In this article, I want to share the boring side of editing a book all by yourself: managing references and sources and ensuring that you'll always have a backup of this material.

Notion as the database

I have a Notion database where I add every reference. Each reference is linked to at least one Service Design Principle, which is part of another database also in Notion.

An example of a reference with the usual data points like author, publisher, year of publication, etc. 

Short.io for shortened URLs I can edit later

Then I use Short.io to create a branded short link. This shortened link is helpful if the reference website goes down a few years down the road (which is something that happens more often than you think). That's why I keep a backup of the page in the notion page of that reference. So when things go down to shit and the original reference isn't available anymore, and I can't find a publicly available alternative, I link people back to that notion page by changing the short URL.

Notion formula to cite in Harvard style

Once I have all this on the notion page, I have a custom formula that puts all these fields in one "sentence" I can copy that follows the Harvard citation style.

A Google Sheets to track dead links

Finally, in Google Sheets, I have a spreadsheet with a "robot" that checks all the links once a week and sends me a report by email if there is a link that seems dead.

Lots of work for those who read the footnotes and like to see the original references of studies, for example.

An example of a Service Design Principle with a reference linked (at the bottom) and all my other quick notes