# What is the most popular software authors use for writing?



## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Hi everyone, just curious what software do authors here primarily use for writing?


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## KeraEmory (Feb 8, 2016)

I work on a Mac, so it's Pages (cheap) or Vellum ($$$). Vellum does make pretty books.

Sometimes I regret not being better acquainted with Word for possible print layout, but it gives me a headache.


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## setherd (Jan 25, 2014)

Scrivener.

Love it. It's not perfect, but so far all the others I've tried still are playing catch up.


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## MMacLeod (Sep 21, 2015)

I outline and write the first draft in Scrivener, then export to LibreOffice for edits. I send that to my proofreader and she works on it as a shared GoogleDoc, so I finish the final proof that way, then export to a Word.docx so that a friend can format it for me in Vellum.

But the writing happens in Scrivener, so I answered Scrivener.


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## thewitt (Dec 5, 2014)

Storyist on my Mac and iPad


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

setherd said:


> Scrivener.
> 
> Love it. It's not perfect, but so far all the others I've tried still are playing catch up.


This. I use it for everything. Writing, I make my editors use it to keep everything in one place, compile all formats, etc. Definitely not perfect, but close enough that I don't care how awful the dictionary is.


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Some believe Scrivener is just distracting with features you will never even use, or is it actually helping you write your books faster.


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## ishouldbewriting (Mar 3, 2015)

Word 4 lyfe.


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## setherd (Jan 25, 2014)

boh said:


> Some believe Scrivener is just a distractionware with features you will never even use, or is it actually helping you write your books faster.


I don't use all the features. But it has what I look for. If it has the kitchen sink with a chandelier, so what? Use the features you want and ignore the rest.


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## Katie Salidas (Mar 21, 2010)

I like to keep it super simple, so I just use Word.


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## JR. (Dec 10, 2014)

I just started the Scrivener trial. I love that I could put an entire folder's worth of parts, chapters, notes, more notes, maps, pictures and whatever else into a single program, having them all listed down one side, split screen writing panes, and whatever else I haven't found yet.


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## G. (Aug 21, 2014)

I use Word to write, then I use Calibre to tweak a few things before a final epub.


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## AllyWho (May 16, 2015)

I write in Word and format with Vellum


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## APeter (Jan 2, 2015)

I've been using Scrivener since 2009. I'm so satisfied with it that I see no need to look at any other product. That's not to say that there aren't other excellent products on the market, but Scrivener is it for me.


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## Flay Otters (Jul 29, 2014)

Katie Salidas said:


> I like to keep it super simple, so I just use Word.


What Katie said.


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

Another Scrivener user here. 

I've been using it for 3 or 4 years now. I even started writing my uni essays in it when I went back a few years ago (the project targets screen was great for strict word count essays!).


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## Word Fan (Apr 15, 2015)

KeraEmory said:


> I work on a Mac, so it's Pages (cheap) or Vellum ($$$). Vellum does make pretty books.
> 
> Sometimes I regret not being better acquainted with Word for possible print layout, but it gives me a headache.


You know that you can do your print book with Pages, right?


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## Kate Lowell (Apr 18, 2015)

I use Scrivener, but I often write out of order, and my outlines are more like an extensive synopsis, so it works for me. I'm still learning how to export an epub with it, and I never use the corkboard, or some of the other stuff in it, though I plan to add one new skill with each book.    For edits, though, I tend to work in Word, or at least send them out in Word. Then I can make the changes in Scriv and export as I want.


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

I outline and write in google docs. This keeps everything in the cloud and lets me work from multiple devices.

I run the work through grammarly and autocrit before sending it to the editor.

When it's time to publish, I use LibreOffice to do the final formatting for ebooks and createspace. I just produce a docx file for amazon and a PDF for createspace. 

Nothing fancy on the formatting. Just the basics.


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Scrivener for planning, writing and editing. Word for paperback formatting. Vellum for ebook formatting.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Over 270 members voted over here:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,198332.msg2792963.html

Scrivener and Word won by a landslide.


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## Vinny OHare (May 3, 2013)

Scrivener here. If I am on my chromebook I use Google docs.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

I cringed when I read this topic, because I probably write in the most complicated way possible. I start in scrivener, and when everything is pretty gelled I move to pages, and finally Vellum (love Vellum <3 )


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## Inglath Cooper (Mar 30, 2013)

Pages for drafts and Pressbooks.com for creating the digital files in .epub, mobi and pdf. Can't recommend Pressbooks highly enough!


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## Tulonsae (Apr 12, 2015)

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

Alan Petersen said:


> Over 270 members voted over here:
> 
> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,198332.msg2792963.html
> 
> Scrivener and Word won by a landslide.


The category for "word processor" included all word processors... of course it would win by a landslide.

I am a linux guy and use LibreOffice. The more I hear about Scrivener, the more I want to try it.

I see only a handful of folks here talking about using LibreOffice. I mainly use it because I'm cheap but find the program to he very powerful.


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## Moist_Tissue (Dec 6, 2013)

I use Scrivener for writing. I was using Scrivener for formatting, but I can't get it to work properly. Every time. So, I'm going to use that Mac In Cloud function then use Vallum.


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## KGorman (Feb 6, 2011)

I use Scrivener, compile it to a doc when the second draft is done, edit for a bit in Open Office, then send to the editor.

Editor gets it back, I make changes to the doc in Open Office, send to proofreader, get it back, make more changes, then copy and paste back into the Scrivener file for formatting.

If I'm on my Netbook, I use Open Office for writing.


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## Mari Oliver (Feb 12, 2016)

Google docs, baby. Love that it's free.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

SunshineOnMe said:


> I cringed when I read this topic, because I probably write in the most complicated way possible. I start in scrivener, and when everything is pretty gelled I move to pages, and finally Vellum (love Vellum <3 )


Actually, that's more normal than you think. I do the same. I research, outline, and write on Scrivener. When I'm done, I compile it into a Word doc since that's what my editor and proofreaders use, and I just stay on Word until the final MS is ready which I then import into Vellum for the ebook formatting.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2016)

SunshineOnMe said:


> I cringed when I read this topic, because I probably write in the most complicated way possible. I start in scrivener, and when everything is pretty gelled I move to pages, and finally Vellum (love Vellum <3 )


That isn't that unusual 

I do all of my first draft in Scrivener, use Word to make my revision make, do the revision itself in Scrivener, then back to work for beta/editing, and formatting. For the print, Word is final stop. For eBooks, export to Filtered HTML and open in Dreamweaver, clean, make it pretty, then into Calibre for eBook generation :-D


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Anma and Alan! Thank you!   I'm not alone!


