I bought it on the day it was released, and it rapidly became my tool of choice for my last 320,000 words.

For a while I used text editors, making use of a number of useful macros that enabled me to write and edit for the web directly in HTML. I’ve used word processors like Lotus Ami Pro and OpenOffice Writer, and note-taking apps like Evernote and Zim Desktop.

I’ve been paying the bills by writing since 2009, and have tested and used quite a number of apps along the way. My name is Adrian, and I’m old enough to have started writing using pen and paper before moving on to a typewriter, and finally computers in the late 80s. What You Need to Know Up-Front about Writing Apps If money is an issue, we’ll also let you know about a number of free Mac apps and web services that are available. Microsoft Word has been used to write many books, and one popular author uses the ancient DOS-based Wordstar. Save your money, and just use the word processor or text editor that’s already installed on your computer. Many of these were originally developed for the iPad, and have now found their way to the Mac.Īlternatively, you can do what many writers have been doing for decades. You may want to consider a more minimalist writing app that’s designed to just keep you in the zone once the words start to flow. But not everyone needs loads of features. They’re not the only options, and we’ll cover a number of other full-featured writing apps. They’re not cheap, but if you make your money writing, they are an investment that’s easy to swallow. They are favored by writers around the world, and their praise is sung in many a writing app roundup. Two powerful and popular apps for writers are the smoothly modern Ulysses, and the feature-rich Scrivener. Modern pro writing apps aim to make the writing experience as friction-free as possible, and offer useful tools when needed. Throughout history, writers have found many ways to get their words down for posterity: typewriters, pen and paper, styluses on clay tablets… Computers now give us the ability to easily edit and rearrange content, opening up whole new workflows.

Best writing software for mac