Dedicated Writing Apps
- Read books on your Mac. Sure, tablets and e-ink devices are better ways to read than your computer – and even your phone is nicer than a laptop if you’re on the couch. But sometimes you need to open a book on your Mac. Maybe you’re using a text as a reference for a project, or maybe you just want to read a few chapters of a novel at your desk.
- Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories. Share This Story You may also like.
What constitutes the best app for writers depends on their process, genre, and conditions in which they are most productive. Additionally, it depends on what they intend to do with the finished work: publish it online, send it to an agent, or shoot a film. There is no single best app for all writers, but there are plenty of excellent writing apps that cater to different needs, work styles, and genres.
Priced for the Starving Artist (Mostly)
Verdict: The best eBook reader app for the Mac, hands-down. It could use more advanced organization options, but beyond that, it’s great. It could use more advanced organization options.
Apps for writers tend to be less expensive than other kinds of software. Many sell for a one-time fee, although a few require a subscription. The least expensive writing apps cost only around $10. Final Draft, one of the most expensive writing apps, costs $249.99, but even that is a one-time fee, meaning you pay once and own the software for life. Ulysses used to sell for a standalone fee but recently moved to a subscription model, now costing $39.99 per year. If you own an older copy of Ulysses, it's still yours to keep and use, but you won't receive any updates.
When an idea strikes, many writers want to be able to jot it down or immediately add it to an ongoing project. To do that, they likely need a companion mobile app to go along with their desktop software. Support for mobile apps isn't particularly strong in the writing category. A few companies that make software for writers offer iOS apps, but it's rare to find anything for Android. Additionally, mobile writing apps typically cost a good deal more than what people are used to paying for an app. Scrivener for iPhone and iPad, for example, runs $19.99. Storyist's iOS app is $14.99. To get over this price hurdle, I recommend thinking about the combined cost of the mobile and desktop software together and considering it a bundled purchase.
What's the Best Screenwriting Software?
As a genre, screenwriting has unique requirements. Scripts for movies, television, and the stage must make clear the difference between direction, setting descriptions, spoken dialogue, and so forth. This allows all the people involved in creating the final product—actors, film crew, editors, and directors—to do their jobs. As a result, the formatting for screenwriting is exceedingly precise. A few writing apps cater specifically to professional screenwriters. Final Draft is one, and it continues to be an industry standard. If you're actively employed in film or television, you might already own a copy. When you purchase Final Draft, you can use the app on two computers, and it's compatible with both Windows and macOS.
Another app that specifically handles scripts is Adobe Story. The app costs $9.99 per month, but it's also available to anyone who has an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Story is unusual because it's not just writing software. It also lets you make notes about the actual production of a script. For example, you can write a detailed description of shots you want to see or provide information about shooting locations. The app can generate a production schedule based on all the metadata associated with each scene. Adobe Story is also compatible with Adobe Premiere, so after the footage has been shot, you can pipe in the script to run alongside the video, helping the editors do their job, too.
Alternatives to Microsoft Word
Why would a writer use a dedicated writing app instead of Microsoft Word (or Google Docs, Apple Pages, or any other typical word processor)? There's no reason you can't use any of those apps, but they don't have many of the special features you get from apps that are specific to writers.
Fiction writers, book authors, and screenplay writers often change the order or scenes, sections, and chapters. That's easy to do when an app is designed specifically with professional long-form writers in mind. With the right drag-and-drop tools, you can quickly and easily reorganize your files. It also helps if footnotes and endnotes renumber accordingly, when you move parts around.
Another feature that office apps typically don't have is a writing target. It's common for professional writers to strive to meet a daily word or page count goal. So while Word, Google Docs, and Pages all have word count features, they don't have the same options for setting and tracking goals over time.
Some writers need to keep exhaustive notes regarding plot points and characters, and possibly even visual references, such as an image of a shoot location or faces that inspire characters. The best writers' apps include tools that make it easy to see reference material and notes whenever the writer needs, and then get back to writing quickly.
Finally, the word processors in suites are generally heavy-duty apps that can do everything from formatting and footnoting to headers, footers, and special pagination. That's handy for many kinds of business and academic writing, but for the average creative writer, all this may just be a major distraction.
What's the Best Distraction-Free Writing App?
Writers who find themselves in the less-is-more camp will want a writing app that strips away anything that could possibly be the least little bit distracting. Distraction-free writing apps are a dime a dozen; the trick is to find one that also offers the tools you need when you need them. The best distraction-free writing apps hide the tools you need until the appropriate time, rather than omitting them altogether.
With that criterion in mind, Ulysses is my favorite distraction-free writing app, and a PCMag Editors' Choice. A well-designed interface makes Ulysses easy to use and easy on the eyes. It has good tutorials and help menus for newcomers, including a cheat sheet for Markdown language. Markdown is a very lightweight set of codes that can be used instead of the rich formatting options that are common in word processors. If you've ever typed asterisks (*) around a word in a chat app to make it bold, that's similar to Markdown. It's very simple, and takes no time at all to learn, especially when you have a cheat sheet to guide you.
