The internet makes it possible for almost every writer who wishes to produce a best-selling book, without depending much on the support of a traditional publishing house. Self-publishing technologies are more easily accessible than it has ever been, allowing writers to create, edit, publish, and sell books online.
WordPress gives you various solutions with many plugins to help your writing skills and optimize the publication process. In this article, you can get some tips to choose the best plugins as well as information about the suggested plugins for writing and publishing books or online content.
How to Choose Plugins for Writing and Publication
Writing and publishing books or online content using WordPress plugins would at least require one of the following features:
Organizing tools
Publishing scheduler
Status tracker
Collaboration features and settings
Grammar and spelling checker
Publication showcase
Print and export settings
Organizing Tools
As writing a book or editorial content would sometimes consist of series, scenes, or chapters, it will be helpful to use the organizing tools to arrange those series or content. Many WordPress plugins include drag-and-drop features as the interface will be much easier to use, especially for long-written publication series.
Publishing Scheduler
Creative writing can have various types of publication. There are comic artists, game books, or editorial teams that publish regular issues that depend so much on the publishing scheduler. Constant intervals in publication would be so dynamic and challenging as it deals with creative ideas and many teams to collaborate with to make sure it’s delivered on time to the reader, fans or followers.
Status Tracker
The flowing ideas and inspiration on some occasions could often pop out which results in random chapters or publication materials in the process of creative writing. The status can have options if the materials are in progress, or published
The status tracker for this work in progress can go side by side with the organizing tools and publication scheduler to make sure that each chapter or content material is well managed for a solo writer or editorial team. If the book consists of a few chapters to finish, it can also have a progress tracker to display at the front end to gain readers' engagement.
Collaboration Features and Settings
Sometimes a book or online publication is written by more than one author. Features for this collaboration work may include user permission to access the publication material, an interface to add co-author or editorial team members, editorial comments, and a notification system for tracking the writing progress if necessary.
Grammar and Spelling Checker
In order to maintain your writing quality, you need proofreading tools to check the grammar, spelling, typos, semantics, and redundant phrases. Every writer or editorial company needs to have these tools enabled before publishing online materials.
Publication Showcase
Gallery showcases for books or publication materials will be a crucial marketing component for any writers or editorial team. It can show the publication cover image, a summary or story intro, buying link, as well as some more details to get readers' attention. The publication genre or category could also be helpful information for the readers to browse the book's gallery.
Print and Export Settings
Online publications should also be easily accessed offline by the readers. This means each of the publications should have a print and export settings feature to convert the online writings into a downloadable file or instant print option. PDF or EPUB is the most popular file type to offer for convenient reading or to add to a personal collection reading folder.
8 Best WordPress Plugins for Writers
1. Writer Helper
This plugin is relatively new, nevertheless, it is pretty helpful for authors to write, edit, as well as to publish books on their websites.
The published book is integrated by shortcodes and widgets into posts or pages.
Pros and Cons of Writer Helper
Pros
Cons
2. MPL Publisher
MPL-Publisher allows you to self-publishing an ebook within your website. It can convert your posts to books or ebooks with an easy interface in many file format options (EPUB, Microsoft Word, Plain Text, JSON MPL-Publisher output formats)
Pros and Cons of MPL Publisher
Pros
Cons
3. Edit Flow
If you have a team-up editorial company, this Edit Flow plugin gives you completely free and open-source options to get your publication series done on time within a trackable workflow. All content materials are easily maintained using modular options which can be disabled or enabled to fit your need.
Pros and Cons of Edit Flow
Pros
Cons
4. PublishPress Series
This plugin has great features to organize your WordPress posts into series or issues. You can access the series organization options under the WordPress Posts' main menu.
Pros and Cons of PublishPress Series
Pros
Cons
5. SchedulePress
The SchedulePress plugin allows you to quickly add posts, then schedule them in rich features editorial calendar, and auto-share your post on social media platforms. It’s a big time saver and convenient for authors as this plugin provides Dashboard Widget to control the scheduled posts.
Pros and Cons of SchedulePress
Pros
Cons
6. Print My Blog
A blog author may write a great number of article posts that will be considered important online resources for some readers. Yet there’s a quick way to convert a series of blog posts into offline publishing by using the Print My Blog WordPress plugin.
The plugin optimizes posts for print, PDF, and eBook on the front end and allows you to quickly print the entire blog to paper, PDF, or eBook.
Pros and Cons of Print My Blog
Pros
Cons
7. Proofreading
This plugin helps you to improve the writing quality content in your post, page, and all your WordPress website using the classic editor.
You’ll find the Proofreading option panel at the right sidebar with the ‘Analyze’ button to start the proofreading process.
Pros and Cons of Proofreading
Pros
8. Author WIP Progress Bar
It’s a simple plugin in which you can generate a shortcode after customizing the look of the WIP Progress Bar for your book. The plugin calculates the progress by displaying the completion percentage. This method can increase your book fans' engagement in a fun way.
Pros and Cons of Author WIP Progress Bar
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
WordPress plugins for writing an online publication would be most useful if they include an organizing tool as the primary function. While WordPress posts are normally grouped by category, writing material is grouped by chapters and series, making it much different compared to WordPress posts.
The scheduler and status tracker will ensure writing productivity. Additionally, any editorial team could use a WordPress plugin that supports collaboration settings and features for team productivity.
One of the last publishing process steps is proofreading which is the key to quality. Setting up a book gallery and adding CTA buttons to print or to download a digital format book would make it easier for your readers to access your creative writing and enjoy it offline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are WordPress plugins free?
WordPress has loads of plugins you can install, some of them are free, but some of them you will need to pay for. You can learn how to use WordPress Plugins on our blog.
What plug-ins are available with shared hosting plans?
You’ll find advanced ecommerce stores, blogging tools, SEO guides, email management systems, contact forms and traffic monitoring tools to name a few.
How do I keep WordPress plug-ins up to date?
In most cases, your plug-ins will scan for updates automatically, but it’s always worth logging into your dashboard on a regular basis and performing a manual scan. This can usually be done in just a few clicks.
What support will I receive for my plug-ins?
This depends on what you’ve purchased. Sometimes you may get support directly from your hosting provider, while with others you’ll need to contact the third-party platform directly.
Audee Mirza is a graphic designer and WordPress developer at audeemirza.com who resides in Surabaya, Indonesia. She's also the author of Graphic Identity Blog, a professional logo designer, and often creates vector illustrations for clients and marketplaces. She enjoys good typography design and all kinds of animation.
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