Writing a book is hard. I’ve written seven books and at some point during each one I had the thought, “There has to be a tool, a piece of book writing software, that would make this easier.”
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Bad news/good news: writing a book will always be hard, and the best piece of writing software in the world won’t write your book for you. 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.
Writers are involved in creative writing like script writing, book writing, writing for kids and also academics. In the current scenario, writers have started using computers to write. Some may use pen and paper and then transcribe into a software on the computer. There are writing software available which understands what structure is required and the tools needed by the writers. You Will Love Scrivener for MAC. First, the software was designed and tailored for MAC platform users. Scrivener is a native Mac application designed by the Mac-lovers at Literature and Latte and, according to L&L built using Apple’s Cocoa frameworks. Writers of all kinds, creeds, habits, and quirks use Scrivener. Bad news/good news: writing a book will always be hard, and the best piece of writing software in the world won’t write your book for you. 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.
Click the links below to get our review on the best writing software.
Best Writing Software: Contents
Worst Pieces of Software for Writing a Book
First, though, let’s cover software you should avoid, at least while you’re writing a book:
- 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.
Set aside time for your writing every day and then stay focused!
If you need a game, make writing your daily word count your game.
If you want more “likes” on social media, imagine how great getting five-star reviews on your book will be.
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.
The 10 Best Pieces of Book Writing Software
No piece of writing software will write your book for you, but these ten will help. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each.
1. Scrivener (Word Processor)
Scrivener is the premier book writing software. It is made by writers for writers. Scrivener’s “binder” view allows you to break up your book into chapters and sections and easily reorganize it. 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. Plus, it allows you to format for publishing (e.g. on Amazon or Barnes & Noble).
There are some problems with Scrivener. Formatting is more complicated than it needs to be and collaborating isn’t easy, meaning it loses its effectiveness as soon as you bring on an editor. But it more than makes up for that by being so helpful in the early stages of the writing process.
In fact, we believe in Scrivener so much, we published a book about how creative writers can write more, faster using it. It’s called Scrivener Superpowers. If you’re using Scrivener or want to save yourself time as you learn how to use it for your creative writing, you can get Scrivener Superpowers here. The next edition comes out on Tuesday!
Cost: $49 for Mac, $45 for Windows
You can get a copy of Scrivener here, or learn more about how to use the software with one of these resources:
- Scrivener Superpowers by M.G. Herron
2. Google Docs (Word Processor)
While Scrivener is the best book writing software, once you get to editing and getting feedback, it begins to fall short.
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That’s why Google Docs has become my second go-to piece of book writing software. It’s free, very easy to use, and requires no backups since everything is in the cloud.
Best of all are its collaboration abilities, which allow you to invite your editor to the document and then watch as he or she makes changes, tracked in suggestion mode, and leave comments on your story (see screenshot below).
Cost: Free!
3. Google Sheets (Spreadsheet)
If you’d told me when I was first trying to become a writer that one of my most-used tools in my book writing software toolkit would be a spreadsheet, I would have told you I didn’t major in English to have to use a spreadsheet.
But now, as I’m finishing my twelth book, I realize that I’m using spreadsheets almost daily.
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Spreadsheets allow you to get a sense of the elements of your book at a glance, and when you’re working on a 300-page document, distilling it down to useable information becomes very necessary.
You might use spreadsheets for:
- Character tracking
- Scene lists
- Outlines
Google Sheets is perfect for this because it’s free and you can quickly share your documents with your writing partners, editors, or beta readers to get feedback. Microsoft Excel is another great option, but for writers, I suggest Google Sheets.
Cost: Free!
4. Vellum (Book Formatting/Word Processor)
If you want to turn your book into an eBook, it’s not that hard. Scrivener, Word, Pages, they all can make eBooks. But that doesn’t mean they’ll look good. In fact, it takes a lot of skill and effort to make an eBook look good on any of those word processors. That’s why I love Vellum so much.
Vellum makes beautiful eBooks.
Vellum picks up where Scrivener, Word, and Pages leave off, giving you a tool to make great looking eBooks every time.
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 eBooks.
I really love this app!
UPDATE: Vellum recently expanded into formatting for paperback books! I haven’t tried it yet but it looks awesome!
