I recently stumbled across Authory, and have swiftly come to realize that it’s an amazing tool for gathering my writing that has been scattered to the four corners of the internet.
Years of contributing to various media and blog sites has made it virtually impossible to compile the writings and ramblings I’ve published. That is until Authory entered my life.
What does Authory do?
It performs magic.
Through a simple user interface, you provide Authory links to your content. It will then go grab all that content (using your byline) and drop it into a very nice, and customizable, display. Here’s what my Authory profile looks like:
Note there is a search function where one can search all content by keyword, date, and publication. SUPER handy!
You have full control. You can make your content public or private. You can share it. You can even create “Collections” that allow you to curate your content using keywords, type, and publication. Authory will then populate your Collections from the existing content it’s gathered, as well as automatically drop in new pieces meeting your specified criteria.
Just the ability to automatically find, display, store, and allow you to export and share your content makes Authory well worth the price (which at $8/month is remarkably inexpensive.)
But wait, there’s more.
Authory also allows people to follow and subscribe to your content via email (or RSS). Subscription is double opt-in (as it should be) through requiring response to a confirmation email. You can also add a contact button to your profile, that will drop inquiries straight into your inbox (without divulging your email address).
Although they don’t really market it for this purpose, Authory is also a blindingly simple way to backup your blog. Just give them the link, they’ll pull in all existing content–and automatically add anything new you publish–and POOF! you’ve got your blog writing backed up to the cloud, complete with any images you used. You can also download all that content to your desktop with the click of a button. I’ve tried at least a dozen WordPress backup plugins over the years, and every one of them has had one issue or another. This is the most simple and elegant backup solution I’ve seen.
Then there are analytics. Authory provides a great sortable and searchable look at how and where your material is being seen and engaged with, as shown in the screenshot below:
Sign me up!
Yes, there is a cost–$8/month if you pay annually, $10 month-to-month. There is a 14-day free trial. (You can extend that trial to 30 days using my Authory invite link). Honestly, I was about 15 minutes into my trial when I knew Authory was a keeper. I’m still exploring, there’s all sorts of nifty little features, but my initial reaction of, “Holy shit, this is USEFUL!” appears to be spot on.
I have articles spread across the internet, some dating back almost 20 years. It would take a Herculean effort on my part to find and export all of it. Then I’d have to figure out what to do with that content. Authory auto-magically does all the legwork, packages it up nicely, makes it super-simple to share, let’s me build a reader/mailing list, and provides some social analytics. All in a very easy to use package.
Don’t ask me how they do it, but they can also grab your articles that are tucked behind paywalls. That’s incredibly useful if you publish on a walled site.
Even if you don’t want/need to use the sharing or list-building features, this is a great way to archive all your writing, automatically. I wish Authory had been around years ago because I’ve lost content on blogs I contributed to that later went dark. Now anything I publish, no matter where it lies, will be saved in one place, searchable and easily accessed.
Authory is indispensable if you’re a journalist, blogger, freelance writer, multi-site contributor, or just want an easy way to back-up some writing. There are many world-class journalists and writers already on Authory, so if nothing else you can follow them and have all their material delivered straight to your inbox–no Authory profile required.
Give it a whirl, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
Disclosure: this article contains “affiliate” links to my Authory invite page. You get an extended free trial, I get free months. We both win. You can also go straight to Authory.com if you want to bypass my invite link. I don’t care, I just want to share something I’ve found quite useful.
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