Today is a milestone for us as we bring our brand-spanking new rebuild of Novlr into public beta! Anybody signing up to Novlr for the first time will be joining on the new version and, with this release, comes the launch of the free tier too!

So tell all your friends – they can now use Novlr for free! 

Because we’re sure you have lots of questions, we want to answer some of the most common ones here, so you know what to expect with this release:

What new features and improvements have you made?

We’ve made hundreds of improvements, but because we can’t list them all, here are the highlights: 

1. Complete rebuild of the frontend — for those interested in the tech, it’s built with next.js and deployed on Vercel
2. Improved page speeds — the dashboard now loads twice as fast, and we’ve made performance consistent, no matter how many projects you have on the go
3. A cleaner, streamlined interface — we have rethought the structure and layout of the app as well as the design giving an overall sleeker look and feel
4. Multiple nested chapters — we previously only supported one level
5. Motivational messages upgrade — the motivational attaboys that pop up while writing can now be toggled off if you are in deep distraction-free mode. We have also added new messages to show progress against your goals (25%. 50% etc.)
6. A new Novel Homepage — this includes: novel and chapter synopses, quick view analytics, drag-and-drop chapter reordering in card view (you can use this for editing or plotting!), and export
7. Improved cross-device syncing — your novels now sync 25x faster than before, and no more annoying “update to the newest version” popups! 
8. Archiving novels
9. Archiving chapters
10. Improved mobile UI and usability — more features are now available on mobile (full analytics, versions, and more)
11. More accurate analytics — we fixed multiple user-reported bugs, improved use across timezones, and restructured the way analytics are stored. They now load 10x faster than before!
12. Better streak visibility — you can now see streak progress over the last week, like which days you have and haven’t written on
13. Improved .docx import — imported documents will now read most formatting and split chapters automatically based on heading hierarchy if it is set
14. Improved .docx export — exported documents will now preserve headings based on your chapter hierarchy, making exported documents easier to navigate and format
15. Simplified billing and account screens — it’s now easier than ever to switch, upgrade, or cancel your subscription
16. Better novel lists – you can now sort your list of novels by last edited, alphabetically, or date created
17. Adaptive dark and light modes — you can manually set them, or change them based on your system settings
18. Dark mode now across the whole app — not just the writing screen
19. Add a horizontal rule (text divider) — with three dashes (—) or three asterisks (***). Other common shortcuts are also included, and we will release a complete list very soon

Can I continue using the old version of Novlr?

For the time being, yes.

The old version of Novlr will remain active for now, but we won’t be accepting new signups. To log in to the old app, either bookmark app.novlr.org in your browser, or scroll to the bottom of the homepage and click on the legacy sign-in link.

If I already use Novlr, can I switch to the new app?

Yes, absolutely!

If you log in via the sign-in link at the top of this page, you will automatically be logged into the new app. All your writing will transfer over, as will your analytics, so you won’t have to start anything from scratch.

If you have integrations like NaNoWriMo, Dropbox, or Google Drive syncing, these will also carry over. We’ve also changed how sharing works, so you’ll need to generate new sharing links to share your work with friends, family, beta readers, and editors — but your projects will be ready to go. (Legacy links will continue to work for now, but will be discontinued in a few months).

What does Freemium mean for me?

Current Novlr subscribers will see no difference in their accounts. All active subscriptions will automatically be migrated onto Novlr Pro, and as we stated in our last update post, anyone subscribed before our prices change on December 1st will have the current Novlr price applied to their account for the lifetime of their subscription.

For all new users, you will automatically be on the free tier when you sign-up. This means you can write a single novel in Novlr, for free, forever. If you want to write multiple novels or take advantage of any of our other Pro features, you can upgrade to Novlr Pro at any time.

If I no longer want to subscribe to Pro, will I lose all my work?

You will never lose access to your words, but if you choose our free tier after subscribing or having a trial to Novlr Pro, you will be asked to select the novel you want to keep writing. All other novels will be safely archived.

You will still be able to view and export all your archived novels; you just won’t be able to edit them. We want to reiterate, your words belong to you. You will never lose access to them.

Does the new Novlr have all the same features?

This new Novlr is fully featured, but you can expect to see some improvements and updates over the next week or two. 

Some notable features that are still in the final stages of development are: integrating the Tim Clare Couch to 80k Creative Writing Bootcamp; integrating the ProWritingAid proofreader; NaNoWriMo integration; additional import and export formats like .odt and .rtf; and publishing to .epub.

With such a significant update, we’re happy to answer all of your questions and hear any feedback you have. Don’t hesitate to reach out on any of our social channels, through our support chat bubble, on our new  Discord, or email us at [email protected].