We share our author's favorite writing tools; practical, helpful stuff to make sure you finally get that book done and ready to print
In the lyrics to his hit song Across the Universe, John Lennon wrote, “Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup.” Well, that's sure a fantastic sentiment if you're a successful songwriter riding a wave of creativity and at the peak of your powers; but for most of us, writing involves lots of hard work. Whether it's a novel, a children's picture story, a memoir, a self-help volume, or even an end-of-year report, writing a book is always a challenge.
It's little wonder, then, that computer technology and the Internet have given rise to a wealth of writing and writing-related tools aimed at helpling you with planning and plotting, organizing, productivity, and getting down to a stretch of distraction-free time to get that novel, or nonfiction book, or whatever it is, finally finished and ready to print. There may be thousands of such tools now, and each writer will have their favorites. So, this is by no means an exhaustive list. But it is based on experience.
We've been one of the world's most consistent, professional, and well-regarded offset printing services for over a quarter of a decade now. In that time, we've worked with thousands of successful authors of all stripes. These are their top ten choices of the tools they've found most useful on their writing journeys. These are just honest suggestions, not affiliate links or anything like that. The only purpose is the hope that if they've been useful to our writers, they might be useful to you, too. Let's dive in!
1. Microsoft Word
In some circles, putting MS Word at the top may be controversial. But it all depends on who you talk to, right? Most of our writers have found this to be the single most accessible, easy-to-use, and reliable word-processor out there. And it has a range of functions that is both broad and deep without becoming intrusive and offers an intuitive interface, built-in help and support, and a clean, distraction-free writing environment. And it comes pre-installed and free with most new PCs. What's not to love?
2. Reedsy Book Editor
Reedsy is a one-stop service for writers which has grown in authority and popularity over the years. The blog is a great resource for detailed advice and useful information on all aspects of writing and self-publishing. At core, it's no charity and as a commercial enterprise the subscriptions and fees for much of what's on offer may be prohibitive for folks working with a restricted budget. But their solid reputation is based on a lot of free stuff they offer, too. Reedsy book editor is one of those tools. An extremely useful tool for anyone who has ideas and creative writing skills, but struggles with formatting books. As you type, Reedsy automatically begins to convert your rough drafts into formatted manuscripts. Annoying to some, maybe, but a godsend to others. It's free, but you will have to give up your email to get access to it, so expect a few marketing emails to land regularly in your inbox by way of a “fee”.
3. Scrivener
If you haven't heard of Scrivener by now, you probably live under a rock in a swamp. This baby is more than a word processor or a book formatting tool—although it is a superlative version of both of those things. It's an all-in-one solution to everything you could need when writing a book. So many writers praise this software as an essential tool for planning, writing, editing, formatting, and overall manuscript preparation that it seems the entire self-publishing community falls into a collective swoon whenever its name is mentioned. It's not free, you need to buy it, but at only a handful of bucks you may well find it well worth the price.
4. Evernote
We know quite a few authors who just slap their butts on their chairs, roll up their sleeves and start typing until they've done. But they're rare. Most spend lots of pre-writing time doing research, gathering sources materials, and planning detailed outlines. If that sounds like you, then Evernote could be a dream come true. It moves away from tools for word processing to something that can help with your research and development stage. It lets you collate selections or full articles and create image banks for useful information that you find online. This can be particularly helpful if you are researching a nonfiction piece, an historical novel, a true crime collection, or anything else which requires that you get your facts straight and you can't just make it all up.
Downloading the browser extension makes it even easier, and allows you to save materials instantly. Anything you save can then be revisited in collated journals which you can use for making notes, organizing ideas, and gathering resources.
5. Trello
Trello is another tool that can really help organize your ideas. Once you have signed up for a free account, it allows you to make and move idea boards around the page. Imagine on-screen post-it notes with enhanced features.
Each board can be used for making lists, that can then have individual cards within them. It is a great way to shuffle around plot elements and see what has the most impact. And if you're serious about building a career, it's a cool way of planning out whole series and different genres.
6. Milanote
While writing is all about words, not all writers think solely in verbal ways. Several our our comic book, graphic novel, and children's picture book authors, for example, have found the intuitive, visual interface of Milanote to be a fantastic tool to help organize your creative writing. It's no great surprise that its flexible, graphic workspace is hugely popular with designers, too. Many will find it an easier tool for editing than with than the more word processor-based applications.
7. Power Thesaurus
Ever in the middle of a writing project and find yourself stuck for words? It can happen to any writer, no matter how experienced. This astonishing online Power Thesaurus is an excellent writing tool, and once you get used to it, you may wonder how you managed without it! When searching for a particular word, this responsive thesaurus can give you a helping hand with its community-driven selection of related words.
You type in a word, and related words that have been suggested, rated, and used by others will appear. It is an excellent way to increase vocabulary in your writing and it's driven by a lively community of writers just like you.
8. Ulysses
If you're a Mac user rather than a PC fan, then the most lauded word-processor-with-bells-on has to be Ulysses. It takes the whole concept of the writing app to another level with a host of tools designed to organize writing in a long-term strategy. It has diary features for setting deadlines and word counts, bookmarking facilities, and distraction-free typewriter modes.
It is available as a free 14-day trial. After this, you can expect to pay a moderate monthly subscription. For the features integrated into it, several of our clients tell us that this is well worth the money.
9. Namepedia
Now, before you ask us why we've included this, as it's not exactly a designated “writing tool”, it's because a lot of fiction writers have said that it's incredibly useful and inspirational and even a cure for the infamous writer's block. Essentially, Namepedia is an online database that contains many thousands of international names. It's obviously excellent if you are struggling to give names to your characters, but it's the search engine built-in that gives it extra uses and where it really comes into its own.
The database can be searched by expected terms such as first letter or a surname. But you can also search the database by country, characteristics, different languages, name days, real people, baby names, gender, and more. Just playing with the possibilities has been known to spark ideas for multibook sagas! If you sign up and log in, more features open up and you can take an active role in the community.
10. The Pomodoro Clock
There are a number of Pomodoro clocks and tools online that all essentially do the same thing. That is to help you manage your time and schedule breaks using the so-called “Pomodoro technique”.
The Pomodoro technique is a theory that the mind can only maintain maximum functional attention for about 25 minutes before it needs a break. But if you give in to the urge to “just quickly check your email” or go onto social media when you feel your concentration waning, you can end up losing hours of valuable writing time because these things are deeply distracting. Online tools will time your 25 minutes, then allow you to have a five or ten-minute break before “pinging” you back to work. Ideally, stay off the Internet during your break and use it to go to the bathroom, do a few stretches, or just daydream. Five minutes is enough to reset your brain ready for another 25-minute stint at your desk. Not convinced? Well, this is one technique that's free to try. So, why not give it a go?
Talk to us!
We hope that's been helpful for you. Once you finish writing your book, remember us and come back to say hello. We have 25 years and counting of success in helping self-publishers, entrepreneurs, businesses, and non-profits to print beautiful, high-level, professional books. Our expert team, genuine commitment to personalized customer care, and state-of-the-art technology—along with unbeatable prices—sustain our worldwide reputation for high-quality products and exceptional standards of service. Let's talk!
