Tips For Writing On Wattpad

Advanced Nitty Gritty: Tracking Your Progress

Tracking your Progress

There are many things we can track. How much writing we've done, chapters we've posted, reads, votes, completed stories, and so much more. Some people are more interested in certain details than others.

This chapter is optional and is primarily aimed at those who want to track their progress or those who might want to see how far they've come in several months or years.

For tracking anything, I strongly recommend making a spreadsheet (MS excel or Google Doc Sheets) and setting up phone or email reminders so you don't forget.

Tracking writing progress:

I track how many words I write a day or how many pages I've edited because it proves to me that I'm making progress. It also gives me a sense of accountability (especially if I slack off).

You can jot this down on paper or record it in a spreadsheet. If your goal is to one day be a full-time or part-time writer, this also gives you a solid idea of how long it takes you write or edit.

You'll also find that certain times of the year are busier and you'll get little writing done, and certain times when you get a lot done. For example, I love gardening in summer, but once the temperatures drop to -40, I tend to stay inside more, and thus, get more writing done.

If you post chapters as you write, knowing your dry seasons will be helpful. Instead of starting a story just before these times, hold off and just write a few more chapters offline until you have more time for more frequent updates.

Tracking reads, votes, and followers:

I like to do this once a month, although I also track it once a week just because I love stats and watching trends. Reads, Votes, and Followers are easily found on your Wattpad profile page, and you can write the numbers in MS excel or Google doc Sheets.

As time goes by, you'll be able to look back and see how far you've come. It will also let you track things like which books did better or if a new cover isn't doing so well.

If you want to keep things simple, I'll explain an easy way to set things up and a printscreen.

For those who are familiar with excel, its formulas, and graphing table abilities, you'll be able to pull a lot of data and information out of the numbers as time goes by.

If you start publishing or self-publishing, you'll also want to track things like expenses and royalties.

Setup:

There are various ways to arrange this information, and this I just how I did it. As long as the information is recorded, you'll be able to see how you're doing.

For tracking reads and votes: In the left column, I put the date. Beside it, is the story title and I merge that cell with the one beside it. This gives me a header, and I can record reads and votes below it in their own column.

For tracking followers: At the bottom of the page, create another tab/sheet to record the Follower count and how many stories you have. You can also list details like how many are stories are completed. I use formulas to do simple math like 'new followers'.

For tracking writing/editing progress: I use another tab/sheet and note down how many words I wrote or how many pages I edited each day. (Optional) On the right, I use formulas to determine how many words I wrote a day, total size of the novel, etc. When editing, I can also track things like how many pages are left.