Today, the book industry is on fire. Every year more than 20 million books are published on all types of topics. If you want to be successful in publishing your book on the shelves of bookstores around the world, you need to engage in book writing software.Today, the book industry is on fire. Every year more than 20 million books are published on all types of topics. If you want to be successful in publishing your book on the shelves of bookstores around the world, you need to engage in book writing software.
Here are awesome softwares to get.
Reedsy Book Editor
Designed to meet the key needs of authors, our very own Reedsy Book Editor is your all-in-one piece of book writing software. With a seamless interface to take you from first draft to fully formatted ebooks, you can write, edit, and publish beautiful books — all with this one tool. The RBE will take care of formatting and typesetting as you write, then once your book is all set — with front and back matter sorted in a couple of clicks — you can export a file that’s ready for instant distribution. It’s smooth sailing from there. ⛵
💲 Price: Free
💡 Features: Distraction-free interface, cloud saving, export as ebook or PDF, version history, free formatting templates
🤝 Editorial collaboration: Yes
Google Docs
Available to anyone with a Google account, Google Docs is a web-based word processor that can handle everything from note-taking to professional writing to, yes, books. While many authors spend weeks hunting for the perfect book writing software, most specialized apps add complexity without any real value. In almost every case, a word processor is all you need. They might not be tailored specifically to authors, but they’re fully functional for writing and editing a first draft. After all, no amount of fancy gear will write your book for you.
Google Docs has particularly strong collaborative writing and editing features. It’s also possible to use this writing software to format your book for publication — though it can get frustratingly technical, as it doesn’t easily convert to the dual columns and all-around margins you’ll need.
💲 Price: Free
💡 Features: Cloud saving, easy to share files with anyone, many formatting options (must be done manually)
🤝 Editorial collaboration: Yes
LibreOffice Writer
If you want Google Docs’ range of features but prefer to work offline (or stay off Big G’s radar), there’s always LibreOffice Writer. This free and open-source word processor will handle everything writing-related that the big dogs like Google Docs and Microsoft Word can, and will run on just about any computer out there. It’s also pretty decent for formatting your book, though again, you’ll have to do this manually. Regardless, LibreOffice is a great option if you want the in-depth functionality of a major office suite, without supporting a mega tech corporation.
💲 Price: Free
💡 Features: Cross-platform, many formatting options (must be done manually)
🤝 Editorial collaboration: Yes
Free course: How to actually start writing your book
Take the leap with this inspirational course and become an author like you’ve always dreamed. Get started now.
Pages
Mac users everywhere will recognize this one: it comes pre-installed on virtually all Apple devices. Like Google Docs and LibreOffice Writer, Pages is not specifically designed for writing a book — so while all the functionality you need is certainly there, there’s a lot of extra buttons and options that you’ll just never need. Still, it’s clean and fairly easy to use, despite all the bells and whistles.
One whistle that is worth mentioning is the handwriting-to-text function. Using an Apple Pencil, you can write, edit, and annotate your document, and your handwriting will automatically be turned into text. This is a really fun, quick, and easy way to make notes on a first draft, and as long as your editor has an Apple device, you can even share thoughts and ideas in real time.
💲 Price: Free
💡 Features: Handwriting-to-text, formatting templates
🤝 Editorial collaboration: Yes
yWriter
On the other end of the spectrum, we have yWriter. Unlike an office suite word professor, yWriter is designed to do one thing, and one thing only: write books. Specifically, yWriter is most helpful as novel writing software, since it divides your work into scenes and notes for characters, settings, etc. yWriter also makes it easy to organize your work and track your progress — a vital component of drafting any novel.
💲 Price: Free
💡 Features: Scene-based organization, storyboard view, progress tracking
🤝 Editorial collaboration: No
Microsoft Word
Ah, Microsoft Word: the go-to piece of book writing software since what seems like the dawn of time. Perhaps that’s reason enough to shake things up? On the other hand, the fact that everyone has Word and knows how to use it, makes it easy to collaborate. Formatting your manuscript to submit to an editor is simple and effective; as is the “track changes” feature they’ll use to polish your draft. Preparing your book for publication, however, isn’t quite so convenient.