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## Mark Fassett (Aug 25, 2010)

I use StoryBox. Who woulda thunk it?


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Mark Fassett said:


> I use StoryBox. Who woulda thunk it?


StoryBox seems interesting. Have you tried all of the software above before using StoryBox.


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## Mark Fassett (Aug 25, 2010)

boh said:


> StoryBox seems interesting. Have you tried all of the software above before using StoryBox.


I never tried Ulysses. I tried Scrivener back in 2009 when I got a mac for work, but most of my computers are Windows computers, and I much prefer Windows to OSX. Back then, Scrivener didn't exist for Windows. I also tried yWriter, Liquid Story Binder, and a host of others. As for single document word processors like Word, they only work for me if I'm writing something short. Figuring out where you are starts to become a pain with long documents, unless you break them up (which I did back in the '90s when I was writing on an Amiga 500), but then file management becomes a chore.

Of course, the real reason I use StoryBox is because I know the guy that makes it.


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

boh said:


> Some believe Scrivener is just distracting with features you will never even use, or is it actually helping you write your books faster.


I use maybe 5% of Scrivener's features. If that. It's not distracting. If anything, it's far superior (for me, anyway) because of how it separates your work space into (up to) 3 different elements (Binder for chapters, manuscript for writing, notes to keep track of your characters/locations/plots, all on the same screen).


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

Whatever text editor is available, documents in plain text with minimal Markdown. When the writing and editing is done, pandoc generates ePUB (which I touch up in Sigil) for the e-book edition and ODT (or DOCX) for preparing the print edition.


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## Chrissy (Mar 31, 2014)

PJ_Cherubino said:


> The category for "word processor" included all word processors... of course it would win by a landslide.
> 
> I am a linux guy and use LibreOffice. *The more I hear about Scrivener, the more I want to try it.*
> 
> I see only a handful of folks here talking about using LibreOffice. I mainly use it because *I'm cheap* but find the program to be very powerful.


There's a linux version of Scrivener *available for free* from the software makers. Give it a try 

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=32709&sid=aefb1b6195118a97ae1801820cf24b39#p205698


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

Chrissy said:


> There's a linux version of Scrivener *available for free* from the software makers. Give it a try
> 
> https://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=32709&sid=aefb1b6195118a97ae1801820cf24b39#p205698


Thanks!!


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## Margaret M (Oct 8, 2015)

Katie Salidas said:


> I like to keep it super simple, so I just use Word.


Same.


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## TheLass (Mar 13, 2016)

I started using Scrivener a few months ago.  It's a brilliant program.  I still use Word for short projects (picture books) and notepad for ideas.


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## Hans Cummings (May 16, 2011)

I use yWriter* by Spacejock Software for the first draft, then pull it into MS Word for editing/revisions. I do final e-book layout in Word, but I do my print layout in InDesign. If they ever get the Kindle plug-in working for InDesign CC, I'll use that for e-book layout, too.

* It's similar to Scrivener from what I understand, but yWriter is free.


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## Craig Martelle (Feb 6, 2016)

Word. Formatting odd components is tough in word. I wouldn't use it if I had graphics or other artwork within the pages. I've published a couple books with pictures and used MS Publisher for those, but would never use that for a novel. 

Sorry, been using Microsoft products forever. Tried to switch to a Mac since my wife is a University Professor, but I couldn't do it and quickly switched back. dir/w


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## CASD57 (May 3, 2014)

Scrivener
Word
Jutoh

in that order


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Another Scrivener user here. I love having all my notes right there alongside the book text, and it's easy to make beta and ARC versions in a variety of formats. No, I don't use much more than 10% of the features, but I know they're there if I ever develop a need for them. I've never yet thought: I wonder if I can...? and found out that no, I can't. It's powerful stuff. 

I export to Word for proofreading, formatting and upload to KDP. Why? My proofreader wants it in Word, and there's no point in going back to Scrivener after that. Also, I find the final formatting easier in Word.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

I write my drafts on an Alphasmart Neo and then import the files into Scrivener for revision and finalizing.


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

It seems slight majority here prefer to use Scrivener, especially for longer writing projects. 
Has there been any problems with Scrivener, like did it ever crash on you in the midst of your work.


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## Jill Nojack (Mar 7, 2014)

I use Scrivener but was just forced into the update because I needed to install it on my new Windows tablet and they didn't have the previous version available for install. 

Now, I can't zoom the size of the text on any of my PCs or devices (all Windows) in my current project. That means I can't see the text size well enough anymore, unless I go through and redo the font in every section in my current project to something huge. Doesn't seem worth the hassle.

Fortunately, I'm at a point where I can spit it out into Word for editing, but it looks like I will have to go back to Ywriter for future projects unless I find out it's only happening in converted projects. I won't wear reading glasses while I work. 

They don't do much in the way of updates with Scrivener. Bugs just go on forever. And this isn't one that it easy for me to live with.


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

boh said:


> It seems slight majority here prefer to use Scrivener, especially for longer writing projects.
> Has there been any problems with Scrivener, like did it ever crash on you in the midst of your work.


No, and a crash shouldn't cause any problems anyway, because the default setting is for it to autosave every few seconds.


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## Trans-Human (Apr 22, 2015)

Novel Factory and Scrivener.


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## CASD57 (May 3, 2014)

boh said:


> It seems slight majority here prefer to use Scrivener, especially for longer writing projects.
> Has there been any problems with Scrivener, like did it ever crash on you in the midst of your work.


YES...I had a major problem with it freezing and losing what I had wrote before the freeze.... Went on their forum did some reading and figured out that Scrivener didn't like running with the two Anti-Virus programs I was running at the time.. Avast and 360
So I changed to Panda and haven't had a problem since...

So yes it isn't perfect but it's a great program... and Ywriter5-6 is also .. It's really up to you and how you click with each one..
Another freebie is Quoll Writer.. which isn't as complicated as the other two but is equally nice, I like that is gives you your readability index and more


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## Sailor Stone (Feb 23, 2015)

Inglath Cooper said:


> Pages for drafts and Pressbooks.com for creating the digital files in .epub, mobi and pdf. Can't recommend Pressbooks highly enough!


I do the exact same thing. Press books is amazing. I'm surprised I don't see more references to Pressbooks on this forum. Perhaps they should do like Vellum and start an ongoing thread.


