If you are thinking ” Hmm..Do I really need a book writing app?”, I’ll tell you why you do.
There are a lot of people out there who want to become writers, maybe even published authors. I’ve met a number of people who had brilliant ideas for books, but just don’t know how to start.
Now, that’s something I can identify with. You see, when I first got into writing, I started off with a lot of enthusiasm, but quickly found myself running out of gas. I just couldn’t seem to get myself organized and as a result, found it hard to muster up any motivation to keep writing.
Writing started to become a chore – just like my day job – rather than the magical creative process that I had imagined earlier. I didn’t feel like I was making any progress and I was on the verge of quitting.
What changed my life is when I put in time to research the whole writing “Process”.
I realized that if I have to accomplish anything at all, I needed to start looking at it as a step by step process, get myself organized and focus on smaller goals rather than the entire book.
That’s right. You need the craft and you need the tools. There are a number of courses out there that teaches you the craft. We will focus today on the tools that will make your life a lot easier and a lot more fun.
So, let us start with the basic questions – What book writing apps should you use? OR what are the best creative writing apps out there to help you fulfil your dream?
You may not need some of the tools you will find here to become a good writer. However, there are some her that every writer must have in his or her toolkit. So, whether you are an absolute beginner or a published author, a blogger or a fiction writer, you will find tools and writing software here that will help you become a more productive writer. So, go ahead. Check out these book writing apps and software and pick the ones that suits your need.
Which are the best book writing apps and software available today?
Remember, all book writing apps and software are not created equal. So, in this article, I will give you my assessment of the various writing apps and creative writing software. Some of them are free to download and try out.
There are a number of free book writing software for beginners. You may not need to invest a lot of money in shiny tools if you are just starting out.
However, some of the paid creative writing software have many more powerful features and can really help you make more productive and organized. But I will leave it to you to judge which writing app is good for you and which is not.
Scrivener: The king of book writing apps
Scrivener is one writing app that I would recommend to all writers – whether you are looking for fiction or nonfiction. Scrivener was created with only one type of user in mind – The writer.
What sets Scrivener apart from other book writing software or even word processors like Microsoft Word, is the fact that it takes the complexity out of projects and helps you to efficiently organize your thoughts and content. This makes writing a far less tedious process than it would otherwise seem – Especially if you are writing long content or maybe even books.
I have used Scrivener for writing all forms of content – Long blog posts, eBooks or even Fiction to publish on Kindle.
A number of writers I know absolutely swear by this writing software. What I like best is the distraction-free writing experience it provides. With Scrivener, you get complete flexibility when it comes to writing, formatting your content or even organizing your book. This is great especially if you are planning to self-publish.
Scrivener writing software is a perfect tool for fiction writers because it makes plotting out storylines a breeze. Scrivener also lets you export data from many of the other writing tools and platforms and that is a big plus.
Another thing I like about this writing tool is its drag and drop feature that makes it easy to use and organize your content.
With Scrivener, you can easily create outlines, plot your scenes, organize your content by moving them around and pretty much do anything that you need to do as a writer. There are some great templates available too to help you write quickly.
Another plus I see in Scrivener is comes is available for various platforms – As a desktop writing software, or an Android or IOS writing app. So now you don’t have any excuse why you can’t complete that project.
Another Scrivener feature that makes writing easier is, it has keyboard shortcuts that will make the writing process a breeze. If you need any help with Scrivener writing, you should check out these videos.
Before you actually decide to buy Scrivener, what you need to keep in mind is that it will take you a little bit of time and effort to master this writing software. But the effort you put in to learn will soon pay rich dividends and your productivity will skyrocket.
In my opinion, Scrivener is most powerful book writing app out there.
I totally understand if you are not ready yet to spend money on a writing software. There are some great alternatives out there although most of them may not offer you all the features that Scrivener has. Another great writing tool I have used is yWriter.
yWriter: A great Scrivener alternative that’s free to use
For those of you who are looking for a free book writing app, yWriter is a great choice. It is writing tool created mainly for novelists. I was really impressed with some of its features.
Whether you are writing a scene or just outlining a character, yWriter software gives you the ability to add notes. That’s a huge benefit (especially if you on a complex project) that will help you stay on top of things.
yWriter focusses on scenes and this can help you stay focused and on track if you are a fiction writer. Once you have a written your scenes, you can quickly organize them into a novel format. yWriter writing app is currently available for Windows, Android and IOS. If you have a Mac, you have some great writing apps available like the IA Writer and Ulysses.
Ulysses Writing App – A great writing software for Mac users
Ulysses is feature-rich book writing app that focuses on simplicity and practicality. It is available for Mac users. It’s a great writing software and what I really like about it is its core design philosophy. It has markup-based text editing features. You can increase your productivity using its keyboard shortcuts.
It also has a library feature to help you organize your notes. This is a great feature that will help you if you sometimes find it difficult to keep all of your notes and ideas for your book organized.
Some of the other cool features include ability to set your goals for writing and also to publish directly to other platforms like WordPress. It is also available for mobiles and tablets. A great writing app to use for both small projects like writing your blog content or larger ones like writing a book.
IA Writer book writing app
If you frequently tend to get sidetracked by distractions, IA Writer is a writing app that you should consider. It’s great for small blog posts and articles. You could call it a Scrivener for small projects.
IA Writer is available for Mac, iPhone and iPad. It has a cool feature called Focus mode that helps in distraction-free writing. It enables you to fade out all parts of the document other than the line you are typing. So, you can focus on the highlighted line in full screen mode and shut off all other distractions. It’s simple, easy-to-use and you can quickly sync your project across all my devices.
Final Draft writing app
Final Draft is the best screenwriting app out there. It is used by more than 90% of scriptwriters. It helps paginate your script to the correct industry format. So, if you are using another book writing app like the Scrivener, you can easily export your project to Final Draft to format it for for submission or production So, whether you are writing a screenplay or writing a comic book, Final Draft can help make it easy for you with its more than 300 templates.
Book Editing Apps
So now you have a fair bit of idea on what book writing app is best for your specific needs. Once you have written your draft, the next step is to edit it and check for errors. Here are 2 great book editing apps that can take the pain out of the editing process.
Grammarly – The best software to edit your book
Grammarly is a great web-based application that has a comprehensive grammar and spell-checking system. So, you can check for typos, spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes with ease. If you pick up the premium version of Grammarly, it can even help in improving your writing skills. Grammarly helps you by giving you editing suggestions. With Grammarly, you can write without constantly worrying about whether you have used too many long sentences, or you are overusing passive voice in your book.
Hemingway Editor App – Another great editing app
Hemingway Editor is a superb tool for writers to improve their writing and self-editing skills. All you have to do is, simply paste what you have written into the Hemingway editor and scroll through.
The application will highlight words & passages that can be improved and provide its suggestions. For example, it might suggest that you reframe a particular sentence from passive to active voice or shorten long, hard-to-read sentences.
It will also suggest alternatives to words or phrases to improve readability.
One thing I liked about the Hemingway editor is that it can help you reduce your word-count while keeping the core idea intact.
The book writing apps that I spoke about here are all great tools that will help you enhance your writing skills and improve your productivity. Writing a book involves a lot more than picking the right book writing app. While a good writing software can definitely make your easier, if you want to succeed as a writer, you need to master your craft and keep writing. http://bookwritingapps.com/
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