5 Best software to use for Writing books or novels

Writing novels, educational or children’s books, or any other kind of writing task is not a common skill, it takes a lot of time and deep knowledge of the subject on which the author wants to write. However, software can’t help a writer to attain such skills but they can enhance the way of writing and illustrating ideas.

Actually, those days are gone when we use a desk and paper to write for hours, especially for those who write a lot. The same thing has happened to the typewriter which was common a way back to write stories, books, or novels. Because of the drawbacks, first the costly paper and then you can’t just erase something on TypeWrtier like we do today on smartphones and PCs.

Well, when we think about some software, to write on PC, the first name of a program comes in our mind is Microsoft Word or some open source one such as LibreOffice. However, they are not enough, the writers need something more that helps them to convert their loose text into a book form.

Word and OpenOffice are only suitable to a limited extent as classic office software for writing books. There is a lack of all planning and support solutions for authors. Thus, here are some top software that a writer can use to write a book while mitigating the various problems he or she is facing such as grammar errors, in designing characters, locations, objects; structuring complex storylines, typing mistakes, and more…

Top Book software to get help in writing books or novels

There are so many free software available to write books, however, they are not actually dedicated to this purpose, yet to start initially to transform a writing hobby into professional work, here are some…

Best Free Text Writing programs which most are familiar

  • Microsoft Word (OS inbuilt)
  • Apache Open Office Writer
  • LibreOffice Writer
  • WPS Office Free Writer
  • Google Docs
  • SoftMaker TextMaker
  • yWriter for Windows
  • WriteMonkey
  • yWriter

Best Freemium/paid Programs to write books or novels

1. Grammarly (helps in spelling & grammar)

The first thing which makes any text readable and understandable is the usage of error-free words and the right grammar. However, while writing a book, novel, or any long article we missed lots of things such as the right spelling of words, grammar, phrase, and more. Even the repetitions of the same word, again and again, can easily reduce the professionalism.

Therefore, at such a juncture Grammarly-like tools are really helpful in checking spellings, punctuation, and grammar. It gives us suggestions to replace the words which are not appropriate in a sentence structure. Auto-correction features, synonym suggestions and free plugins to integrate Grammarly into popular platforms such as Google Chrome and Microsoft are available. We can even download the Grammarly app for Android & iOS and Desktop software for Windows & macOS to perform proofreading of any available text.

Grammarly helps in spelling grammar for writing book min

The free version of Grammarly has enough to offer, however, being a novel or book writer, the user perhaps needs more advanced features that are available in the paid plan of this tool. The paid subscription of  Grammarly lets the user access premium features such as clarity-focused sentence rewrites, Tone adjustments, Plagiarism detection, Word choice, Formality level, Fluency with other additional advanced suggestions.

It costs $29.95 if we go for the monthly plane, however, $11.66 per month if the user opts for a yearly subscription.

Grammarly Website

2. Papyrus Author

Well, if you don’t want to pay for Microsoft word which is the first choice of any writer who has either just started or already in this field of writing books, the Papyrus Author’s free version will be a good option to start. On one hand, where there is not a free version of MS-word, Papyrus offers that with many good features one needs to write, navigate, and publish a story.

Papyrus is a popular word used for a special kind of thick paper in the ancient world, just inspired by that, the developers of this software present it especially for authors.

In the free version of the software, it offers a full-feature Word processor, Grammar, and spellchecker;  Advanced book writing, Interactive Writer’s Thesaurus, Automated Backups, and Style Checker.

To organize text, the Papyrus equipped with Pinboard, Notes Next to the Text, and Navigator to easily go through chapters, scenes, and events.

Even later if the author wants to use its work done on Papyrus in MS word then that is also possible because it is compatible with that. Furthermore, the free version lets us directly publish the book to ePub, Kindle Mobi, or Print Book from the software. Front Matter & Author Data Generation features are also there.