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## Seshenet (May 20, 2015)

Sailor Stone said:


> I do the exact same thing. Press books is amazing. I'm surprised I don't see more references to Pressbooks on this forum. Perhaps they should do like Vellum and start an ongoing thread.


Thanks for the Pressbooks link. It looks like it might be the thing for me. I got Scrivener during a $25 sale, but something about the user interface just doesn't work for me. Maybe when I do more world building it will be more useful to me. Right now I use Word. I've used Word for so many years personally and professionally that it's second nature to me.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Inglath Cooper said:


> Pages for drafts and Pressbooks.com for creating the digital files in .epub, mobi and pdf. Can't recommend Pressbooks highly enough!


 I've never heard of Pressbooks before, thanks for the info. Do you use it to compile CreateSpace ready PDFs? That's the one piece Vellum is missing. It would be awesome if Pressbooks could generate the CreateSpace piece of it!


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## MichaelBlackbourn (May 29, 2013)

Chromebook with the Calmly Writer Chrome App. It's a distraction free typerwriter style program (Like IAwriter for IOS)

You can give it a try with the online version here:
http://www.calmlywriter.com/online/


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## Todd Young (May 2, 2011)

I don't use half the features it has to offer, but I use Scrivener and would recommend it to anyone. The fact that you can have everything organised on one screen is enough.


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## The Bass Bagwhan (Mar 9, 2014)

KGorman said:


> I use Scrivener, compile it to a doc when the second draft is done, edit for a bit in Open Office, then send to the editor.
> 
> Editor gets it back, I make changes to the doc in Open Office, send to proofreader, get it back, make more changes, then copy and paste back into the Scrivener file for formatting.
> 
> If I'm on my Netbook, I use Open Office for writing.


Can I ask if Open Office (Write or is it Writer?) has Track Changes similar to Word? Thanks!


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## Sandy Raven (Jan 11, 2014)

Word Fan said:


> You know that you can do your print book with Pages, right?


No! Tell me more. I've been man-handling my file (after writing in Scrivener,) into a word doc, then I take THAT .doc file and work it into a pdf for CreateSpace. If I could avoid Word altogether I would.


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

boh said:


> It seems slight majority here prefer to use Scrivener, especially for longer writing projects.
> Has there been any problems with Scrivener, like did it ever crash on you in the midst of your work.


Never had it crash in 4 years (Word, on the other hand... *sigh*).

Thankfully the autosave feature is just as good as Word. I've never lost a single character of text in 4 years.

Now... my Alphasmart Dana on the other hand... it's a finicky beast if you try to delete too much text at once with the backspace (which ends up corrupting the entire file, which ends with me grabbing a hammer but regaining my composure 1/3 of a second before smashing it into plastic and silicon dust).


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

Graeme Hague said:


> Can I ask if Open Office (Write or is it Writer?) has Track Changes similar to Word? Thanks!


Yes. It's called "Writer" in OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Track changes is a feature.

Here is a decent article describing the differences between OpenOffice and LibreOffice.

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/libreoffice-vs.-openoffice-why-libreoffice-wins-1.html

Disclaimer: I am a cheerleader for LibreOffice.
I've used both and prefer LibreOffice. The differences between the two are few, but IMHO LibreOffice is different where it really counts.


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## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

PJ_Cherubino said:


> Disclaimer: I am a cheerleader for LibreOffice.
> I've used both and prefer LibreOffice. The differences between the two are few, but IMHO LibreOffice is different where it really counts.


Same for me. I was on OpenOffice but my newer computer came with Libre Office, which I'd heard was better anyway.

I use LibreOffice to format my print books and have been happy with the results. Once you figure out how to manipulate the formatting, you can really do a lot with it.

I use Jutoh to format ebooks, so far.


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## Jim Johnson (Jan 4, 2011)

boh said:


> It seems slight majority here prefer to use Scrivener, especially for longer writing projects.
> Has there been any problems with Scrivener, like did it ever crash on you in the midst of your work.


Nope, no crashes or other issues. As mentioned above, Scrivener automatically makes backups so losing work should be rare. And a project file can contain a lot of data. My P&P series project file has nine novellas worth of text in it plus about half that much more in notes. And no sign of performance loss.


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## ShadyWolfBoy (Sep 23, 2015)

Write in Word.
Prepare Kindle files and upload in Word (not even in filtered HTML, straight up .docx. Have had zero issues with formatting etc. with the final file, and was almost completely unaffected by the KENPC 2.0 change)
Prepare print files and upload in Word. Couple of minor glitches while I learned the ropes, but producing solid interior files now.

When I have one tool that organically and relatively easily does everything, why would I change? XD

(I'm tempted by Vellum for ebook formatting though.  Keep hearing good things, and we have two Macs in the house)


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## JR. (Dec 10, 2014)

Jill Nojack said:


> I use Scrivener but was just forced into the update because I needed to install it on my new Windows tablet and they didn't have the previous version available for install.
> 
> Now, I can't zoom the size of the text on any of my PCs or devices (all Windows) in my current project. That means I can't see the text size well enough anymore, unless I go through and redo the font in every section in my current project to something huge. Doesn't seem worth the hassle.
> 
> ...


ctrl +

Or 'view' > 'zoom'


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## Jill Nojack (Mar 7, 2014)

JR. said:


> ctrl +
> 
> Or 'view' > 'zoom'


Yes, you are correct. That is the functionality that doesn't work in my converted documents.


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## J.R.Mooneyham (Mar 14, 2011)

LibreOffice for writing, Photoshop Elements for cover, Firefox browser and Google for research, grammar rules, definitions, synonyms, etc.

Oh, and Windows 7 OS, too.


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

ameliasmith said:


> Same for me. I was on OpenOffice but my newer computer came with Libre Office, which I'd heard was better anyway.
> 
> I use LibreOffice to format my print books and have been happy with the results. Once you figure out how to manipulate the formatting, you can really do a lot with it.
> 
> I use Jutoh to format ebooks, so far.


Yup. Once I figured out page styles and alternate page formatting, I was able to start page numbering at arbitrary parts of the manuscript. That was vital to formatting for Createspace.

Getting there was maddening, but getting a handle on how styles work in general really opened up new worlds. I have templates for ebooks and print books that I can copy plaintext into and create perfectly formatted manuscripts in minutes. Pretty cool.

Can't beat the price either.

LibreOffice seems to produce very clean documents for Caibre to work with. I had a lot of trouble saving from LibreOffice to doc, then exporting that Doc to PDF, so I work in the .odf format exclusively as a master document, then save as whatever other document format is necessary.

