The Value of Software Integration for Writers

Making a living as a writer has become a juggling act where keeping track of multiple projects is the norm. If you can do that manually, such as with a good, old-fashioned notebook or hard-copy planner, awesome. You just keep doing your thing. But if your brain tends to get a bit discombobulated, as mine does, a strategic use of technology can be a lifesaver. Recently, I’ve made a bigger push to include software integration in my everyday workflow, as discussed in the video below.

My ideal software integration combo

I find that bringing together paid versions of Feedly and Trello using Zapier is perfect. It allows me to find curated content and stay organized with it across multiple sites and social media channels. I’m able to add my own ideas alongside the curated content at any time, too, so I get a mix of my own insights and insights from others. I even can keep track of specific tasks and due dates for each piece of content. I’m able to get multiple views of what I’m publishing that are handy for different purposes, as well.

Find your own ideal that works

Your personality and preferences are different than mine. So, even if we had the same kind of content to get into the world in the same amounts, you might want something different. For this reason, I’m not recommending the Feedly-Trello-Zapier combo as “the best” or something you “have” to use. It’s purely an example of what can work. Other good integrations might include Canva, the Google suite, Aweber, and Evernote.

The goal is to find tools that can automate where it makes sense, not in the creation of the content itself, but for all of the peripheral tasks related to it. For example, you might use software to send a newsletter on a specific date to a specific list of readers. Managing those tasks well ultimately leaves you more time to write. So, staying mindful of how software integrations influence account security, set aside the couple of upfront hours you might need to link your accounts.

[Transcript summary]

Welcome to my video, everybody. I’m Wanda Thibodeaux of takingdictation.com. And what I want to talk to you today about is software integrations for writers.

Now, we all know that the way that the writing industry is right now — [and] it doesn’t matter if you’re writing books or articles, whatever the content is that you are producing — you really need to wear a lot of hats in order to be successful. So, you gotta do marketing and all that kind of stuff.

But what is going to be essential in that journey to make all of this work is integrating the software. Now, when I say that, you can use things like Evernote. You can use things like AWeber. [There are] a ton of different software components that you can put together. And that is very individual based on how you work. You gotta find what works for you.

But the idea is not to use software to create your content. And I want to be very clear about that. It’s about taking all of the peripheral work from creating the content away, so that then you can focus on the actual writing and creating the content. So, for example, if you do need to send a newsletter or something like that, then you use the software to schedule that out so you don’t have to go back in and do that manually.

So, those kinds of little things can really save you a lot of time. And if you set that up, you can get a really awesome workflow where you can see it on a calendar. You can take care of it. You can integrate checklists. You can do all kinds of things so that, if you’ve got multiple projects for many, many different things, it’s okay. Not gonna be a problem. So, look at the software that’s out there, see what’s gonna work for you and put your own lineup together. Take care, everybody. Bye.