mybookprogress

Writers are expert procrastinators– or at least I am. I can make it seem like I’m getting a lot done when I’m actually just eating donuts and watching Stranger Things on Netflix. MyBookProgress allows you to create a plan and set a deadline to finish your magnum opus. Better yet, it will message you weekly asking you to update your word count, chapter count, or other metric of your choosing so you can keep up to date. With a quick click of a button, that update is turned into a post so you can update your readers. There is no better motivation than the fear of telling your readers you decided to watch the Bachelorette and eat Ho Hos instead of writing. You’ll also be motivated if you (like me) only update when you get that email. Every week that I think I was being a lazy sack of beans, I grudgingly input my progress and am always amazed at how many words I produced. MyBookProgress has me writing every day which means that it has motivated me to get my books written faster than ever before.

This app is a godsend! It not only tracks your writing to keep your readers informed, but it’s got different design options and phases! PHASES! This is soooo necessary when tracking writing so you can tell readers your progress in each phase. You can even add a book cover. This is really amazing and I’m so glad I found it!

I was a Kickstarter backer of this project back in October, and it kept me on track during NaNoWriMo. It’s easy to use, has never caused any installation problems, and it’s a real kick in the pants when I look at my website and realize I’m behind. I love „Get Book Updates” feature that will add the people who click it to your mailing list. I also love that pro users can have more than one book, since I usually have one novel I’m drafting and another I’m finishing up. EDIT: How could I forget? When you update your progress, your dashboard has fireworks. How cool is that? Such an encouraging feature. 🙂

For the writer, MyBookProgress blows all other loading bar plugins out of the water. Not only is it extremely easy to update your writing progress – using words, chapters, or percentage – but it also understands the different parts of the writing process with sections for Research, Editing, and more. My favorite feature is the „Get Book Updates” button, which automatically syncs with my MailChimp account and adds subscribers to my email list. Talk about value!! Your website visitors can also leave you little notes of encouragement, which are priceless. And the different styles of loading bar are just sugar on top – you can even choose your own custom bar color for some of them. Do yourself a favor: grab MyBookProgress and slap it on your sidebar (I actually have mine on my homepage). Your audience will love watching your progress, and they’ll be more encouraged to keep in touch with you and buy your latest book when you finish it!