Anyway, I I don't want to derail the thread any further.


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## harker.roland (Sep 13, 2014)

Tulonsae said:


> You missed Ulysses. I switched from Scrivener to Ulysses because I mostly write on my iPad. And when I tried to use something (different ones) on iPad with Scrivener on Mac, it just didn't work that well for me. But I do have old stuff in Scrivener.


I do wish the Scrivener iOS app would fnally emerge from Vaporware.


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## @Suzanna (Mar 14, 2011)

I outline and draft in Scrivener, but then use Word for edits. I format my ebooks in Jutoh and my print books in Word.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

harker.roland said:


> I do wish the Scrivener iOS app would fnally emerge from Vaporware.


 Although they promised only world annihilation would prevent the Scrivener iOS version like three years ago, supposedly it's now coming for real. Development was brought in-house, so we shall see.


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## The Bass Bagwhan (Mar 9, 2014)

PJ_Cherubino said:


> Yes. It's called "Writer" in OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Track changes is a feature.
> 
> Here is a decent article describing the differences between OpenOffice and LibreOffice.
> 
> ...


Cheers, thanks for this. The reason I ask is that I'm about to buy a new PC and wondered if it was worth updating my Word 2007 or alternatively look at Open Office and (now) Libreoffice. Research suggests that Word 2007 has hardly been progressed anyway in its latest incarnations, but there are a few Word functions that bug me. A problem is that I edit for other writers too using that Track Changes feature and it's a question of whether Libreoffice documents saved or exported as .docx will correctly display any Track Changes data in a client's Word software. I guess I can experiment. Thanks again.


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## Gessert Books (Apr 20, 2015)

Crenel said:


> Whatever text editor is available, documents in plain text with minimal Markdown. When the writing and editing is done, pandoc generates ePUB (which I touch up in Sigil) for the e-book edition and ODT (or DOCX) for preparing the print edition.


This is a pretty cool workflow from a formatting standpoint. I'm actually working a project right now where I pandoc'd my HTML file back into a Word DOC so the author can make some broad content changes, and will pandoc it right back again when he's done.


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Alan Petersen said:


> Although they promised only world annihilation would prevent the Scrivener iOS version like three years ago, supposedly it's now coming for real. Development was brought in-house, so we shall see.


Yep, Keith wrote it himself in the end: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=658


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Word. I write out of order a lot, but it doesn't matter. I have the book in my head, and I always work with the Navigation Pane open and title my chapters, so if a chapter comes later, there it is down there, with its title.

If it's got any kind of complex timeline, I just put the date as the first thing on the chapter title, so I can run down the timeline on the nav pane also. Then delete those before I finalize. 

I sometimes have a separate document with notes (for which I also use styles so I can see the topics on the navigation pane), or I just put a few notes, names, etc. in the front of the main doc. 

I can't imagine what I'd use something like Scrivener for.


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## CASD57 (May 3, 2014)

How do you add an image ? I was going to show my Scrivener setup..(How I use It)


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Just put it online somewhere and link to it using the photo icon (next to YouTube).


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Has anyone used mobile applications for writing purposes, or strictly writing on the computer only.


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

boh said:


> Has anyone used mobile applications for writing purposes, or strictly writing on the computer only.


I frequently write on a mobile device, but I'm a text editor user, so that just means using a text editor on the device. As an Android user, I found Droid Edit Pro suitable for this, although I wish it had a word count feature. Since plain text files don't lock me in to software, I can always change to a different editor without changing my files at all.


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## PJ_Cherubino (Oct 23, 2015)

boh said:


> Has anyone used mobile applications for writing purposes, or strictly writing on the computer only.


I do light edits on Google Docs on my Galaxy 5. It's too difficult to do long writing because the app is not full featured and it tends to bog down heavily after 50k words or so.

I only use Google Docs because of the cloud features. I do final drafts and formatting in LibreOffice.

I'd be interested to know how people write at length on phones or tablets. I've never been able to write using voice dictation. The story just seems to flow better from my fingers than my mouth ...


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

I outline in The Novel Factory, draft in Scrivener and Matcha app on my phone, edit in Word (because of editor), and format in Vellum. And in between, I also use my Alphasmart Dana and transcription with Dragon Dictate. however, Scrivener is always my "home base" so it always have my latest file. It is backup to Google Drive and Dropbox.


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## benlovejoy (Feb 28, 2016)

Yes, I do a lot of writing on my iPad, then paste it into Scrivener. Will be really happy when the iPad version is finally released.


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

boh said:


> Has anyone used mobile applications for writing purposes, or strictly writing on the computer only.


I suppose you can call an Alphasmart Dana a mobile device.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

> Cheers, thanks for this. The reason I ask is that I'm about to buy a new PC and wondered if it was worth updating my Word 2007 or alternatively look at Open Office and (now) Libreoffice. Research suggests that Word 2007 has hardly been progressed anyway in its latest incarnations, but there are a few Word functions that bug me. A problem is that I edit for other writers too using that Track Changes feature and it's a question of whether Libreoffice documents saved or exported as .docx will correctly display any Track Changes data in a client's Word software. I guess I can experiment. Thanks again.


If you need track changes or have to go back and forth with other writers/editors, I would stick with MS Word. I've seen people who've had problems with track changes and the libre/open alternatives. As with most things, if you have a short simple document like a letter, there's no problem with compatibility. If you have a 60,000 word novel with styles and formatting and hundreds of edits, that's something quite different.


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## LeonardDHilleyII (May 23, 2011)

KeraEmory said:


> I work on a Mac, so it's Pages (cheap) or Vellum ($$$). Vellum does make pretty books.
> 
> Sometimes I regret not being better acquainted with Word for possible print layout, but it gives me a headache.


I use Mac, too, but wasn't aware of these. I need to check them out. Thanks for the info!


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## KeraEmory (Feb 8, 2016)

LeonardDHilleyII said:


> I use Mac, too, but wasn't aware of these. I need to check them out. Thanks for the info!


FWIW I think newer Macs come with Pages built in/free. I think I paid about $10 for it back in the day.

