OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
Using Scrivener for writing and publishing has changed my life as an author.
For my first book, I used MS Word and it was a nightmare to cut and paste everything, as I'm not a linear writer. When I discovered Scrivener, the world became a better place! Then I discovered I could use it to publish in Kindle and ePub formats. Wow! I now recommend it to everyone.
In this article, Joseph Michael, from LearnScrivenerFast, explains how Scrivener can help you. I also highly recommend Joe's training course, which will help you utilize the software faster, saving you time and also money if you use it for ebook formatting.
Webster’s dictionary defines Proficient as:
“Well advanced in an art, occupation, or branch of knowledge.”
Now that sounds pretty good right? Since we are talking about writing let’s take a look at a few synonyms for proficient:
- Skilled
- Experienced
- Accomplished
I particularly like the sound of accomplished. How about you?
So how do you become a proficient or accomplished writer?
Well first let’s start by taking a look at those who are where we want to be, those who have “mastered their craft.” One thing I think you will notice is that they all agree that it takes lot’s of time, persistence, and practice. But there is also another key ingredient that is often overlooked.
Having the right tools and knowing how to use them.
For example,
- Try to imagine a carpenter building a house without his tools.
- Or a painter without his brush.
- How about a dentist fixing teeth with only his hands?
- How would you feel about a doctor operating on your loved one with substandard tools?
You get the point.
Now let’s talk about writers.
What tools do writers have available to them?
Photo Credit: ®DS via Compfight cc
It used to be only a pen and paper.
Then came the typewriter that changed everything.
Then the computer word processor.
Now let me introduce you to the most powerful tool to date, available to writers of all kinds.
Meet Scrivener.
Scrivener Is A Proficient Writer’s #1 Tool of Choice
Described by Michael Marshal Smith as “The Biggest Software Advance For Writers Since The Typewriter.” – Scrivener has everything a writer needs and then some.
Let’s take a look at some of them now and how they can help you.
8 Ways Scrivener Will Help You Become A Better Writer Overnight
1. It will help you organize. Scrivener is very similar to a physical binder in the fact that it allows you to capture everything in one place. You can do all your brainstorming, outlining, note-taking, and writing without ever leaving the program.
2. It will help you block out distractions. Sometimes you need complete focus and concentration to write that next scene. Scrivener has an awesome distraction free composition mode that takes over your whole screen and allows you to focus only on your writing.
Image: PlaceIt
3. It will help you stay motivated and on target. Set yourself a session goal of 1,000 words or even an entire manuscript target. Than watch your progress bar turn from red to yellow to green and feel that exciting momentum start to build.
Scrivener will even notify you once you hit your target.
And on top of that it has an extremely powerful statistics feature that allows you to track every last detail.
4. It Allows You To Write Now & Re-Order Later. Whether you are a plotter or pantser, Scrivener can cater to your own unique writing style.
You can either plan out your entire book in the binder first and then fill in the sections or simply write on the fly and move things around later.
5. It has a realistic virtual corkboard to help you brainstorm and storyboard.
Image: PlaceIt
You have to play around with this yourself to see just how awesome this feature really is. You can write notes on the front of the cards, rearrange them, and even mark them with labels.
6. It will help you collect all your research in one place.
Take all those webpages, pdf’s, images, and even Evernote notes and import them right into Scrivener.
Then choose the “split screen” option and write with your research and editor side-by-side. No more switching back and forth between programs.
7. It allows you to be creative by giving you a powerful safety net feature called Snapshots. Over time your manuscript may take on many different forms. Sometimes you get an idea and just want to run with it, but you are not quite sure how it will work out. No problem. Simply take a snapshot of your manuscript before starting.
This will preserve it in its current state. Now write till you’re heart’s content and if you don’t like it simply click the “Roll Back” button and revert to the previous version. If you want to see what is different between the two versions – click the nifty little “Compare” button.
8. It will format your book for you making self-publishing a cinch. When you are finished with your masterpiece it’s time to compile. Scrivener’s compile feature is one of the most powerful tools around. Just tell Scrivener what kind of platform you want to compile your book for and it will walk you through the rest. Within one menu you can effortlessly include all your front matter pages – title page, copyright, dedication, acknowledgments etc. If you are creating an eBook then Scrivener will automatically handle the clickable table of contents for you. Drop in your cover art, fill in your meta data, then hit compile and you have yourself a publish-ready, perfectly formatted book ready to be uploaded to your platform of choice.
Hopefully you can see just how powerful a tool that Scrivener is for writers of all kinds. These are just a handful of the many features that will help you to perfect your craft and become that accomplished writer that you know you are.
If you don’t already have this amazing tool in your writer’s toolbox then I highly encourage you to try it out and see if doesn’t help you become more efficient and proficient in your writing.
Do you use Scrivener and find it useful? Or do you have any questions about Scrivener? Please join the conversation below.
