Writer software review

FocusWriter's killer tool is Focused Text, while fades out everything except the section you're currently typing - a whole paragraph, a block of three lines, or just the current line. As mentioned earlier, this is no use for editors, but for simply putting ideas to paper, it's brilliant.

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North America. Home Reviews Computing. Writing a book is hard. But the good news is there is book writing software that can make the process a little easier.

In this post, we will cover the ten best pieces of software for writing a book and look at the pros and cons of each. If you need to check your bank balance several times a day, think about what your bank balance will be when you stop checking it constantly, finish your book, and become a successful author. No piece of writing software will write your book for you, but these ten will help. Scrivener is the premier book writing app made by writers for writers.

You can also get a high-level view of your book using the corkboard and outliner modes, allowing you to view chapters, sections, or individual scenes as index cards.

Project targets let you create word count goals and then track your progress daily. Its composition mode can help you stay focused by removing all the clutter. Scrivener has formatting features for publishing e.

You can read our full Scrivener review here. 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.

We believe in Scrivener so much, we published a book about how creative writers can write more faster using it. While Scrivener is the best book writing software, once you get to editing and getting feedback, it begins to fall short. Best of all are its collaboration abilities, which allow you to invite your editor to the document and then watch as they make changes, which are tracked in suggestion mode, and leave comments on your story see screenshot below.

Microsoft Excel is another great option, but is a bit behind in the collaboration functions. Scrivener, Word, Pages, they all can format eBooks and print books. In fact, it takes a lot of skill and effort to format a printed book that looks good on any of those word processors.

Vellum picks up where Scrivener, Word, and Pages leave off, giving you a tool to make great looking eBooks and print books, usually in under an hour. The most important part of this is the previewer see the image below , which lets you see how each formatting change or book edit you make will appear on Kindle, Fire, iPhone, Nook, and other eReaders. It also has stripped-down, option-based formatting, which is perfect for designing both eBooks and print books.

Definitely not. If you struggle with grammar, sentence structure, spelling, or even writing style, ProWritingAid can help. It goes far beyond your built-in spellcheck. You should still learn grammar skills, but ProWritingAid can help you start to see the patterns and grow as a writer.

It can even be installed into your browser or Word processor, so you can check your grammar wherever you write. Learn more about how writers can get the most out of ProWritingAid here. How do you know if your book will sell? How do you find the most readers on Amazon for your published book? Read our full Publisher Rocket review here. If you find most desktop writing programs unwieldy and overwhelming, then the minimalist interface of Bibisco might just solve all your problems.

This is especially true if you're a plotter rather than a pantser , as Bibisco is that rare breed of free story planning software, with plenty of virtual outlines and notecards to help you out. The architecture screen above is perhaps the most unique part of this software, with notecards for your premise, setting, and fabula. Indeed, the name of Bibisco's game is breaking down your work into bite-sized, manageable pieces. Of course, this approach may make it difficult to envision your manuscript as a whole , especially as you can only write scene-by-scene — a feature which may frustrate users who are accustomed to writing in one long, all-inclusive document.

Still, Bibisco is a good choice for any author who's tired of busy interfaces and wants to prioritize productivity.

And if that sounds like you, don't miss out on this next piece of book writing software If only the process of writing a book involved just sitting down and going. Although sure, to an extent, this may be true. But most of us need to find the right way to capture and organize our ideas before our fingers start flying over the keyboard — or risk running out of steam.

Evernote is great for the writer who needs to declutter a space or their mind before they can make real headway on a project. Some of their great organizational features include their writing templates — some of which are user-created, and others are created by Evernote themselves. If you spot a chapter outline, a storyboard template, or character development profile you enjoy, you can save it and come back to it each time.

The web clipper function is also popular amongst writers — especially for genres like sci-fi or historical — as you can use the clipper to save pertinent facts or articles you come across online, and save them right into your Evernote folders. At its core, Evernote excels as a brainstorming tool. This is why its syncing ability is also key — if you're out and about, you can drop ideas into your Evernote app and continue working on them at a later point.

This software is exactly what it sounds like: it helps you laser-focus your efforts onto writing , and nothing else. You can still format your manuscript and check your word count and daily goals via offscreen tools, but the default state is simply a blank page.

You can also use full-screen mode so the only thing you see is the page in front of you — just like writing IRL. For authors who struggle to concentrate on their work more than anything else, FocusWriter is a dream come true. You might also consider combining it with app-blocking software, like the next entry on this list, to achieve maximum productivity. And that rounds off our section on free writing software! Now let's get into your options for paid programs. Writers who procrastinate uncontrollably, get ready for a game-changer: Freedom.

This is by far our favorite time management software due to the crisp user interface, the thoughtfully designed features, and the crucial fact that it works — unlike that fickle mistress, human willpower. Freedom allows you to block specific apps, sites, or the entire Web for any amount of time. You can schedule your blocks in advance and sync across all your devices, so you can't have a last-minute, Netflix-based change of heart. And if you're prone to mid-work moments of weakness, simply put Freedom in Locked Mode!

This completely prevents you from disabling it until that time is up. These issues are highlighted in your text in different colors, along with suggestions to improve them. Furthermore, Hemingway also scores your content's readability according to the academic standards.

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. Typically, content scored for lower grades because of easiness and simplicity has a higher reach and engagement. Therefore, editing your content on the Hemingway app may help you achieve a huge reader base. Let's take a look.

Above everything else, both the online and desktop versions of the app have a user-friendly and easy-to-follow interface. You can access the free online version on your web browsers and enjoy all the basic features without paying a single dime.

Download version 3. Every piece of content requires proofreading for spelling mistakes, grammatical issues, out-of-context sentences, etc.

An experienced writer can pretty much improve their drafts themselves. However, it's a lot more challenging for a beginner to detect complex grammatical errors or point out their vocabulary issues.

Fortunately, there are some software that help content creators compose and edit content. Among the top book writing software, we have Grammarly. Grammarly comes in two versions, a free version, and a premium version.

The free version offers various features, including grammar and spell check, integration with web browsers to assess social media posts, emails, etc. The free version may be ideal for some writers.

However, if you want to become an efficient writer and improve your accuracy, you need the premium version. Aside from the basic features offered by the free version, Grammarly's premium version offers the following key features:.

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. As mentioned earlier, the free version doesn't require a single penny from the user. However, to unlock the premium version's advanced features, you have to choose from the following plans.

The pricing works on a subscription basis, and making an upfront payment at once breaks it down to a reasonable monthly price. Among the other top book writing software, ProWritingAid is a widely used tool, popular in the writers' community. You can use the free version of this software to optimize your content efficiently. However, it has some limitations to it. For example, the free version only scans words of your text at a time.

Other than that, the free version doesn't integrate with other programs and can only be accessed online. Nonetheless, despite its limitation, it is a go-to tool for many writers. Here's why:. To use its advanced features, you need to subscribe to the paid version of this app, which unlocks the following features. Other than that, the most appealing feature is easy payment plans. As opposed to other software, it has flexible yearly subscription plans. You can purchase the premium version of this software in affordable price packages listed below:.

As you can see, the prices are quite reasonable.