Theoretically, MS Word cando everything you could ever want it to in order to make a book. But, figuring out how to do it is another matter — and even then, it’s not always easy. Once you’ve taken the time to manually format and export your file, you’ll need to proof it for errors (which there inevitably are) and then start over. Any author working on a full-length book will find this process slow and unwieldy. There are of course programs that’ll clean up the file before you publish it, if writing in Word is non-negotiable.
💲 Price: $69.99/year
💡 Features: Built-in dictation, many formatting options (must be done manually)
🤝 Editorial collaboration: Yes
FocusWriter
FocusWriter pares things right back: no in-app distractions, no pinned research notes, just you and a virtual sheet of paper (cloaked in the theme of your choice). You can access a toolbar with several features designed to boost your progress, including a timer for writing sprints and a daily goal tracker — but in its default state, this writing software tucks them safely out of view. After all, the best way to make progress is to focus all your attention on writing…and nothing else.
💲 Price: Free
💡 Features: Spell-check, timers and alarms, daily goal tracker
🤝 Editorial collaboration: No
ProWritingAid
Moving into software that aims to improve your writing and not just provide you with a space to be creative, we have ProWritingAid. Compatible with many different word processors and apps, this app contains grammar and language checking, as well as detailed reports about structure and style — which we covered in greater depth in this ProWritingAid review. In other words, not only will this app help polish your current piece, it will help you become a better writer overall.
💲 Price: $79.00/year
💡 Features: In-depth grammar checking, editing reports, integration with many different word processors and web browsers
🤝 Editorial collaboration: N/A
Grammarly
Use for: Checking your work for grammar mistakes
Pricing: From free trial available, then $29.99 per month
I use this application to check my blog posts and book chapters for typos and spelling mistakes. The premium version of Grammarly has powerful features that also help you to improve your writing skills.
It provides several editing recommendations such as avoiding passive voice, using shorter sentences, alternative word suggestions for using a broader vocabulary, and so on. Many of these features are also invaluable when you need to trim your word count.
You can find out why I like this premium grammar checker in my 2021 Grammarly review.
It costs $29.99 per month.Try Grammarly for FREE
LivingWriter
Use for: planning and writing stories
Pricing: From free trial for 14 days to $96 billed once a year / $9.99 per month
LivingWriter is a new writing app for writing stories or a book. Rather than using a word processor, Living Writer is accessible via your web browser. It helps writers arrange their plots and stories using boards much like Scrivener. Living Writer contains a series of outline templates for popular story structures like the Hero’s Journey.
It’s a great choice for short stories and novels. LivingWriting now includes apps for Android and iOS and a new offline desktop mode. You can take out a 14-day free trial without using a credit card.Take a 14-Day FREE TRIAL
Scrivener
Use for: Writing books and longer-form works
Pricing: From $49 per month
I can’t recommend Scrivener enough as a writing app for longer-form works.
I use this book writing software to write feature articles for newspapers, long-form content, reports, books and more. In the past, I used Scrivener for blogging. These days, I use it mostly for long-form writing.
Scrivener goes far beyond a regular word processor such as Microsoft Word.
Scrivener makes it easier for writers as well as students to organise their ideas and manage more complicated writing projects, using both the desktop and mobile writing app. It’s also available on iPad.
Scrivener also has plenty of keyboard shortcuts to speed up the writing process.
It costs $45.Try Scrivener
Conclusion
No matter if you are an aspiring author, or you’re trying to publish your first book, writing a book can be quite challenging. You need to put together a great story while organizing your thoughts in the best possible way. It might seem easy at first but the longer your book gets, the more difficulties you will face when completing it.