I'm still kind of tinkering with my own flow since buying Vellum. Love Vellum's output, but sometimes *writing* in it doesn't work well with my brain, too used to a plainer word processor. When I start thinking of the chapters as individual objects to be compiled, it screws up my flow. Had the same issue with Scrivener. It's also probably why I'm not a coder.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

I really wouldn't write in Vellum. It doesn't have the kind of features you're going to want for editing, search and replace, grammar checks, and so on. Pages is ok, but they removed a lot of features including the advanced search/replace that would allow you to key on paragraph returns, etc. I realize that Word is rather bloated on features, but Apple needs to settle down on removing useful features from updates.


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## JTriptych (Aug 23, 2015)

Word.


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## mburton (Mar 1, 2016)

boh said:


> Has anyone used mobile applications for writing purposes, or strictly writing on the computer only.


I write in Ulysses which now has an app for iPhone and iPad. Everything syncs between desktop and mobile perfectly.


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Have you ever been undecided on what software you want to use to start writing your book with, that it actually distracted you from the writing itself, and how long it takes you in terms of time to make a decision on what to use and stick with that software only.


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## Kelly Clayton (Mar 5, 2016)

I write the first drafts in scrivener. I love the binder and how, at one glance,  I can see all the separate chapters and scenes. I then convert to word to send out for the development edit. When that comes back I transfer the word file into scrivener and, using the split screen, go through the comments and edit my scrivener manuscript. I keep going in scrivener until I think I am almost there and ready for the beta-readers and the copy-edit and for these I do a final transfer to word. I love scrivener.


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## TheNovel Factory (Feb 17, 2016)

Anne. said:


> I outline in The Novel Factory, draft in Scrivener and Matcha app on my phone, edit in Word (because of editor), and format in Vellum. And in between, I also use my Alphasmart Dana and transcription with Dragon Dictate. however, Scrivener is always my "home base" so it always have my latest file. It is backup to Google Drive and Dropbox.


Question - what do you mean by edit in Word because of editor? What editing features does Word have that you find useful?


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## Wysardry (Jun 24, 2016)

I'm fairly sure they mean that their human editor only accepts documents in Word format (which is a common requirement), probably because of the track changes feature.


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## Moticom (Jun 29, 2016)

Word for me. I write notes in physical notepads and on my phone, but all of my book writing is done on Word.


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## BookishDreams (Apr 12, 2016)

I used to write in Word, but I found Scrivener to be a far better match for me. Not only for all its amazing features, but also because writing a single chapter at a time tends to put my mind at ease.

(Watching the manuscript grow slowly in Word was usually torture.)


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## CMH (Aug 21, 2015)

Write in Scrivener, but edit in Word.  Did use Storyist for a while on the iPad.


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

TheNovel Factory said:


> Question - what do you mean by edit in Word because of editor? What editing features does Word have that you find useful?


It's pretty much standard for most editors and proofreaders to edit in Word using Track Changes. So no matter what software I use for the writing part, I still need to export (or convert to Word) when I send the manuscript to the editors. From this point, some writers finish their final draft on Word, but in my case I type in the edits back into Scrivener.


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## TheNovel Factory (Feb 17, 2016)

Wysardry said:


> I'm fairly sure they mean that their human editor only accepts documents in Word format (which is a common requirement), probably because of the track changes feature.


Aaaaah! I see.


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## Paul B (Jan 11, 2016)

I use MS OneNote to organize my notes, plot ideas, character info, settings, backstories, etc. Since I write historical fantasy, I use Excel for keeping track of my little changes to history. 

I also use Excel for plotting stories (using Russel Blake's model). I usually have a lot of characters often working against each other, so this helps me keep straight who is backstabbing who. 

My first draft is done on Write or Die, to keep the word count high. 

Then those files go into Scrivener, where I work on drafts 2 through 5.


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Any new software you guys are using for writing and formatting.


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## It&#039;s A Mystery (Mar 14, 2017)

Ulysses is incredible. I love it.


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

I write in Vim. If you are going to do post-production in other software (Jutoh and Scribus/InDesign for me) then writing in plain text makes most sense, which is why most journalists got weaned off Word and were tolfd to write in Vim. For research I used to use OneNote, but switched hierarchical note-taker Cherrytree.


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## DCRWrites (Jan 20, 2014)

I use Scrivener primarily (with Google Docs when I'm out on my phone), and then shift to Word for final polishing.


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## JosephSimmons (Aug 11, 2016)

boh said:


> Hi everyone, just curious what software do authors here mostly are using to write their book or blog.


Google Docs here. 
Helps with my ADD to be able to pop open a story or outline anywhere and work on it.


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## Rosie Scott (Oct 3, 2017)

I use Open Office because it's my favorite document processor _and_ I'm cheap. 

I also quite enjoy formatting everything myself, and I'm old school and tend to write notes by hand and draw out battle tactics on paper rather than on my computer. I don't need all the extra features that many pieces of software have attached.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

boh said:


> Any new software you guys are using for writing and formatting.


No. Still using Scrivener to write and Vellum to format.


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## SaraConklin (Feb 9, 2018)

I use a combination of pages, since I have a MacBook, and scrivener. I do all of my planning and story bibles in pages. The main writing is done in scrivener.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Scrivener for project managment (outline, scene organization, notes, etc.) and Word for the actual writing part.


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## rdperry57 (Nov 15, 2017)

G. said:


> I use Word to write, then I use Calibre to tweak a few things before a final epub.


Me, too.


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2018)

Scrivener because it's easy to move scenes and chapters around. Also keeps research notes together.
Google Docs for my Android tablets when I'm on the moved. Can email work back to main laptop.

For paperbacks, I've returned to PageMaker 6.5. which is no longer being made. I had to buy an old laptop (I think with Windows XP to use it again.
PageMaker is king for formatting, especially with page numbering and photos.
Used it for a travel guide with over 70 photos. Went together quickly because I would custom size photos and put them anywhere on a page instead of just centered.

Have just rediscovered Word Perfect, which is still being produced. Using the free trial period to test it's features.

So for now, it's Scrivener, Google Docs and PageMaker.


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## BGArcher (Jun 14, 2014)

I've got a good workflow these days. I write everything in Scrivener 3.0 and Dragon. I have both programs on my iMac and my laptop, and my iPad and iPhone. I dictate now 90% of my work, which is an adjustment but I'm really seeing gains from it, in terms of word count.

Once a novel or short story is written, I edit it once in Scrivener, throw it over to Word, and read it over and edit it again. Lastly, it gets edited again in Prowriting Aid, and then is sent off to readers and my proof readers. Lastly, I use Vellum to format the books, and publish. Vellum and dropbox intergration with Scrivener with Dragon Anywhere is one of the many reasons I'll stay in Apple's ecosystem.


