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Scrivener, etc.
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Ana
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Jan 07, 2022 04:42PM
Hey all. What do you use to write your book? What do you recommend or not recommend, why? Thanks!
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Microsoft word, the traditional standard. It works well, I understand it, and it has grammatical features I need to help my writing.
I use Scrivener to put together my first draft. I then put each chapter through ProWritingAid for basic editing and then into Word. I will also use a test to audio free program as hearing it can pick up a ton of issues. I do final formatting in Word, before sending to 1st Beta readers and after a rewrite, my editor.
I also use Word. I've tried Scrivener and was turned off by the learning curve and the clutter. I also prefer not having to go through the rigamarole of compiling the document in Scrivener and I like having my manuscript in a format that I can open (from the cloud) and work on just about anywhere, on any machine. Even if the computer I'm on doesn't have Word, I'll almost certainly be able to use Google docs, whereas with Scrivener, you need Scrivener installed. But many writers absolutely love Scrivener so I'm probably in the minority.
I use Scrivener for outlining, world building, and characters, but actual writing I do through Google Docs for the convenience in sharing.
I mainly use Google Docs but I also use Reedsy. I haven't heard of Scrivener but Reedsy is simple and good for tracking word count and setting writing goals.I've also tried Evernote which is good but I mainly use it for planning and notes.
I use word too. But since I move around a lot -can't take my laptop with me always- I use writer+ on my phone. It's simple. Has a dark theme too!
Scrivener is the only way I can sanely keep track of things when I'm inspired to write scenes out of order. But compiling anything bigger than a chapter can be a real headache. Maybe when I learn more scrivener I'll me more effective at outlining.
Ana wrote: "Hey all. What do you use to write your book? What do you recommend or not recommend, why? Thanks!"I use Scrivener for writing the draft, and Pro Writing Aid to help with editing. For epub publishing, I export final draft from Scrivener and open with Sigil to customize. For print publishing, I use Affinity Publisher to customize the final draft; it's a great program with a reasonable learning curve. I have never used Word, but Scrivener can export to .docx.
Sigil requires knowledge of CSS and HTML, which I've forgotten almost everything I ever knew about coding. I'm considering a subscription to Ulysses at $49 a year for the epub. Another option is a program called Jutoh, a one-time purchase. I haven't trialed either app yet.
WJ wrote: "Scrivener is the only way I can sanely keep track of things when I'm inspired to write scenes out of order. But compiling anything bigger than a chapter can be a real headache. Maybe when I learn..."
I highly recommend the Scrivener 3 course by Karen Prince on Udemy. Without it, I would have been lost in the weeds.
If you're willing to wait, Udemy often has deep discounts on all its courses so you don't have to pay full price.
I don't know what your file looks like exported out of Scrivener (that's one thing I despised about Scrivener, the difficulty in getting my work back out of it and in a usable format), but there really shouldn't be a need to buy separate software just to create an ePub, unless you're dealing with really complicated formatting stuff like tables.- If you have a Mac computer, Pages can generate an ePub from a document with properly applied styles.
- Amazon's free Kindle Create program saves files as .kpf for uploading to the Kindle store. However, you can use Calibre (a free program) with a free plugin to convert the .kpf file to an ePub. While the ePub might not be as fancy, in my experience, it's perfectly serviceable.
- Draft2Digital has a free ePub creator you can use, even if you decide not to distribute through them. I think it'll also generate other formats too, like .mobi.
I write in Scrivener. I love having all my characters, research, and everything all together. It's easy to compile into a Word document for editing. I use Vellum to format for ebook and print. Truly, I'd be lost without Scrivener.
Vellum is Mac OS only. It's software is so good that authors have bought Macs just to use it. However, for new publishers, I would take a very, very hard look at Atticus as an alternative.https://www.atticus.io/
Atticus will work on a PC, Chromebook, or Mac. And Atticus does pretty much everything Vellum does -- and Atticus costs $147 versus $249.
Just wrote my first novel and I used Scrivener. Word has always been the thing that made me give up previous attempts. I find it super frustrating. I love having the sections and being able to jump around the manuscript easily. Compiling only takes a few seconds and allows you to really micromanage what goes into your export. I also use Scapple, the planning and notes app from the same company, which I enjoy.
J.R. wrote: "I don't know what your file looks like exported out of Scrivener (that's one thing I despised about Scrivener, the difficulty in getting my work back out of it and in a usable format), but there re..."Exporting an epub from Scrivener results in an ordinary product. I like drop caps, first few words of my choice in small caps (not a designated number), and other things depending on the story, e.g., background image where appropriate, corner bracket design at beginning of chapter, etc., without going overboard and cluttering the design.
What looks good on Kindle doesn't necessarily look good on all e-reader devices, nor even on earlier generation Kindles. For that reason, I bought a book called The Zen of Ebook Formatting, which delves deeper into CSS and HTML specific to ebooks. I'm only 25% through the book and learning new things. When I'm finished, I'll post a quick review and add the Kindle highlights in case anyone is interested.
Laura wrote: "J.R. wrote: "I don't know what your file looks like exported out of Scrivener (that's one thing I despised about Scrivener, the difficulty in getting my work back out of it and in a usable format),..."I found Scrivener fairly late into writing my first novel. Everyone raved about it, so I tried it. I imported a Word document that was styled. When I finally figured out how to export it back out of Scrivener in docx format, everything had been stripped, including italics within the text. I don't know if I did something wrong, and since I didn't really see myself using the other stuff in Scrivener, I just went back to Word.
I am not as fancy as you are, but I do also like to use things like drop caps, the small caps for the first few words of a chapter/section, and a design for my chapter headers in my paperbacks.
In terms of eBooks, I usually just distribute to Amazon (I don't have the time/money to advertise wide to make up for what I'd be losing in page reads by being in Select), so I am fine with using Kindle Create. I also keep my eBooks pretty simple. For ePubs to distribute to reviewers, I used Apple Pages.
J.R. wrote: "Laura wrote: "J.R. wrote: "I don't know what your file looks like exported out of Scrivener (that's one thing I despised about Scrivener, the difficulty in getting my work back out of it and in a u..."Something went wrong if it stripped the formatting. Maybe you can do a search or ask a question on the Literature and Latte forum to see what happened.
If you're currently distributing only through Amazon, try Draft2Digital. As I understand it, you can opt out of the Kindle distribution and do that yourself in order to retain the right to offer free book promotions on Amazon. The info is on the D2D site somewhere.
D2D has formatting options similar to Vellum, as near as I can tell, and they're quite nice-looking. Also, they just acquired Smashwords, which is a major step in distribution opportunity. I haven't used them yet, but have made a couple inquiries and they have been quick to respond.
Best of luck with your book.
https://draft2digital.com/
