Tagging Titles: Keep Track of Leads You've Already Worked
Published June 2026
This one came straight from a Sleuthy user, and the moment I read it I knew exactly the problem they were describing.
Here's the situation. You're working your leads. You find a promising title, you add it, you track down the author, you send your pitch. Time passes. Maybe they say no, maybe they never reply, maybe it just isn't the right fit. So you clear it off your Leads list to keep things tidy. Good housekeeping.
Then a few weeks later you run a similar search, and there it is again, looking brand new. You don't remember whether you already chased it. So either you waste time pitching the same person twice, or you skip it just in case and miss a title you never actually contacted. Neither is great.
So we built a fix: title tags.
How It Works
On any book's page you'll now find a Title status control. You can mark a title as one of four things:
Contacted: you've reached out and you're waiting to hear back.
Passed: you looked at it and decided it's not for you.
Dead lead: confirmed not worth pursuing.
Revisit later: not now, but worth another look down the road.
There's an optional note field too, in case you want to remind yourself why you tagged it ("author already has a narrator," "rights tied up until 2027," that sort of thing).
It Remembers, Even After You Remove a Lead
Here's the part that solves the original problem. When you remove a lead, Sleuthy now automatically tags it Passed so it doesn't quietly vanish from memory. You can change that status whenever you like, or pick a different one right as you remove it. There's a little dropdown next to the remove button on your Leads page for exactly that.
The point is simple: once you've worked a title, Sleuthy won't forget it, even after it's off your active list.
Where You'll See It: Search
This is where tags earn their keep. The next time a tagged title shows up in your search results, it carries a small colored flag, green for Contacted or Revisit later, amber for Passed, red for Dead lead, so you can tell at a glance that you've been here before.
And if you'd rather not see them at all, there's a new "Hide titles I've already tagged" checkbox on the search form. Tick it, and the titles you've finished with simply drop out of your results. Cleaner searches, no second-guessing.
A Small Thing That Saves Real Time
Tags don't count against your leads limit, so you can mark as many titles as you like without crowding out your active list. It's a quiet little feature, but if you work your leads steadily it'll save you from a lot of "wait, did I already do this one?" moments.
It's live now. Go tag a few titles and give it a try.
Got an idea for something that would make Sleuthy better? Tell me. This feature exists because someone did exactly that.