Cost: $199 for eBook generation, $249 for Paperback Formatting
5. Freedom (Productivity App)
One question writers always ask me is, “How can I stay focused enough to finish what I write?”
I have too many thoughts on this for this article, but as far as writing software to encourage focus, I recommend Freedom.
Freedom allows you to block your biggest distractions online, including both websites and mobile apps, for a set period of time. So when you mindlessly escape your book to scroll through Facebook, you’ll find the site won’t load.
You can also schedule recurring sessions, so that at a scheduled time (e.g. Mondays from 6 am to 10 am), you won’t be able to access the sites on your blocklist, even if you try.
There are other apps like this that we’ve written about before, notably Self-Control for Mac and StayFocused for Windows. But Freedom goes further, allowing you to block sites on both your computer and your phone, and enabling recurring sessions.
You can learn more about how writers can get the most out of Freedom on our review here.
Cost: $29 / year for Pro version, which I use and recommend (Free trial available)
6. Microsoft Word (Word Processor)
Again: no piece of book writing software is going to write your book for you. If you’re looking for the next “shiny new toy” to help you write your book, it might be an excuse to avoid doing the hard work of writing.
Most of us learned how to use computers by using Microsoft Word, or a program like it. Word gets the job done. Sure, Scrivener is a little better for books, but I wrote my first book on Word and it’s fine.
I wrote a long review of the pros and cons of using Word to write books—the main problem is that as your document grows, it becomes more and more difficult to work with, whereas with Scrivener, it becomes easier—but the point is, if Word is what you have, don’t let that stop you from finishing your book.
As Jeff Elkins said in his review of Word, “If you aren’t already putting in the hard work to be the kind of writer you want to be, it doesn’t matter what new writing software you invest in. It is not going to help.”
Cost: $69 / year from Amazon (includes Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft software)
7. Ulysses (Word Processor)
When I’m writing for a long time, I like to get up and go for a walk. Sometimes, I wish I could continue writing while I walk. Other times, I come up with an idea while I’m walking, type it up on my phone, and then want to easily move what I wrote to my laptop without having to go through the hassle of emailing it back and forth to myself.
That’s where Ulysses comes in.
Ulysses is a word processor for Mac that allows you to sync between all your devices, so you have what you need wherever you are. Scrivener recently released their iOS app which allows you to do this as well, but the process is clunky and requires you to purchase both the desktop and iOS apps. Ulysses’ sync makes the process much more seamless.
Like Scrivener, it has a binder-like sidebar that allows you to move documents around. Ulysses is not designed specifically for books so it takes a little configuring to make it work for you, but once you have it set up the way you want it’s very intuitive.
And while I hate Markdown, I actually like the paired-down formatting options Ulysses gives. Overall, I’m not going to convert from Scrivener to Ulysses any time soon, but I think it’s a great option for most writers.
Cost: $45
8. Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheets)
As Jeff Elkins says in his review of Microsoft Excel, it’s great, but “it’s a little like bringing a bazooka to a knife fight. You will need only a small fraction of its capability.”
If you have Excel and love it, great. Otherwise, use Google Sheets, especially if you’re sharing your sheet with a collaborator or editor.
Cost: $69 / year from Amazon (includes Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft software)
9. ProWritingAid (Grammar/Spell Check)
Can book writing software replace an editor?
Definitely not. But if you ask Alice Sudlow, our in-house editor, she’s tell you, “If you don’t have access to an editor (or if you do, but you don’t want to hire them to edit your emails or Facebook posts), grammar checking software like ProWritingAid is an accessible, affordable alternative.
If you struggle with grammar, sentence structure, spelling, or even writing style, ProwritingAid can help. It goes far beyond your built-in spell-check.
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You should still learn grammar skills, but ProWritingAid can help you start to see the patterns and grow as a writer.
There’s a free version that’s very good. It can even be installed into your browser or Word processor, so you can check your grammar wherever you write. The paid version, just $60 a year (less than half of what Grammarly costs), gives you additional support on sentence structure, style, and vocabulary.
Learn more about how writers can get the most out of ProWritingAid here.
Cost: Free! (Premium version is $60 / year)
10. Hemingway App (Grammar/Style Checker)
Most writers think their sentences are easier to read than they are. You think you’re coming across clearly, that your writing makes sense, but then someone reads it and comes away with something totally different.
