This post, unlike most of our dev posts, is not about Author Buzz but about some software that I hope will be hosted on Author Buzz one day.

About three years ago I realised that if I was going to make it as a professional writer, I would need to be more organised. The result of that thinking was called Story Tracker. It does three things (with one purpose).

1. Track the stories I had written
2. Track the publications that might buy them
3. Track the submissions I had made

Why would I need story tracker software?

Most publications are open to accepting submissions unless that story is being considered for another publication. Submitting, getting accepted and then having to back track because you have just sold the rights to a rival is a good way to upset editors. As editors were my customers I did not want that. Likewise submitting a second one when they have not answered you about the first one is also a good way to annoy some editors.

With my stock of short stories (which is growing) I needed to know: who I had submitted each one

• Who I had submitted each one to
• which rights (if any) I had sold and which I still had available to sell
• which publications were currently already considering a story

If I knew all that, I could make sure that all the publications had something submitted, all the stories were getting submitted, and I could see the data on what was selling and to whom.

Why Story Tracker is not yet available.

When I wrote Story Tracker I did it just to give me a useful database of my own work and of the publications I wanted to approach. What I did not think was that other people might want to use it. Thus there is no security, no privacy and no multi-user capability.

You could use it if you were prepared to set up an entire LAMP (or WAMP) stack on your computer. Yeah, not exactly right for anyone but me.

The good news is that it works really well and is dead handy. The other good news is that I do intend to share my toys.

When will Story tracker be available?

I can’t tell you because I do not know. I would like to have a beta test version ready for other people to use early 2018.

There are a few steps to take before then:

• I need to decide if I am going to integrate with WordPress or run it as a stand alone app.
• I have to decide if this will be a free app or something people pay for (I do like free, it has to be said).
• I have to make sure that the server can cope with the extra work.

However, I will keep you updated. I think this is a useful tool for writers that want to get paid. I hope you do too.

Story Tracker Version 2.0

As you can see from these screen shots, it was designed to be used on my phone. The next version will be designed to work with phone or screen and should be designed to allow user login and so forth.

I will probably begin work on the new version after my birthday.

Post a comment to show your support – the more comments the faster I am likely to work.