Papyrus Author min 1

Whereas the paid version of Papyrus which is available at $14.99 per month to offer various advance features such as Typewriter Mode, Readability Analysis, Direct Speech Check, Ghost Text to Keep Background Info, Research with Citations, Characters, Items and Locations with Text Tracking, Thinkboard, Timeline, and more…

Visit website Papyrus Author

3. Scrivener – a novel or book writing software

Scrivener is one of the best word-processing programs for writing books and specially designed for authors. It is a nice option to digitally start noting down the scrambled ideas and then shape them into a full-fledged book. Scrivener is a valuable piece of software available for both Windows, Linux & macOS and can be very helpful in both academic work and fiction. For example, if you are designing a novel, a plot is created first, and an overview of the story is created on index cards.

It comes with a “writing control” that informs at any time how many words have already been written for the respective area of ​​the story.

To give the author a wide reach, the Scrivener let’s export our project file to a wide variety of file formats, including Microsoft Word, RTF, and PDF. The options to export the final version of the book to Epub and Kindle e-books to sell on Amazon or elsewhere, or for proof-reading on an e-reader are also there. You can even use MultiMarkdown for LaTeX support and more.

Unlike other text editors such as MS-Word or  Papyrus, the Scrivener does not have a “document” in which the entire text is contained. Instead, it shows that in chapters or scenes. These text parts are only put together when you “export”.

Scrivener writing software min

Scrivener allows much more transparent navigation in the document. Apart from Windows and macOS, it also offers an app version for the iPad and iPhone. Furthermore, one of the nice paid features of this book-writing software is cloud sync such as using Dropbox, so that you can continue writing on your smartphone while you are out and about.

Its corkboard is another nice tool inclusion in this one of the best book writing software. What does it do? In Scrivener, every section of your project is attached to a virtual index card. Scrivener’s corkboard lets you step back and work with just the synopses you’ve written on the cards—and when you move them, you’re rearranging your manuscript at the same time.

Price: $49 for Mac and $40 for WIndiow 10/7 PC, however, before buying the users can try the software for 30 days.

 

Website

4. bibisco

It is one of the freemium tools in our top list of book/novel software for creative writing that offers multiple tools to quickly organize ideas and help them to convert into a story. Bibisco offers a bit by bit interface that helps to create a novel structure, timeline of events, organize chapters and scenes, and manage revisions with nice details.

The user can see its entire novel in a timeline to analyze chapters’ length and characters’ entry timing with the location they appear in the Plot.

Another great thing is the ease of usage, there are predefined sections that the writer can use to input various key data to get help in designing characters, locations, and objects useful for the development of the story.

The other best thing about this book or novel writing software is it available in both free and premium editions. The free one offers access to unlimited projects, Characters interview, Premise, Fabula, setting, narrative strands, Locations; Chapters and scenes and let Analysis. If we talk about the support export formats, they are pdf, Docx, txt, and archive.

bibisco best book wrtiting softwae 2020

Whereas the paid version which costs 15 Euro offers all free features along with other premium ones such as Timeline, Search, Sequel Creation, Export to EPUB, Relations’ diagram, Distraction-free mode,  Dark theme, and more… 30-day money-back return policy is there.

Bibisco is available for Windows 10/7, Linux, and macOS.

Website

5. Drama queen

DramaQueen is an authoring software with an excellent plot program. It is available in three versions – Free, Plus, and Pro, of course with a different set of features. Yet, the free version is good to start, later an author can upgrade, however, the learning curves would be there if you are totally new to such as kind writing software. Nevertheless, one can read detailed tutorials available on this software’s website to get familiar with it. If you want to prepare your own book as a plotter, DramaQueen is very good advice. It can be used in conjunction with papyrus or Scrivener to prepare for planning. But DramaQueen also offers many features as an independent program.

It supports Windows 10/7, Linux, and macOS.

DramaQueen top book or scriptwriting software

Key Features:

  • Develop plot / concept / book
  • Think in storylines
  • Outline narrative steps
  • Professional format
  • Find the most effective storytelling
  • Make characters complex
  • Storyworld organize
  • Structure of the story precisely
  • Visualize story architecture
  • Export texts into Word, PDF, EPUB, FinalDraft, or RTF files

Website

So, these were some good software to start writing novels or books in both free and paid categories. If you are waiting for any other best writing software on Windows 10, macOS or Linux then let us know. The comment section is all yours.

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