6 Reasons Why Scrivener Is The Best Writing Tool EVER

Every writer has their own way of writing. Some use paper and pen, some use traditional word processors and some use writing software programs. I personally, use Scrivener. In my opinion it’s the best program out there. And this is why I love it so:

• I can organize to my heart’s content! – I can separate my manuscript into chapters and scenes and even scenes within scenes if I want. This makes it super easy to bounce around, fix stuff and remember where everything is. Also, note the pretty colors. I like to color coordinate my files so I can easily see what POV chapters are in, what draft, and different file notes…
• Very cool cork board function- For easy plotting, you can create note cards just as you would on a regular cork board. It’s easy to drag them around, color code them, and even work on the synopsis for each scene. You can customize your cork board however you like it to look.
• I gotta see my progress! – One of my favorite features of Scrivener is the word count feature. I am super goal orientated so if I can see a visual representation of my progress, I get giddy! I love to see the colored bar move across the screen. And you can set your goals to reflect what days you write and when you want to be finished the project.
• Compile in any format - It’s easy to compile your project to any format you want. This is great for those of us that self pub. With the click of a few buttons, I can decide what I want included in the project, and what I don’t. You can export into all format types, but what I’ve been doing lately is compiling in an epub and then using Calibre to convert to mobi files.

• Syncing it up- I recently got an iPad and my very first question was, “How can I use it to write?” After a bit of digging, I discovered that even though there is no Scrivener for iPad, you can totally make it work. All you need is a Dropbox account and a writing program for your iPad. I downloaded a program called Nebulous on my iPad (others use Simplenote or Plaintext, and I think there are more.) Basically, what you do is Sync Nebulous to Dropbox. And then to get it into Scrivener, you Click on ‘Sync’ – ‘with external folder’ and select the unique folder that you’ve created for this purpose. AND…boom. Super easy. (At least it was once I figured it out) This is a link that will help explain it, although it uses Plaintext, but that’s just personal preference.

• The Customer Service is Kick Ass- When it comes to asking for help, Scrivener has the best response in customer service that I’ve seen. When you need help with something, all you have to do is tweet @scrivenerapp and you will get a response. Here’s the answer to a question I had yesterday.
  And a few months ago, this was my question:
  And this was their response:
  

As for the ins and outs of how it works, I know there’s a lot more to Scrivener than I actually use, but I’m still learning and applying new stuff everyday. Here are a few websites that are fantastic resources. Check them out:

http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/your-guide-to-scrivener#chapter-2

http://everythingscrivener.wordpress.com/

http://www.rebecaschiller.com/scrivener-for-windows-tutorial/

Oh, and to make it even better, Scrivener is on sale right now at Amazon. Check it out here. Because you can’t go wrong with such an awesome program, especially for only $20. Check it out!

So, what do you think? Do you use Scrivener? What’s your favorite feature?