“Learn Scrivener Fast is the most comprehensive and easy-to-use guide to Scrivener, with short, actionable videos that will help you write more efficiently as well as publish more easily. There are tips and tricks for the newbie and the more experienced, I'm learning so much and I've been using Scrivener for years.”
Joanna Penn, www.TheCreativePenn.com also writing as J.F.Penn, NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, www.JFPenn.com
Joseph has also experienced success with his other sites including — recently hitting 2 million page views on his blog “efficient life skills”. He has been featured on Lifehacker.com & several other popular podcasts such as Entrepreneur on Fire.
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1 2 3 … 6 Next »Scrivener is a great tool for pantsers (people who don't outline). I was one of the beta testers on the version for Windows, and the best thing I liked about it was that it didn't force you into using a specific structure. You could be either an outliner or a pantser in the program, and it didn't matter. I'd experimented with other free trials of writing software, and all of them assumed I was outlining and tried to fit me into that.
A lot of times I hop around in the story, adjusting things here and there as I write. Scrivener is great for that. Try do that in Word, and you're scrolling up and down constantly.
But the research section gets a "Meh." It may be that the Mac version, where Scrivener had its origins is a lot better, but you'll get more functionality with either OneNote or Evernote (plus, if you want to reuse research for another project, having it in a central source will be better). I tried inserting photos, and Scrivener automatically adjusted the photos so large that it required extensive scrolling -- and I couldn't change the size to be more manageable. I was considering buying a Mac at one point and looked at the Scrivener version. There are differences, so this may be better on the Mac side.
The find feature still does not work great in the Windows version.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your insights. One of the greatest things about Scrivener is the fact that it allows you to write in whatever way suits you. I too love how it doesn't force you into a specific structure. Sometimes I like to outline and other times I like to just write and see where it goes. Then I can worry about the structure later and re-arrange things however I please.
There are some differences between the Mac and Windows versions for sure. I've known of people that actually purchased a Mac just so they could access the Mac version of Scrivener if you can believe that!? Scrivener was originally developed for the Mac and then later released for Windows due to popular demand - so it is a bit younger and still maturing. I know the Scrivener developers are working tirelessly to get the Windows version caught up and from what I hear they are making great progress :-)
I think the research section is actually one of the most underutilized gems of Scrivener. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Evernote nerd and use it daily - but did you know you can actually import your Evernote notes, Notebooks, and even a clickable TOC note right into Scrivener!? Talk about efficient functionality!
Great post, I've been a fan of Scrivener for a while now and used it to do write Three Way. What I haven't tried yet is outputting for paperback for Createspace etc. Is it easy/hard? Haven't seen many talking about that as it's mostly about compiling for ebooks. When I did my previous paperback I used a Createspace Word template and...oh I'm getting a nervous twitch just thinking about it...
I Compile to Word and then pay a formatter to turn into print ready PDF for Createspace. I'm not sure Scrivener is about pretty print formatting ... but maybe Joseph has another opinion?
Thank you for this article. I just bought Scrivener last week and was a little overwhelmed with the tutorial. This will help me make a better use of Evernote also.
Awesome Kenya and you're welcome :-)
I LOVE Scrivener! I used to use SuperNotecard, but a Java update farked it and the developers didn't have a timeframe to update it. I switched to Scrivener and never looked back. It's especially invaluable for writing series. I can keep all my characters, settings, details, etc. in ONE place and easily access them.
Once you switch to Scrivener you wonder how you ever managed without it!
Please can someone tell me where to buy Scrivener? There is a free download online, which I doubt is the real version and American Amazon won't ship overseas. Would appreciate anyone's help. Oh, and I do not have a Mac - will need the windows version. Thank you in advance.
Hi Nicola
Go to Literature and Latte and the download links are there
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/
cheers
Mike
Thanks Mike! I appreciate your quick response.
Best wishes
Nicola.
Great article. I love Scrivener and use it new ways with each manuscript.
I like the idea of Scrivener, but I never stick with it. I am more pen and paper person. But I like to use it is word processor, because it has few nice abilities that I miss in Google Documents.
I adore Scrivener. I'm just about to publish my sixth full length novel, all using Scrivener!
What I love is how converts to Scrivener, often after years of claiming MS Word is all they need, turn into evangelists!
I'm the same with the Kindle as well :)
I've had Scrivener for two years and haven't scratched the surface of its capabilities. I have the windows version which is tough for me to get used to. I love it for the auto save feature and knowing my MS is safe. However I write in Word first and then transfer, chapter by chapter, to Scrivener. I've had so much difficulty figuring it out that I gave up using it for writing. So, I signed up for the webinar! I hope I'll come away with a better understanding of it. I'm afraid to play with it for fear I'll lose some of my work or mess it up in some other way. Lol. Looking forward to help with it.
Marcia - I hope this will help, I really do - since I found using Scrivener just takes away a lot of angst re Word - and the word count tracking and managing feature makes me do my word count daily :)