  • Name of who responded (sometimes it’s not the agent)
Always try to make your life easier. And sorting through multiple copies of a manuscript, trying to figure out which was the latest version, is not easy.

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