1. Pure Writer App For Pc
2. Check Writer App For Pc

Best for keeping a writing journal: Day One Any of the apps here can double as a writing journal, but none of them let you personalize and simplify it like Day One (Mac, $10; iOS, $5) does. Scrivener ($45) is a Windows and Mac app that gives you a single place to dump all your ideas and writing. It includes tools to keep notes, collect research, outline, and organize your writing. LibreOffice is a free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office, and that means its word processing app, Writer, has many of the power features of Word without the accompanying price tag. Oct 28, 2020 Best organizational app. Ulysses has the fabled nested, multi-level hierarchical organization that we want. It can also sort your notes by date created or modified. It also has different views, like an Inbox that holds new, yet-to-be-sorted notes. You can also create custom filters that sort notes within each folder. A fully-featured writing app.

Writing is a big part of your life. Even if you’re not a professional writer, chances are you’ll spend thousands of hours in your life writing documents, proposals, memos, contracts, and other important documents.

The more efficient you are with your writing, the better results you’ll get, and the more time you can spend with family, friends, or on other work.

We all have just 24 hours in a day, and it just makes sense to learn how to maximize your time. To do that, you need the right tools.

Luckily, these days there are many options for writing software to help you write more efficiently. Writing well is quite a challenge, and we can all benefit from tools that make writing more manageable and productive.

The last thing you need is painfully awkward tools that take up your valuable time with unnecessary navigation and awkward interface.

Best Writing Software

So here we present some of the best writing software for writers so that you can write effectively, efficiently, and happily.

1. Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is one of the oldest word processors out there, and it is still widely used for writing books.

It’s pretty much the gold standard of writing software because it works well, and it’s the most commonly used Word processor—that means collaborating with co-authors, editors, and other writers is far easier.

Although newer software is available to provide distraction-free writing, you will find that Word can pack quite a punch when it comes to writing your next book.

Word has a lot of features to offer, and with a new suite of productivity features added regularly, this software makes writing more accessible to the average writer.

Furthermore, Word has been around for so long that most people are already familiar with using it. If that’s you, it’ll probably be a lot easier and better to keep using Word than switching to another program, because it takes time to learn new software.

Word is trusty, reliable, and offers a great writing experience (although it certainly wasn’t always that way). It provides a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) kind of formatting which is easy on the eye and works seamlessly.

You can use headers to organize your chapters, use the navigation pane to navigate through them, and create templates which you can use repeatedly.

You can collaborate with co-authors and editors, reorganize your draft in outline view, use it as a brainstorming tool, and even go distraction-free when you want to. You can even format and publish an eBook using a Microsoft Word template for free.

Most editors still prefer Word documents for manuscripts, so it’s a great tool to use for writing because it makes tracking and reviewing changes and comments really easy.

You can buy Microsoft Word on Amazon here.

2. Scrivener

This advanced writing software was created keeping writers in mind. And that is why a lot of writers love working on Scrivener’s distraction-free platform.

It is not only a tool to write but is also an all-in-one formatting and project management software.

Both Mac and PC users can use Scrivener.

You can export your book easily to other digital platforms like Kindle, Kobo, and iBooks, which is handy.

Scrivener also has a collection of templates for both fiction and nonfiction writing.

You can tell that this software is made for writers, as it is easy to create outlines and scenes, drag and drop sections, and you can even develop sub-files so that your manuscript is organized.

It is also super easy to keep track of all your research and notes with a project binder.

For more complicated work you can split the screen, work in outliner views or use the corkboard view and move index cards to plot your storylines.

You can buy Scrivener for $45 for Mac or PC here.

3. Google Docs

Another strong contender is Google Docs.

Essentially Google Docs is a simpler version of Microsoft Word, but it is becoming quite popular as it offers easy collaboration with others such as your editors and other team members.

You can share files and content and communicate via comments too.

However, Google Docs is a simple word processor and does not offer much regarding formatting and outlining.

The best part is that you don’t have to install Google Docs on your computer and everything you do—from writing to making changes—is automatically saved on the servers. This means you can easily access your files from wherever you are. And you don’t have to worry about losing your work.

You can even access previous versions of your work to review all the changes that have been made to your book file.

While Google Docs is simple, it is quite a capable word processor for those writers looking for a free writing software.

However, if you want to use Google Docs as your main writing software, you’ll want to make sure you enable Google Docs use offline so you can still write without internet access.

4. yWriter

Pure Writer App For Pc

Another favorite word processor is yWriter, a free software designed mainly for novelists.

One of the cool features of this software is that it breaks down your novel into chapters and scenes.

This is handy as you can see the word count of your entire novel by chapters and you can rearrange scenes to construct your book.

Most writers love that the book can be broken down into scenes which are usually fun sections of the book to work on.

Another cool feature is that yWriter enables you to organize your project by giving you the space to make notes on all sorts stuff you may need to write a book.

yWriter is free, but it also comes with a few negative aspects. For one, it works only on Windows, although there is a beta version available for iOS.

