There are tons of things that are both fun and interesting about book publishing: reading manuscripts to see if you’re the first to discover some unknown treasure, going over book cover designs to see which one will be making that crucial first impression for a new book, or even just talking shop with authors, fans, and other publishers. But, wherever your particular interests and inclinations may be, there’s guaranteed to be other areas of equal importance that you’ve got to keep tabs on as well to keep the whole publishing machine moving along. Sure, you can write notes to yourself on soiled, crumpled up cocktail napkins but—as romantic a notion as that might be—there are more effective ways and systems out there to help you keep track of all the milestones you need to meet in order to publish and sell books.