The idea behind Markdown is that you can apply basic formatting, like marking titles and subtitles, bold and italic text, without moving your fingers from the keyboard. It's also less distracting than having a panel with 50 alluring typefaces that you're dying to try. Ulysses is only available for Mac and iOS. Windows users might also try yWriter.
Note that we have reviewed Focused (for Mac), but it didn't score well enough to make this top-ten list. If you're curious why, please feel free to read the review.
What Are the Best Writing Apps for Novelists?
Book authors spend a lot of their time simply organizing their manuscript. Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, the work doesn't always shape up as the author originally intended. Chapters sometimes move. Stories aren't always told in a linear fashion. And scenes sometimes become more effective when their order changes.
To facilitate the shaping of a story in this way, you need a library, or a pane within the writing app showing file folders and their organization. Not all writing apps have one, as you can see from the chart above.
Writing for Medium, WordPress Blogs, and More
Book authors and screenwriters aren't the only types of writers, of course. Many writers create shorter pieces that they publish online directly, without ever passing through the hands of an agent, publisher, or movie producer. If you're publishing on Medium or WordPress, it sure is handy to have a writing app that can export each piece directly to your platform of choice.
Ulysses and iA Writer both have integration options for those two platforms. Like Ulysses, iA Writer is a distraction-free writing app, but it's much more pared down. It has some neat functions, such as text transclusion, that can be fun to learn for people who think more like programmers than traditional writers. Text transclusion allows you to create a final document of many smaller pieces by, essentially, giving commands about which files to pull together and in what order. 'First display the introduction. Next add an image. Then include my argument. Finally, show my author bio.' The text of your document could be all of four sentences long, but it might whip together a piece that, when exported, is 25 pages.
Your Writing, Your Choice
Every writer has unique needs and desires. Do you need an app that works on both Windows and macOS? Is learning a new way to format text a deal-breaker? Does your final submission need to meet industry standards the way screenplays and teleplays do? The range of software dedicated to writers is impressive. If nothing tickles your fancy from the full reviews linked below, you should also read our short synopses of many other apps for writers, as well. Finally, if you decide that a dedicated writing tool just isn't for you, and you'd rather just use a plain old word processor, we've rounded up the top office suites, too.
Featured Writing App Reviews:
Final Draft Review
MSRP: $249.00Pros: Well tailored for screenwriters. Powerful tools for both writing scenes and crafting the larger story. Plenty of view options. Offers a variety of templates. Collaboration supported.
Cons: Collaborative editing restricted to one person at a time. Inadequate default auto-save and revision history.
Bottom Line: Final Draft is the software you need if you are in the screenwriting business or aspire to be. It has all the tools you need to get the script right, both from a story perspective and a technical one.
Read ReviewScrivener Review
MSRP: $45.00Pros: Excellent tools for organizing writing. Ample collection of templates. Competitive price. Multiple installs allowed. Also available for Windows and iOS.
Cons: No web app. No native collaboration features.
Bottom Line: Built with writers in mind, Scrivener 3 has everything you need to research, compose, organize, edit, and finish a piece of writing, all for a ridiculously reasonable price.
Read ReviewUlysses (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $39.99Pros: Beautiful and clean interface. Excellent selection of distraction-free modes. Flexible. Tracks writing goals. Filters help organize content. Can publish directly to WordPress.
Cons: Now sold as subscription. Requires some learning, especially for those unfamiliar with Markdown. No audio file uploads.
Bottom Line: Ulysses is the most elegant distraction-free writing app for Mac. It's ideal for writers who prefer a minimal interface and total flexibility, rather than a lot of structure and hand-holding.
Read ReviewAdobe Story CC Review
MSRP: $9.99Pros: Screenwriting and preproduction in one app. Generates shooting schedules. Feature rich. Collaboration features.
Cons: No mobile apps or desktop apps; online only. Monthly subscription makes it expensive over the long run.
Bottom Line: Screenwriters who not only write but also direct and produce their own work won't find a better outlet for their creativity than Adobe Story.
Read ReviewScript Studio (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $199.95Pros: Excellent feature set. Helpful sample scripts included. Attractive and organized interface. Also available for Windows.
Cons: Expensive. No mobile apps. Some crashes in testing.
Bottom Line: With a professional interface and wealth of tools, Script Studio is among the best writing apps you'll find. Its high price may dissuade some from trying it, though.
Read ReviewStoryist (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $59.99Pros: Very good templates for scripts. Clean, clear interface. Includes tools for storyboarding, outlining, character sheets. Supports importing and exporting many formats.
Cons: No collaboration features. Mediocre auto-save functionality.
Bottom Line: Storyist packs the power of a full word processor into an app for writers. If you don't get distracted by having too many features, it's an excellent Mac app.
Read ReviewiA Writer (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $19.99Pros: Inexpensive. Uses distraction-free style with Markdown language. Offers transclusion method for embedding images, tables, and so on. Can export directly to Medium and WordPress.
Cons: Few tools for organizing and arranging files. No templates for genres. Not ideal for code-phobic writers.