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## jvin248 (Jan 31, 2012)

.

Outline in Xmind
Write all the words in LibreOffice 
Use LibreOffice to output ebook for Amazon and pdf for Createspace

.


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## solo (Dec 19, 2017)

Word. Then Pressbooks for formatting. Both simple software.


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## Victoria LK (Jan 31, 2014)

Trans-Human said:


> Novel Factory and Scrivener.


I'm starting this way with my next book. Oh, and I use Storyshop to create simple series bibles.


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## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

yWriter, but no surprise there.


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## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

Hans Cummings said:


> I use yWriter* by Spacejock Software for the first draft, then pull it into MS Word for editing/revisions. I do final e-book layout in Word, but I do my print layout in InDesign. If they ever get the Kindle plug-in working for InDesign CC, I'll use that for e-book layout, too.
> 
> * It's similar to Scrivener from what I understand, but yWriter is free.


Not sure if you know, but I recently added epub and mobi export into the yWriter Beta version. (I tend to keep yWriter stuff to the google group/FB, I don't post about it on kboards.)


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## DCRWrites (Jan 20, 2014)

Simon Haynes said:


> yWriter, but no surprise there.


Although I no longer use it I've written a couple of novels in yWriter and thought it was really great. The only thing keeping me from using it now is that it's not as useful cross-platform as I'd like. It was fantastic when I wrote on a single Windows computer, but now that I can use two Windows machines, an iPad, and a Mac all in the same day I've had to move away from it.


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## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

Ios and android versions are available, but MacOS requires rewriting most of it from scratch.


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## dunkleosteus (Feb 5, 2018)

boh said:


> It seems slight majority here prefer to use Scrivener, especially for longer writing projects.
> Has there been any problems with Scrivener, like did it ever crash on you in the midst of your work.


I've been using Scrivener 5 to 7 days a week for 8 years and haven't had it corrupt a file once.

Because I keep multiple drafts in a single project file, and all my projects contain graphics in the notes as well as many snapshots of the text documents themselves, my Scrivener document files are sometimes up to 50mb in size. My "clean track record" with Scrivener includes upgrading these document files from v1 to v2 to v3. In short, I have had exactly _zero_ trouble with loss of data.

I believe the application may have crashed once or twice in all that time, but as I recall, those were OS problems, not application issues. In my experience, Scrivener is an extremely stable application and I will repeat that I have never lost so much as a byte of data as a result of it doing something unexpected.

Now, I have lost data due to stupid things _I_ did -- basically machine-gunning cuts-and-pastes without paying attention to Scrivener's auto-save interval -- but that only happened once, and as I say, it was 100% my fault, (and I recovered in less than two minutes by using Apple's Time Machine feature).

I give Scrivener a 10 out of 10 for stability.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

I have used Scrivener for 6 years and like dunkleosteus have never lost anything. However, from what I sometimes see in the L&L forums, I think anyone starting out with Scriv ought to at least be sure they know where their project is saved and where backups are going (and that they aren't going to the same place the project is stored), what cloud services they should not rely on, etc. It's amazing how many people don't know those things.

Also, my usage is very straightforward, one machine. I have recently transferred my Windows 1.9.7 projects to Mac 3.01 but don't bounce back and forth, don't use the iOS program or Dropbox.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

I bailed on Scrivener, which I'd used for several novels, after it trashed my files. When I looked into how to recover, I found a file system that is, in my opinion, fragile, poorly designed, and a train wreck waiting to happen. That was several years ago. Since Scrivener offered very little I couldn't achieve with other programs and since its compile function was less than intuitive, and less than comprehensive, I made the jump. Perhaps it's improved since then. Many people like it and have had no such problems with it.

Now FWIW I use a combination of OpenOffice Writer, Alkinea, Scribus, and Sigil.


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## mscusse (Feb 18, 2018)

I use Scrivener at the moment, but that might change. It's rather confusing.


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## Pelenor (Nov 17, 2011)

I'm interested in trying Vellum, however I do not have a Mac. I read that it's possible to use it with macinthecloud service and am curious if anyone has?


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## It&#039;s A Mystery (Mar 14, 2017)

I'm honestly amazed more people aren't using Ulysses!


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

I use Word. It's easy to format, easy to save, easy to lay out and even tells me if I've made a typing error. I never understand why anyone would want to use anything else. I'd like to try the pretty fonts in Vellum, but I don't have a Mac.

When I started this a few years ago, there was a certain faction which insisted that e-books had to be done in html. How ridiculous is that?


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## DonovanJeremiah (Oct 14, 2017)

A.G.B said:


> I'm honestly amazed more people aren't using Ulysses!


When they moved to a subscription model, they lost me.

I don't mind paying one time for something but I can't afford all the subscriptions these days just to write and publish.


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## It&#039;s A Mystery (Mar 14, 2017)

DonovanJeremiah said:


> When they moved to a subscription model, they lost me.
> 
> I don't mind paying one time for something but I can't afford all the subscriptions these days just to write and publish.


Fair enough. I find it's easily worth the $39.99 a year as it has sped up my process so much.


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## DonovanJeremiah (Oct 14, 2017)

A.G.B said:


> Fair enough. I find it's easily worth the $39.99 a year as it has sped up my process so much.


Don't get me wrong, I loved it. Like crazy loved it. But with other subscriptions I have and need for other work, it's an expense I can't afford.

No doubt when the money frees up, I'll be back to it. It really is a wonderful little app.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Never heard of Ulysses (well not that one, anyway). I shall look it up.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

I see it is another for Mac, so that's probably why I've never heard of it.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Doglover said:


> When I started this a few years ago, there was a certain faction which insisted that e-books had to be done in html. How ridiculous is that?


A few years ago it wasn't ridiculous at all. It still isn't if you know how and have the tools to support it. It's a way to get the most efficient .epub.


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Al Stevens said:


> A few years ago it wasn't ridiculous at all. It still isn't if you know how and have the tools to support it. It's a way to get the most efficient .epub.


Nope. Show me where the end result is any different from anything else? When I started, Amazon were telling people to upload a .doc or .docx file, yet these experts were still pushing html. I suppose they thought it made them look learned.


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## guerin (Mar 12, 2018)

I use Word. I've been hearing great things about Scrivener but my intial tests with it have been disappointing. The formatting system is cryptic at best. 

My biggest issue is how many different formats do I want to generate for my books. From the replies in this thread you can see people who start in Scrivener, export to Word for their editors / proofreaders, and then format with another SW tool. This gets to be a problem when you find an error in your final review and have to go back and change it. Do you change it in all the different format versions you have?

