My Lydia

Imagine an internet service that allows authors (and other creative types) to track their work. Like Henri Matisse's secretary, our Lydia is a faithful assistant, remembering who is looking at work, who has seen it, who bought what rights.

Books, articles, stories, scripts, proposals, poetry and song lyrics, essays and photoessays —any creative work, really, even mixed media— can be entered in as much detail as the author wants. Agents, publishers, or any other market, can also be entered. The author submits a work to an agent, editor, or publisher. Lydia keeps track of when the work was submitted, what the response was, and even sends the author an email when it is time to follow up.

Lydia provides a Rights Report, showing every sale and the rights sold, a Submissions report, showing everyone who has seen a work, a Representation Report which lists all agents and the authors works they represent.

Authors are not forced to work alone. Lydia handles collaborations and compilations as well as sole authorship, and it even handles compilations of work, like short story collections, and new media — CDs, DVDs, artwork, graphics....

Lydia is useful to everyone involved in the process of bringing a creative work to market. Just as an author can use it to track submissions to agents, an agent could use it to track submissions to editors, and a publisher could track cover art, contract editing, proofreading, indexing, and other work that brings a product to market.

Lydia includes an email feature that allows the people involved in creating and producing a work to communicate easily, and it also allows the originator of a work to decide who should have visibility.