Project Management GANTT Spreadsheet for Authors (2023)

*UPDATED FOR 2022 & 2023*

Publish like a pro! Get a heads up on your New Years Resolution by planning out all of your new releases and backlist promotion for the next year! Have confidence in your plan, and don't waste time getting bogged down in the minutiae of being an indie author.

BY AUTHORS FOR AUTHORS!

Are you an author that’s feeling overwhelmed by how many tasks you need to keep on top of? Writing, editing, cover design, marketing, promotion, publishing... It's hard to keep track of it all!

Are you having an impossible time managing all your schedules and what needs to be done by when? Need a way to track what tasks are dependent on other tasks being completed?

After struggling with the same problems for over 7 years, and failing to find project management software that works for a one-person operation, I’ve developed a highly customizable, eyecatching, easy to understand spreadsheet to help solve this problem. You’ll never have to worry about forgetting a step in your publishing process again.

PLAN YOUR YEAR

Managing multiple releases, and a growing backlist, quickly becomes a juggling act of epic proportions. Easily see what’s coming up for the next couple of months, make sure you’re staying on top of your work, and never forget to make your backlist work for you!

PLAN EACH RELEASE

For my releases, there are over 150 tasks I have to complete. It’s so easy for things to slip between the cracks, and to forget what I need to focus on next. Since using this spreadsheet, I no longer feel the constant stress and anxiety of forgetting something important, or not knowing where to put my energy.

STAY ON TOP OF PROMO

We all know that we have to work our backlist, but how do we keep track of what book we last promoted? How do we keep track of what we need to do for each promotion? Every time, I felt like I was scrambling at the last minute instead of feeling in control of what I’m promoting and what my goals are for the promotion.

RELEASE INCOME

Track your monthly income and expenses for each month, by each book. See at a glance what books are earning your money, and what ones need a boost. This is a simple tracker without a lot of bells and whistles to keep this clean.

WHY THIS SHEET?

This spreadsheet will save you time, let you better plan your days, and help you see things you didn’t previously see in your workflow. If you’re constantly feeling frazzled or overwhelmed, constantly struggling to stay on top of everything, and managing a lot of yearly releases — or a lot of staff that support you — this spreadsheet is just what you need.

I’ve compared other project management software, and nothing can so easily allow you to cascade tasks, create dependencies, and spit out so much data with so little time investment from you to get it up and running.

Even more, I’ve not been able to find a single option that gave me what I wanted for less than $50/month.

This spreadsheet is yours to own and download forever. You can easily personalize your tasks and change your schedule as needed.

As someone with ADHD and Anxiety, I made this sheet to help me wrap my head around all the tasks I need to do, and the best order to tackle them in. Having a visual guide has transformed my business, and helped me save all the time I used to spend asking 'what do I have to do next?'

GETTING SET UP

All you need to do after downloading is fill in the Calculations sheet, modify your release dates and last promoted dates, and tweak how many hours each task will take you. From there you can see if you’re stretching yourself too thin, or if you’re not challenging yourself enough. Change the hours each task takes as you streamline your process, rearrange tasks, add in tasks and remove tasks as you see fit.

Select all of the individual release sheets, and find the rhythm you like.

The best part? As you make changes to the main sheet, your individual release sheet will cascade your dates! Need to push your release date out? No problem. Need to change your cover reveal day? Everything you need to do that will change as well. The cells will light up when a task is coming due, and when something is past the due date, it’ll turn red so you’ll always be able to tell, at a glance, what your urgent tasks are.

Not only that, but this sheet is made with a healthy work/life balance in mind. Weekends are darkened to encourage you to book around those, and the current week is highlighted in green to help you easily see what the current weekly focus should be.

This spreadsheet is compatible with Microsoft Excel (Windows), Libre Office (Windows) and Libre Office (Mac). It is not compatible with Google Sheets or Numbers (Mac)

Contains files for Kindle Unlimited books AND Wide Books.

Want some help getting started? I've also made a tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek6ypx8Mf4Y