I think it really depends on what you write. I write fiction, and I can format my books for eBook conversion almost 99.99% in Word. The conversion and final layout is simple for me. I just maintain the original Word document and re-convert if needed. It takes less than a few hours.

That being said, it only took me a year to come up with a system that works for me


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## Linn (Feb 2, 2016)

Al Stevens said:


> It's a way to get the most efficient .epub.


That's for sure. I write in Pages and export to epub, then edit the html from there. I absolutely love writing in Pages. Unfortunately I don't love the epubs it exports.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Doglover said:


> Nope. Show me where the end result is any different from anything else?


Yep. File size, for one. Most converters bloat the CSS for tagging paragraphs and headings, some don't even use styles, coding the full rendering information on every paragraph, and some insert many needless tags--spans, for example. The whole thing can be done much more efficiently and the smaller the file, the less the publisher pays in download fees deducted from royalties.


Doglover said:


> When I started, Amazon were telling people to upload a .doc or .docx file, yet these experts were still pushing html. I suppose they thought it made them look learned.


Experts don't always share their knowledge just to impress the unwashed masses. Sometimes they just want to be helpful. And, quite often, their generosity goes unappreciated and is even denigrated. Oh, well.


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## Stevej37334 (Jun 2, 2017)

I use open office and save it as a word doc file so it can be uploaded. I'm sure there are easier ways, especially for paperbacks, but I've stuck with what I'm familiar with so far.


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

Al Stevens said:


> Yep. File size, for one. Most converters bloat the CSS for tagging paragraphs and headings, some don't even use styles, coding the full rendering information on every paragraph, and some insert many needless tags--spans, for example. The whole thing can be done much more efficiently and the smaller the file, the less the publisher pays in download fees deducted from royalties. Experts don't always share their knowledge just to impress the unwashed masses. Sometimes they just want to be helpful. And, quite often, their generosity goes unappreciated and is even denigrated. Oh, well.


+1


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## Doglover (Sep 19, 2013)

Al Stevens said:


> Yep. File size, for one. Most converters bloat the CSS for tagging paragraphs and headings, some don't even use styles, coding the full rendering information on every paragraph, and some insert many needless tags--spans, for example. The whole thing can be done much more efficiently and the smaller the file, the less the publisher pays in download fees deducted from royalties.Experts don't always share their knowledge just to impress the unwashed masses. Sometimes they just want to be helpful. And, quite often, their generosity goes unappreciated and is even denigrated. Oh, well.


And if it is real knowledge, as I have learned from many experienced people on this board, I am grateful, humbly grateful. I'm talking about those who rejoiced in rubbing their html knowledge in the faces of others who may be scared to death of the very mention. And it's not necessary.

If someone were to ask how to do something and the answer is helpful, it is thankfully received. If someone asks how to format and upload an e-book and is told 'it has to be done in html, no other way', how is that helpful? I built a sixty page website in CSS and html, and I have no wish to do it again.


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## Jacob Stanley (May 25, 2015)

I've started writing mainly on my new Chromebook.

The software I'm using for drafting is an online distraction-free word processor called Writer: The Internet Typewriter. It has quite a few features once you dig in, gives you a very simple interface to write in, and seems very reliable so far. For me it's a much more comfortable place to write than google docs. I create a new file every week were I dump all my writing on all projects. I keep it all jumbled together for the sake of getting a weekly word/page count tally, and I use markdown to create headings so I can easily separate the different pieces later.

I have a very confusing and messy way of putting a draft together... Hundreds of little snippets of text--some whole scenes, others just fragments of scenes. So i needed a place to store all the bits and pieces where I can organize them and move them around. Scrivener is the obvious choice for this, but I wanted to stick with my chromebook as much as possible. I tried several things and finally settled on Workflowy. It is an online service, sort of like Evernote, for creating lists inside of lists. Each individual list item can have a note attached to it, with an unlimited amount of plain text. Since I use markdown for adding italics and such in my writing, plain text works just fine for me. Workflowy is great because you can drag and drop your snippets around and reorder them in just about any way you can imagine. In that regard it's just as flexible and easy to use as Scrivener, if not more.

I also have a lot of redundancy... Everything gets backed up to Evernote, and I've also been using a Scrivener file connected to dropbox that I import my words into at the end of each week, but I'm thinking about cutting the cord on the Scrivener part. I need to find something that I can use to get project wordcounts, which is the only thing I'm lacking that Scrivener gives me. I'm looking at a few different sites and services.

The one downside to my current approach is that there's a whole lot of copying and pasting text in a bunch of different places. Right now I'm adding every snippet I draft in the Online Typewriter to Workflowy as soon as I finish writing. If I add another service for tracking project-wide word counts, that will be a second copy and paste. And then there's the weekly evernote backup, which is an additional round of copying and pasting.

Most likely I will import everything into Scrivener at the end to do my ebook compiles, because that's what I'm comfortable with, but I may stick with cloud tools for everything until the very end.


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## Cactus Lady (Jun 4, 2014)

Pat Pflieger said:


> I often use Scrivener to organize scenes (and I occasionally use Liquid Story Binder, when I want to put all the research notes in one place. LSB is so flexible that it's a little complicated and intimidating, and it isn't being updated, so I don't recommend the program).
> 
> Since I hand-code my ebooks, for that I use Notepad++.


I adored Liquid Story Binder. So much fun to use, and so flexible, and it just worked the way my mind works. But as Windows kept getting updated and LSB didn't, it got glitchier and glitchier on my computers. I still have it, it just doesn't work well anymore. If the developer would rewrite it from the ground up so it works again, I would stand in line to give him my money.

So I've been using Scrivener, which works well, I've never had it lose anything though I've heard horror stories from other people (I don't do automatic backups; I do all my backing up manually). But after LSB, it just seems so... regimented. I've never felt quite comfortable with it.

I used to hand-code my ebooks, and still will for smaller projects, but with my limited physical and mental energy, I had to switch to something else. Now I use Draft2Digital's formatter, since I distribute through them anyway and I had to make a Word doc for Smashwords anyway (D2D is my main distributor; I use Smashwords for their store and a few other things) and it seems to work pretty well. Anyway, I use Notepad++ for my coding, too.



Simon Haynes said:


> yWriter, but no surprise there.