Hemingway App helps with that.
Hemingway App is a free website that checks readability. You can copy and paste your writing into the website’s input box. Then it will grade your writing based on your used of adverbs, passive voice, and sentences as units.
Hemingway App is useful, but even the best book writing software can’t replace a good editor.
Cost: Free!
The 7 Tools Every Writer Needs
Every professional has a set of tools at their disposal that not only makes their job possible, but makes them better at doing it. Writing is no different, and while the right software is important, it’s just one of the many tools you need as a writer.
That’s why we published a free 22-page eBook, 7 Tools to Help You Write a Novel. In this short guide, we’ll cover some of the basic tools that form the foundation of a writing life.
You can download it for free here. Enjoy!
The Most Essential Book Writing Software
Imagine it’s three thousand years ago. You’re sitting around a campfire with some of your family and friends, tired from the day’s work. You begin to tell a story. It’s one you’ve told before, told a hundred times. You can see faces around the fire, the children with their eyes wide, the men and women who have heard the story before but still enjoy it because it brings meaning to their lives.
Storytellers—writers—have existed since the beginning of humanity. They didn’t always have book writing software. They didn’t have the printing press or the internet. They didn’t always even have the alphabet to write their stories down.
Instead, storytellers had their imaginations, their voices, and a rapt audience.
You don’t need book writing software to write a great story. Book writing software can make the process a little faster or easier, but the truth is great stories will always exist, no matter what kind of software we have.
The only three things essential to writing a great book:
- Your imagination
- Your words
- A desire to tell your story
That’s all you need. Do you want to write your book? If you do, then do it. Write it. Nothing is stopping you except you. So go get writing.
What pieces of book writing software do you use? Let us know in the comments.
PRACTICE
The world is full of powerful software to help you write your book. In the end, though, all these tools are just that—tools. The stories you imagine and your discipline to put the words on the page are far more important.
So for this practice, set aside all the fancy software. Eliminate all the bells and whistles and open up your computer’s native text editor (TextEdit for Mac or Notepad for Windows). Take fifteen minutes to write without any distractions. Continue your work in progress, or start a new story based on this prompt:
A student discovers one of their teachers is not what they appear to be.
When you’re done, share your writing practice in the comments. And if you share, be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers!
Scrivener for MAC: Made for OS X Bigots
First off, I'm going to be right up front with you—I'm a Scrivener for MAC bigot, I'm an affiliate for their software, and even if you don't buy MAC Scrivener via this site, if you're a serious author, go buy it … please. You'll thank yourself later, trust me.
More full disclosure—I regularly maintain a Scrivener Coupon Discount Code post on this site. It contains coupons ranging from 20-25% off of Scrivener and sometimes more.
For Scrivener's birthday, Literature and Latte even ran a 40% off discount on the retail price of Scrivener, so check that post if you like to save a buck like I do.
There I said it. Now, let me tell you why, especially if you're a MAC bigot like me, you'll love Scrivener for MAC OS X.
You Will Love Scrivener for MAC
First, the software was designed and tailored for MAC platform users. Scrivener is a native Mac application designed by the Mac-lovers at Literature and Latte and, according to L&L built using Apple’s Cocoa frameworks.
Writers of all kinds, creeds, habits, and quirks use Scrivener. According to L&L, it's used by Novelists, short story writers, screenwriters, playwrights, comedians, lawyers, academics and students alike. The list of ways you could use Scrivener to write are probably endless.
And since it was designed for the MAC platform, the Scrivener MAC version has some sweet features that the Scrivener for Windows version, sadly, is missing. I know the folks at L&L are working to catch the Windows version up, but that's another post..
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This post barely scratches the surface of all of the awesomeness in the MAC version of Scrivener.
Scrivener for MAC is a One-stop Writer's Workbench
Most of us authors are more than just writers. We research, make notes, outline, rearrange and edit text, documents, chapters, sections, and multiple books in a series. Maintaining all of that information, I can tell you first hand, is seriously challenging.
I like to call Scrivener for MAC an author's workbench in a box.
