You can sync with your iPhone/iPad, but only through Dropbox, making it not as easy as it should be. It also has something of a learning curve, especially for its advanced features. But it more than makes up for that by being so helpful in the early stages of the writing process.
Cost: $69 / year from Amazon (includes Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft software)
One question writers always ask me is, “How can I stay focused enough to finish what I write?”
- Somewhat arbitrary advice
- Hemingway himself would fail
The 10 Best Pieces of Book Writing Software
I have too many thoughts on that for this article, but as far as using writing software to encourage focus goes, I recommend Freedom.
- Video Games. Especially World of Warcraft (always always always!) but also Solitaire, Sudoku, Angry Birds, and, for me right now, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes.
- Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Software. Do I really need to say more? Fortunately there’s a piece of book writing software for avoiding this very distracting software (see Freedom below).
- Other Productive Software Not Directly Associated With Your Writing. Yes, it’s good to reconcile your bank account on Quickbooks or make sure you’re up to date on your calendar app, but responsible, well-meaning work can easily be an excuse for a quick distraction that turns into a major distraction from writing your book.
- Ubiquitous: most people are familiar/own with Word
- Universal file types
Although it’s not as high-tech as some of the other writing programs available, it’s not meant to be. FocusWriter uses a hide-away interface with a customizable environment and autosave. It’s not fancy, but it is useful! And really, the fancy programs are usually the ones that we get sidetracked with due to shiny object syndrome.
#2 – There is a helpful sidebar display that shows things like the readability level of your writing, as well as your overall word count.
If you’re looking for a tool to pair with your book writing software of choice, and are dedicated to improving your writing quality and style, then ProWritingAid will offer more than any standard spellchecker can.
Writing is already hard – why make it even more difficult by not utilizing the tools that were designed to make the process easier?
#13 – Freedom
Have you heard of Hemingway App yet? If you have, then chances are you know either love it or hate it. As the name suggests, Hemingway is a word processing app that is simple and easy to use, but is very visual.
A word processor that touts “distraction-free” features, this simple book writing software is designed to keep writer’s focus on their writing.
# 1 – It’s very user-friendly and many writers already have experience using it, whether they learned it in school or at work. While it’s an older program and has been updated numerous times, its function remains the same overall.
And this is likely because Scrivener was specifically designed for writers.
Lastly, his blog covers pretty much everything you need to know to learn how to write a novel or nonfiction book. From ideas, to characters, to plot, you can find advice right from the mouth of a seasoned writer.
Authors everywhere choose some programs or websites to endorse, and they send their readers on their way. Writer Beware has taken it upon themselves to warn writers and authors of scams, schemes, and fraud they should be avoiding in the writing world.
This alone can be inspiring for writers, but they offer many extras:
Story a Day is an initiative that hopes to inspire creativity. They run two month-long challenges each year - one in May and one in September. The challenge is to write a short story every day.
Jerry Jenkins
In addition to this they also offer a free writing tool that helps you with the actual process of writing your book. The software provides a space to create and organize your different sections and elements - such as characters, research, etc.
Founded in 1998, they have been around long enough to see a lot of shady things go down. They know what they're talking about.
- Character arc progression
- Setting planner
- Character profile questionnaire
- And many more
The website is run by two women: Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. n addition to running the site, they have co-authored a series of books to help writers.
- Checks sentence structure
- Monitors word choice
- Guards against plagiarism
- Examines style
- And much more
- Limited export options: PDF, PNG image, Word file, or plain text
- Available only on Mac and the web
It may look overwhelming at first (I’m still learning it myself), but it’s worth the time and effort.
It’s a free, standard word processor that allows multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously. I’m working on this document in Google Docs right now.
Click here to start using Novel Factory.
- Free version
- Google Chrome plugin for easy use on the web
- Cannot use offline
- Expensive beyond writing, designing, and formatting
- Simple, customizable design
- Autosave
- Allows you to track writing goals (by time or word count)
The experience won’t feel very streamlined either. Instead, I felt they were saying, "If you think Scrivener is too complicated, well, we're the best alternative to them."
All the features listed above are free to use. However, if you want to log your statistics, gain experience, project metrics, and more, buy the pro plan for $20.
For example, if your content has complex vocabulary, long sentences, and hard-to-read sentences, it will give you a 10th or 11th-grade score. On the other hand, it will rate it as 5th or 6th-grade content if it is simple and easy-to-read.
On top of it all, Grammarly helps you become a better writer by enabling advanced grammar checks and laying out your performance stats via email.
4. Ulysses
The app comes in two versions, an online free version and a paid desktop app for Windows and Mac operating systems.
IA writer app is available for the aforementioned operating systems. The pricing for each version is listed below.
The stats around what makes a SaaS company successful say personalization is at the forefront. It creates a deeper relationship with your customers and increases activation and retention rates which directly lead to more revenue.