Bottom Line: Taking minimalism to the extreme, iA Writer might be the writing app with the fewest built-in distractions, and it's inexpensive, too. But this Mac app is also BYOE: bring your own everything.
Read ReviewyWriter Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Good structure. Rich tools for story and character development. Plentiful stats. Free.
Cons: No Mac app or mobile apps. Doesn't include screenwriting tools or templates. Support for third-party backup options could be more apparent.
Bottom Line: The free writing app yWriter has a stats-heavy, technical feel to it, which is great for writers who crave organization and data about their work.
Read ReviewByword (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $11.99Pros: Distraction-free writing app with support for Markdown language.Supports direct publishing to popular online sites. Good export options. Inexpensive.
Cons: No library or tools for reference materials. Not ideal for long-form writers. Lacks templates. Solutions to common technical problems require macOS Terminal.
Bottom Line: Byword, an inexpensive writing app for Mac and iOS, publishes your work directly to Medium, WordPress, and other platforms. It's not ideal for long-form writers, however.
Read ReviewWriteRoom (for Mac) Review
MSRP: $9.99Pros: Distraction-free, lightweight Mac app for writing. Inexpensive. Some neat view options.
Cons: Does not support Markdown formatting. No mobile apps. Lacks a library view/folder structure. No preview before PDF export. No collaboration features.
Bottom Line: WriteRoom is an inexpensive Mac writing app with a less-is-more approach that helps you focus on your words. It's too bare-bones for book projects or screenplays, but, for shorter works, it can get the job done.
Read Review
Little by little, smartphone owners from all over are increasingly using their devices to read books and novels. Of course, iOS device owners are among the top of this list, with excellent alternatives to read books available across all their devices. What makes things even better of course is Apple’s own iBooks and its iBook Store, which has stepped up the competition and made other apps in the App Store even better.
So if you read a lot on your iPhone or other iOS device and you are looking for the app that offers the best reading experience/prices/options, read on as we take a look at the best 5 free ebook readers available on the App Store.
Kindle
The Kindle reading app for iOS has improved dramatically over the past few months and now provides the best experience for book lovers on many fronts. To start, the Kindle app boasts the vast Amazon book catalogue, which is by far the most complete ebook store on this list. In order to purchase books however, users need to do it from a web browser. But this slight annoyance is rapidly forgiven once you start using the Kindle app, which offers easily the most comfortable reading experience with customizable fonts, an easy-to-access dictionary and different backgrounds.
Additionally, Amazon’s ebooks tend to be always slightly cheaper than any other competing platform, plus they can be read on almost any device, including your Mac or PC both on native apps or online, something that our next alternative can’t do.
iBooks
Apple Book Reader App
iBooks was introduced a couple of years ago by Apple as a response to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other ebook sellers of the time. Since its very beginning iBooks has been a great app for reading ebooks. The interface is very good (although not as clean and simple as the one on the Kindle app) and the iBooks Store offers a more impressive catalogue every day. Books can (obviously) be purchased from within iBooks itself and the app syncs seamlessly via iCloud no matter if you use your iPad, your iPhone or your iPod Touch to read.
The one major drawback that iBooks suffers from is that Apple’s is yet to release a desktop app for users to be able to read their purchases somewhere else other than on their iOS devices. On the positive side, iBooks supports the EPUB ebook format, which Amazon’s Kindle does not.
Nook
Barnes & Noble’s ebook reading app follows the same strategy as Amazon’s. Sell books through the store’s website and have them accessible on any device, including on Macs and PCs through the web. The Nook app also offers compatibility with the EPUB format, making it more versatile than the Kindle app. However, the reading experience is slightly below that of the Kindle and iBooks apps mainly due to the use of a somewhat overcomplicated interface. In addition to that, Barnes & Noble’s ebooks tend to be slightly more expensive than Amazon’s.
Kobo
Best Book Reader App For Windows 10
Lately, Kobo has become very competitive and its ebook reading app clearly shows that. The app supports EPUB files and most importantly, native Mac and PC apps where you can read all your purchased books. Its most interesting feature however is its social integration, which allows you to see what your friends are reading, what they think about books, the time a book has been read and finished, reviews from other readers and more, all without exiting the app.
Goodreads
To really appreciate the value of the Goodreads reading app, you will need to become a member of their website (we’ve done a review of it too). Once that is done however, you will enjoy what is perhaps the best and most complete book sharing service. The app allows you search and download from a catalogue of around two thousand books that you can enjoy for free.
Reading in the app is quite pleasant but nothing revolutionary. The app’s real strength lies in its ability to allow you to share comments and opinions about your favorite books, as well as providing you with a very convenient way to classify the books that you are reading now, that you plan to read and the ones that you already finished.
Best Ebook Reader App For Amazon Fire
There you have it. Kindle and iBooks are easily the best ebook reading apps as we’ve already mentioned before. They both have their drawbacks, but unless you are already heavily invested on any of the other alternatives, you can’t go wrong with either Apple’s or Amazon’s alternatives.
Also See#ebooks #ipadDid You Know
MEMS gyroscopes became popular after the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2010.