I use Scrivener for MAC OS X to:
- Gather, store and organize research
- Outline chapters, sections and multiple books in a non-fiction series
- Outline, plot, and create the four part story structure for my novels
- Write uninterrupted in Scrivener for Mac's full-screen writing focus mode
- Drag and drop documents, scenes, chapters, sections and even entire books to rearrange ideas and events in the binder (Outline section)
- I even share my Scrivener files with co-authors, editors, and reviewers in Dropbox
- And so many other indispensable features I can't list them all.
Also, don't forget that you can download to some ready to use templates for your scrivener program which really helps out a lot when getting organized and ready to write.
Scrivener for MAC is Great for Organizing and Research
As both a fiction and non-fiction author, I love having all of my research, notes, and inspiration right next to where I'm writing my book or novel.
From my entire outline, including chapters that I can drag to rearrange in the binder, to storing book cover images, character inspiration images, and research documents in folders outside of published book's folder, the Scrivener for MAC's binder is insanely useful as an organization and brainstorming tool.
If I want a new chapter, I simply create a new folder. A new scene in a novel, I create a new document. An entire new book in the series is as easy as creating a new top-level folder in the binder.
In fact, I've created a four part story structure template for myself that I simply duplicate in the binder at the beginning of any new novel project. That alone saves tons of time.
Scrivener for MAC Makes Writing a Breeze
Let's be honest, you can write in any text editing program. What you can't do with those is skip all of the steps of copying, pasting, editing, and compiling to the many formats that ebook publishers require.
Inside Scrivener I can write on one scene at a time in Scrivenings mode or I can work on an entire chapter by selecting them on in the binder. In full-screen mode I can write for hours uninterrupted by social media distractions.
And all of that work is already in my self-publishing tool, ready for me to edit, compile and publish it, ready to go.
Let's be honest, how many of us authors have a foolproof system set up to make sure that we never lose any of our hard written words?
Not many. Even as a 20 year IT veteran, I've been bitten by this one. (Lost my entire laptop—It's another story)
Now, religiously, in Scrivener for MAC I set up my project backups to happen automatically. And in the Scrivener preferences you can set automatic features like:
- Backup on project open
- Backup on project close
- Every time you manually save you can force a backup (though this is a little overkill in my ex IT opinion)
- And now, with the new IOS version, you can back up locally before syncing with your Scrivener IOS devices.
- You can tell Scrivener where to keep your backups (I recommend another drive outside the one that your Scrivener project file reside on. I've made that mistake—not funny)
- And you can tell Scrivener how many of the most recent backups to hang onto.
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Scrivener for MAC Will Help You Edit Faster
Let me tell you what I used to do before I started using Scrivener for MAC's pretty powerful editing features.
First I would write my draft in Scrivener, then I would export it to a Word doc, because that's what most editors were used to editing in. They would make their 'track changes' edits, then I'd go into that doc, accept all the changes and then hand cut-paste all those back over my individual scene documents inside Scrivener.
The horror!
So one day, my writing buddy, Lise, and I decided to require our editors to edit directly inside Scrivener for MAC. Needless to say there was some resistance. 'How will we track changes?” was the most common objection.
Well, Scrivener has a thing called snapshots. It works on a document by document basis. That means we can take a snapshot of every one of our documents before an editor edits them. And for them to make changes we have them use a revision mode and a color specific to them to edit with. For deleting, we have them format with a strikethrough.
When we get our edits back from the editor, we snapshot the entire directory structure of the book again, and that way we have a before and after document level backup that we can roll back or forward to if something goes wrong.
Now, editing and reviewing changes is faster than ever and we shave tons of time off of our production schedule.
Scrivener for MAC is a Self Publisher's Dream
Though the lines are blurring quite a bit, us indie authors are still very much SELF publishers. And what that means is that we have to do the heavy lifting of delivering our manuscripts to the various ebook publishing houses ourselves.
Honestly, I don't know how any indie author does that without Scrivener for MAC. Unless they have Scrivener for Windows.
Now, don't get me wring, compiling in Scrivener for MAC isn't as easy as pushing buttons. However, once you get the hang of it, you can spit out fully packaged ebook, epub, .mobi, .pdf, even .doc files for the various ebook publishing houses.
Scrivener for MAC is a Show Pony
Here's a small list of some of the awards that Scrivener for MAC has won:
Buy Scrivener for MAC!
If you already went and got one of the Scrivener Coupons on that post, then here's the direct link to purchase the MAC version of Scrivener from Literature and Latte's store.