It also doesn’t come with any templates, and you’ll find that you can’t create eBooks on it.

4. Ulysses

This simple text editor is great for writers who want to concentrate on nothing but writing.

If content is more important to you than formatting or layout, then this customizable app is for you.

While it has a minimalistic and straightforward interface, this app is quite compelling.

You can sync your work amongst all your devices, or you can store your work locally.

Ulysses is best for blogging. If you’re producing work for your WordPress blog, then you can directly publish your work from within Ulysses. This works for Medium too.

However, this app only works on Apple products and can be quite a steep learning curve if you don’t know Markdown. You can check out Ulysses subscription pricing here.

5. Zoho Writer

Zoho Writer is a free online alternative to Microsoft Word.

You’ll be impressed by its sleek, user-friendly interface which provides you a clean white page to write on without any distractions.

Menus are minimalist, and tools are only available when you need them. This way you can write away and not be diverted from your thought processes.

Zoho Writer offers various formatting options, and you can collaborate with your teammates in real time.

You can even work with your existing Microsoft Word documents as you can import them straight into Zoho Writer with a handy plug-in.

6. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a convenient alternative to Microsoft Office. It is a free and an open-source office suite.

So when you sign up for LibreOffice, you get a great word processor and also access to spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and math-formula software.

LibreOffice supports older file formats and a typical old-school layout which is great for writers.

7. Fast Pencil

Fast Pencil is an all-in-one solution for creating, distributing and selling your book.

Fast Pencil is a great platform with many tools. The Writing tool looks like a typical word processor and lets you break down your book into chapters.

You can collaborate and assign it to other writers and editors, and easily connect with your friends and followers on Twitter and Facebook.

It provides you with many templates to work with, and you can create PDF previews to see what your final book will look like.

Fast Pencil allows you to publish in multiple formats and you can quickly promote your books, track sales and calculate royalties.

Fast Pencil is free, although you have to pay for more extensive features.

8. Focus Writer

Another free word processor, Focus Writer emphasizes distraction-free writing with a simple interface that cuts away all unnecessary toolbars or windows.

However, it is customizable. You can set a writing background to inspire you, set writing goals and use tools like spellcheck, tabbed documents, and themes.

Focus Writer is free, lightweight, and portable and works on most operating systems.

9. Pages

Pages is Apple’s alternative to Microsoft Word.

It offers a variety of beautiful templates to choose from, and like Word, you can customize fonts and text styles, and add graphics.

It has a simple design and syncs with all devices within iCloud.

Pages also offer built-in tools to collaborate with others.

It’s excellent for creating eBooks, and when you are done, you can easily share your work in iBooks.

Pages comes free for Mac users, and it’s only available for Mac users, which is its main downside. Unless your editor happens to also use a Mac, you’re going to need to use different software to collaborate.

10. Writer

Writer is only available on Android and offers a simple distraction-free writing experience.

It has a clean, modest interface to write on and you can view simple stats like word count and estimated reading time. It also supports Markdown like Ulysses.

Tips for Minimizing Software and File Problems

Here are some tips to minimize costly mistakes and problems while writing your book using a word processor:

Save your file often. Getting up to pee? Save! Going to take a phone call? Save! Gonna check your email? Save! Wait, on second thought, don’t even check your email. Go back to writing.

Always back up your manuscripts. Trust me, always back up. If you lose a manuscript, that’s not just months or years of work you’ve lost – it’s potentially a whole lot of money as well.

I recommend at least two backups for all your completed manuscripts and works in progress. My favorite backups are a portable USB flash drive (you can get a 64GB one for about $30 on Amazon which should be big enough to hold every book you can write in your lifetime) and Dropbox (you get at least 10GB of storage for free and you can pay for an extra 100GB).

I especially like having both a physical and a digital cloud-based backup so that just in case one fails, you always have the other.

Master Your Writing Software

The best writing software for you is the one that you have mastered. Regardless of which software you choose to use, make sure you take the time to learn how the software works, what it can do, and what it can’t do.

If you’re ever stuck on how to do something, use Google to find tips on using your software better. For example, I’ve seen writers replace extra spaces throughout an entire book one at a time, when it would be so much faster to simply use the Find and Replace feature.

You shouldn’t waste your time doing manual writing or editing tasks that your software can easily and quickly do for you, but that means you have to put in the effort to learn your software well.

The best writing software in the world won’t help much if you don’t know how to use it!

If you’re not sure how to use your software as efficiently as possible, join our Facebook group for writers and ask the community for help. You’ll be amazed how much you can learn when you ask the right people.

Keep on writing!

Which tools or software help you to be a more productive writer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

Tom Corson-Knowles is the founder of TCK Publishing, and the bestselling author of 27 books including Secrets of the Six-Figure author. He is also the host of the Publishing Profits Podcast show where we interview successful authors and publishing industry experts to share their tips for creating a successful writing career.

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.”

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:

1. 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.
   
2. 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).
3. 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)

Check Writer App For Pc

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.

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.

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.

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!