I got the idea to make a post about WordPress plugins for writers. I use a few which help me and thought I’d share them. But, I found something interesting when I started looking around to see what other writers like to use. Almost every plugin written about as being “for writers” was for SEO in blogging. Almost none of the plugins reviewed as “for writers” were about writing. Does anyone else think that’s kind of a sad reflection on writing?
Here are the plugins I use which help me with actual writing online (not blog promoting – but blog writing).
Custom About Author– Add your social media links and a blurb about yourself to the end of each of your posts.Dashboard: Scheduled Posts– This adds a feature to your WordPress desktop where you can store and view posts you have marked as scheduled/ saved as drafts to be finished later. I use this a lot!Sideblog WordPress Plugin– Run a side blog (in your sidebar) for short posts like quotes and notes.- Drop Caps – I used this for awhile but didn’t stick with it. Fun for awhile, but not essential. It does work and was simple to set up.
The following are plugins I have not used myself but they sound interesting. Some of them I will download and try.
NetBlog– Connect posts and external resources (websites, pdf, doc, data). Use Captions, Footnotes, Bibliography. Netblog is highly customizable.- WP-Typography – Improve your web typography with: hyphenation, space control, intelligent character replacement, and CSS hooks.
In-Series– I was thinking to use this to connect posts that I didn’t write as a series originally. I use related posts but this might be a way to hand-pick posts and turn them into a series.Graceful Pull-Quotes– Allows you to make pull-quotes without duplicating content. If the plugin is disabled the pull-quotes disappear seamlessly.- Table of Contents Creator – Table of Contents Creator automatically generates a highly customizable dynamic site wide table of contents that is always up-to-date.
- WP Table of Contents – Add a table of contents to your post. This would be lovely for people who write long posts.
- Add to All – Add content to your header, footer, etc and keep it even if you change blog themes.
- Front-end Editor – Edit your typos without going back into the Admin screen.
- FD Word Statistics – Shows word and sentence counts plus a readability analysis of the post currently being edited using three different readability measurements.
Just for fun – not about writing.
- Quiz – An alternative to word verification, give commenters a question to answer instead.