Updates

What has changed on Writer's Grove, newest first.

When something is refused, the site now says so

Version 1.0.76 · September 13, 2026

Release 1.0.76.

  • A security filter sits in front of WritersGrove and turns away requests that look like an attack. Until now, when it turned away something you had typed, nothing happened at all: a search would simply do nothing, and a save would show an error with no explanation. You now get a message saying what was refused and why, so you can change the wording and carry on.
  • That filter was also refusing ordinary words. Searching for anything ending like a file name, a title ending in .bak or .hack for instance, was turned away for no good reason. It no longer is.
  • If a chapter ever is refused when it saves, the editor now tells you, and tells you the chapter is still held on your own device so nothing you have written is lost.

Bigger text where it was too small to read

Version 1.0.74 · September 13, 2026

Release 1.0.74.

  • The row of tabs under the main menu was set smaller than the menu above it. It now matches, and it sits against the menu as one block with the tab you are on opening into the page.
  • On a phone that row used to scroll sideways with no sign that there were tabs off the edge. It now wraps onto a second line, so every tab is visible.
  • Book covers we draw ourselves, for the books with no cover art of their own, had a title, an author and a site name too small to read on the smaller shelves. All three are larger, and on a cover too narrow to hold three readable lines the site name steps aside rather than being printed too small to make out.
  • The title printed under those covers repeated what the cover already says, so it is gone. Books with cover art of their own keep their title underneath, since their artwork does not carry it.
  • Links inside ordinary text were being left to the browser's own blue and purple, which are close to unreadable on a dark page, particularly after you had followed one. They now use colours that can be read, and a followed link still looks different from one you have not opened.

See all, and filters on the Classics library

Version 1.0.70 · September 13, 2026

Release 1.0.70.

  • Every shelf on the home page now has a "See all" link beside its heading. The shelf shows ten; the page behind it lists everything in that category, newest or highest ranked first, with paging.
  • A shelf shows one series per author so no one writer fills it. The page behind it does not: it lists every series that belongs in the category, so nothing is hidden from you there.
  • The Classics library is paged rather than loading every novel at once, and it now has the same filters as a genre page, so you can hide AI-written or adult content and anything carrying a content warning you would rather not see.
  • The home page was rebuilt to ask the database for everything at once instead of running a separate query for each shelf. Nothing looks different; the page just arrives sooner.
  • The site was briefly unreachable on 13 September when the database ran out of room for new connections. That is fixed.

A menu for every area, and paid subscriptions

Version 1.0.67 · September 13, 2026

Release 1.0.67.

  • The header has a second row. It shows the pages for whichever area you are in, so Reader, Author and Admin each have their own set of tabs under the main menu. The main menu itself has not changed.
  • Following, Reading History, Release Calendar, Subscriptions, Referrals and Account used to be buried in the menu under your username. They are now the Reader tabs, visible wherever you are reading.
  • The author area was one long page. It is now Profile, Writing, Stats, Premium, Tiers, Referrals and Account. The settings that were piled onto the edit page have moved to the tab each belongs to.
  • Profile shows your author page the way readers see it, with an Edit button. No more guessing what your page looks like from the outside.
  • Stats is new. It shows your followers, your paid subscribers and what they pay each month, plus how followers and subscribers have moved over the past year.
  • Premium now says plainly whether your account has Premium and how, and only offers to manage a subscription when there is one to manage.
  • The menu under your username is now just Log Out.
  • Following and subscribing are now clearly different things. Following an author is free and tells you about new chapters. Subscribing is paid, starts at $1 a month, and is what gives you early access.
  • Free subscription tiers have been removed for that reason: they gave early access at no price, which made them a second kind of follower. If you were on a free tier you now follow that author instead, so you still hear about everything they put out.
  • Authors: every tier is now a monthly subscription of at least $1, and a connected Stripe account is needed before you can create one, because that is where the payments go.
  • The author page has a new layout, with the picture beside your name and details rather than stacked down the middle, and a smaller share row.

Screen reader fix on the chapter list

Version 1.0.61 · September 13, 2026

Release 1.0.61.

  • Every date field on the chapter list was tied to the one shared message area, so a screen reader read out another chapter's error while you were on a different field. The message is now attached to the field it is about, and each field's label names its chapter.