Scriveners Software Yea or Nea

4 min read

I have been road testing the Scriveners Book Writing Software off and on for about 2 years now to really see if it makes a difference in saving time with writing a non-fiction book. After using it one time and reading through the literature, posts on the internet and reviews from other writers I can see where it would be a great help for fiction writers. The real sticking point will come when we get the compile portion of the program. Does this software really compile your story into a self-publishing format that you don’t have to do anything else with once you deem it ready to upload? Maybe not.

The advantages I have seen so far is that you can break up your writing into chunks (per page, per chapter, etc.), import your reference materials to view side-by-side while you are writing, rearrange your documents in draft mode in any order you wish and back again, and it has a tracking software that keeps track of how much you have written each and every day. You can outline your story complete with a short synopsis on the front of each file, view them on electronic note cards on a cork board or just as an outline. You can outline some and write some. You can even just fade out all the software boxes and the frame to a blank screen where you can just start writing with no distractions. Once you are done you can break each into chapters or not. You can apply all the formatting you wish or wait until you compile to draft document and then apply the styles like MLA, APA, eBook, and so on.

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The real selling point of the software for me will be in the documentation of my findings, footnotes, and the bibliography. I like the fact that each of my research documents, pictures and files are in one folder but I need to start attaching footnotes to the facts I have been collecting and writing about. I don’t know about you but it has been a while since I have written a college paper. I know that non-fiction books have to have footnotes, a bibliography and maybe even an index. I have chosen the non-fiction style at the beginning but I forgot to read the manual on how to do this as I go. It will be a real pain if I have to do them all at once after I have completed the writing.

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I went ahead and purchased the lifetime license after using it through the trial time. I find that for non-fiction it is pretty good at helping me organize all of my research material in one place. I am currently trying my hand at a fiction story and am still not convinced that a plain Word document might be better for me. I will tell you that the compile function inserts too much extra detail in the document to be able to just the PDF for direct publishing.

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The price for the software is only $45 and you can even download the App version to use in connection with your computer version for $19.99. They are supposed to automatically update each other. Which might be a good thing I will have to see as I don’t like to type much using my iPhone. We do recommend that you read the reviews before you purchase the app. Next time we will evaluate the yWriter software.

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