I always looked at yWriter and hesitated because I don't write in chapters. I know a chapter can be a scene, but the extra step from chapter to scene kind of got in my way. Then it hit me, a chapter doesn't *have* to be a chapter! I've been studying a lot about story structure, and realized that a chapter can be a segment of the structure, like the Opening Hook or the Inciting Incident or the All Is Lost or whatever. So I downloaded the latest version and now I'm playing around with it, outlining a new project using the chapters as the parts of the story structure, holding the scenes that go in those parts. It seems to fit my way of thinking a little more comfortably than Scrivener does.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Doglover said:


> I'm talking about those who rejoiced in rubbing their html knowledge in the faces of others who may be scared to death of the very mention.


You are characterizing the motives of others (rejoiced, rubbing) in ways I do not recall having noticed. If I saw them I probably just ignored them.


Doglover said:


> I built a sixty page website in CSS and html, and I have no wish to do it again.


I don't blame you.


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## dgcasey (Apr 16, 2017)

TheLass said:


> I started using Scrivener a few months ago. It's a brilliant program. I still use Word for short projects (picture books) and notepad for ideas.


I tried Scrivener a few months ago, but couldn't find enough reasons to want to pay for it. I still have 21 days left in the trial period and don't see myself using them.

I'm cheap and like software that's easy enough to use without a user's manual, so I use LibreOffice Writer.


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## dgcasey (Apr 16, 2017)

PJ_Cherubino said:


> I've used both and prefer LibreOffice. The differences between the two are few, but IMHO LibreOffice is different where it really counts.


I think one of the biggest reasons to choose LibreOffice over OpenOffice would be that development on OO stopped years ago. So, the last version of the program is a few years old and there won't be any further updates to it. And LO was developed by the same team that did OO, but they have just carried it on and have made it quite the nice piece of software.


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## dgcasey (Apr 16, 2017)

mscusse said:


> I use Scrivener at the moment, but that might change. It's rather confusing.


That and it has way more features than I'll ever need. All I need is a program that allows me to put words on the screen and format the document for publishing. I don't need trees and roots and world views and such.


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## dgcasey (Apr 16, 2017)

Doglover said:


> I built a sixty page website in CSS and html, and I have no wish to do it again.


Ever written a large website in Cold Fusion, using Notepad as your coding software? Good times.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

dgcasey said:


> I think one of the biggest reasons to choose LibreOffice over OpenOffice would be that development on OO stopped years ago. So, the last version of the program is a few years old and there won't be any further updates to it. And LO was developed by the same team that did OO, but they have just carried it on and have made it quite the nice piece of software.


OpenOffice is owned by Apache. Version 4.1.5 was released in December, 2017.

https://www.openoffice.org/


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## cebap (Dec 15, 2014)

I write in many places!
Scrivener, 4thewords.com, WriteorDie, and Google Docs are the usual culprits!
I also have an Alphasmart I whip out sometimes when I want to write distraction-free.


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## dgcasey (Apr 16, 2017)

Al Stevens said:


> OpenOffice is owned by Apache. Version 4.1.5 was released in December, 2017.


Well, that was news to me, so I went and looked it up on Wikipedia. That fourth paragraph on the Wiki page would be enough to keep me away from that software. And just to be clear, I started out using OO and used it for about two years, before switching over to LO.


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

dgcasey said:


> Well, that was news to me, so I went and looked it up on Wikipedia. That fourth paragraph on the Wiki page would be enough to keep me away from that software.


If you can't believe Wikipedia, who can you believe? Do you think programs will someday blow up because they don't have a large team of programmers supporting them? They will continue to do what they do. I've stayed with OO simply because it works and is not subject to overly frequent updates. Every bug and deficiency I've found in it, I find in LO too. They're built from the same code base. As always, use what makes you comfortable.


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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

Has anyone tried any new software that was not mentioned before.


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## Annalise Clark (Apr 4, 2017)

Seems like an overwhelmingly large number of us use MS Word. I tried tools like Scrivner but found it cumbersome to learn how to work it. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned?

I've been a professional writer (freelance and copywriter) for 20 years and use Word for my clients and non-fiction work so it just seemed natural to use it for my fiction, too.


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## L. G. Estrella (Nov 17, 2013)

I write in Word. For conversion, I use TextMate and then Sigil. It lets me get everything exactly the way I want it, and it only takes me about ten minutes. Moreover, I like having control over the HTML, just in case I want to do something really specific or need to tweak some stuff more directly.


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## nail file (Sep 12, 2018)

boh said:


> Has anyone tried any new software that was not mentioned before.


Not new, but old.

I use Notepad. It's the best distraction free program for me. Sometimes, I will get all slick and use WordPad if I need basic formatting.


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## atree (Jan 1, 2019)

I like minimalism and mobility, as in: work with simple tools from anywhere.

Anything other than Google Docs would kill me these days. GD rocks because it allows me to write on all my stories/drafts/notes from anywhere, on any device (including borrowed computer or public library).

Simple clean distraction-free interface. No-brainer, imho.

The little formatting I do at the end is with Libre Office. 

Embrace simple freedom.


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## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

I've used various versions of Word for writing and formatting, both for myself and others, for over 10 years now.

The reason for starting in Word was at the time agents in the majority, if not all, insisted on submissions in Word. That was the industry standard at the time. Its probably not changed, though I haven't looked. 

It is no wonder then that when Amazon and later smashwords developed conversion software to produce readable e-books on devices, that they based their development around Word. Even Create Space and other POD providers made templates available in Word, so I've stuck with it for all those reasons. 

I've also taken the time to study all of its features that many have not and it is surprising in what can be achieved in term of style, design, and editing. 

WORD does everything I need in terms of writing, editing, both physically and in audio mode as an add-on. Also it does everything I need for formatting  both e-books and print books, and so far I haven't had to pay for any of the versions I have used. 

Obviously, there will be benefits by using other software, but as yet I haven't had the need to look at them for all the reasons I mention. 
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## boh (Mar 13, 2016)

What software is most often used or recommended  for writing shorter articles?


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## Javelin (May 10, 2020)

boh said:


> What software is most often used or recommended for writing shorter articles?


I was struggling to fix "burrowed his brow" to "furrowed his brow", and finally found an easy solution for a picture book. Export a pdf from pages, or another program.

Install Kindle Create (per info for uploading a manuscript at Amazon.com).

Choose the pdf option, even though it says cookbooks, but leaves off PB & J, j/k


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## Crayola (Dec 22, 2012)

I love necrothreads. 

MS Word. Industry standard.


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