Actual Hacks That Will Make Your Writing Life Easier

Hi friends,

It's the busy time of year for agents and editors, not to mention kids going back to school, summer ending, yada yada yada. I could go on but I'm really pressed for time these days. Instead, I want to share these hacks I've created over the years that really make my agenting and writing life easier. Few to none will cost you money but are guaranteed to save you anywhere from five (5) to sixty (60) minutes or more. Guess what you can do with those extra minutes? Write.

Copious Keyboard Shortcuts

I use a program called Text Expander, and have for years and years and years. I have so many keyboard shortcuts in this program that I forget that these only work where I have Text Expander set up and not, like, on my phone, lol. Basically all other operating systems, email programs (Gmail, etc), and also your phone, have ways you can set up shortcuts and you should to it. Right now. Here's what I use daily:

Email Signature(s), yes, several different ones. Not everyone gets my direct line.

Common email text I use: form rejections, Please find enclosed.... kinds of emails, anything I know I'm going to send someone more than about five times, I make a shortcut.

MY BIO: Once you start doing anything related to book promotion, and much before, people will be asking for your bio. Even if your bio is short, it's still annoying to copy and paste, or write it from scratch every time. I type a five letter code and this pops up:

Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her MA in fiction writing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, Electric Literature, Catapult, and her first book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life is available from Simon Element. In 2026, Sourcebooks published her picture book, Pay Attention to Me. She writes the Agents & Books newsletter at agentsandbooks.com. You can find her at all the places online as well as katemckean.com.

When something changes, I change the template and boom, it's always accurate. You can even do this when you're just writing query letters. Put that bio paragraph in a shortcut! That's a third of your letter done.

Buy Links to My books: Honestly, I feel the smartest about this hack. I have keyboard shortcuts for the buy pages on Bookshop.org for both my books. I type one code and https://bookshop.org/a/88478/9781668055540 pops up. Another and https://bookshop.org/a/88478/9781464233128 appears. On social, those bring up images and boom, that's social media content.

And of course, the most important keyboard shortcut I have is Mr. Shruggie: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I definitely made sure to set this up on my phone, too.

Use a Content Scheduling Program

I'm not new to this hack either, but I've seen a real difference in my ~~~platform~~~ since I started using Buffer, a web-based app for scheduling social media posts. I don't get any money from these links and I'm sure there are different apps like this to suit any specific needs you have. Every month, I put a reminder in my calendar to write the next month's worth of posts about my newsletter and books. I do another day for client news and releases, but that's harder to schedule because we don't always know when good reviews and such will come in, etc. But it takes me like an hour maybe to write Check out my newsletter! and link to older posts people seemed to particularly like and boom, they show up on Instagram, Bluesky, and Threads. I hope I haven't pulled back the curtain too much on my authentic social media presence. I mean, I write the posts and I go through metrics to see what posts people liked, but also, not everyone has been reading my newsletter forever and others just found out it exists! It can help to just remind your readers what you're doing and what you've done, in case they're new to you. Don't over think posting about your work. Just tell people what you're doing and what you've done!

Get a Conference Call Number

Ok, as I write this, I realize it might be slightly out of date, but another shortcut I always have handy is a free conference call number from freeconferencecall.com. For those who don't know, a conference call was, and still is!, a way to get more than two people on the phone at the same time. We're all just using Zoom now, but sometimes people don't want to be on video and want to use their actual phones for talking to people. If you're in this situation often, or ever, you can get a free, permanent number that you can just drop in an email and say "Hey, let's all use this number and talk at 3pm." and no one has to log in to Zoom or Teams (shudder) or create a link. You'll be shocked at how handy it is. And now that I think about it, with a Zoom account, I can probably crate a perma-Zoom link and just that all the time! Hmmmm, I'll go look and report back. Maybe I just hacked my own hack.

Use the Nice Journal

This might not seem like much of a hack, but one way I keep on top of whatever analog organization thing I'm using at the moment is to use all the nice things I buy to create my analog organizational things. Use the gel pens. Use the fountain pens. PUT THOSE STICKERS ON EVERYTHING. Use the nice journal. You are allowed. Yes, this project is important enough to do so. I am ordering you to do it. When you like the stuff you're using, you'll use it more. I can't make you on time for your dentist appointment, but maybe that cute tooth sticker you got at Daiso three years ago will. Use it.

What secret and not-so-secret hacks are you using to create precious additional minutes in your day to write? Tell us in the comments!

OXOXOXOXOX,

Kate

Who am I and what is this? This is Agents & Books, a twice-weekly newsletter about writing, publishing, and the creative life. I've been an agent for 20 years, most of it at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, and I'm the author of two books: Write Through It: An Insider's Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life (Simon Element, 2025) and a picture book called Pay Attention to Me!, with illustrations by Rob Justus (Sourcebooks, 2026). If you haven't already, become a subscriber today. $5 a month or $50 a year. Same price since 2019! Need to unsubscribe? Look here.