Best Writing Software for Authors
TL;DR — The best writing software for authors depends on the job in front of you. Scrivener is still the heavyweight for organizing a long novel, Atticus wins if you want painless formatting for publishing, and Living Writer, Storyist and Novlr cover cloud drafting, Apple-only setups and distraction-free writing. Write one real chapter in the free trials and keep whichever tool disappears while you work.
Every author I know has a graveyard of half-finished drafts scattered across random documents. The problem is rarely talent. It’s friction. You scroll through one giant file hunting for a scene from three months ago, a subplot quietly contradicts itself, and at the end you reformat everything by hand. The best writing software for authors exists to remove exactly that friction. It breaks a book into manageable pieces, keeps your notes sitting right next to your chapters, and does the tedious formatting work once the draft is finally done. And if part of your process involves getting drafting help from software, our guide to choosing an AI writing tool for fiction pairs nicely with the dedicated writing apps below.
What Should Authors Actually Look for in Writing Software
Strip away the marketing and every writing app is really trying to do four jobs. First, drafting comfort — you will spend hundreds of hours staring at this editor, so it should feel good to type in. Second, organization. Chapters, scenes, character notes and research need a home that isn’t a folder full of files named “final_v2_REAL.” Third, editing support, from word counts and goals to spotting chapters you keep avoiding. Fourth, formatting and export, because a finished draft still has to turn into an ebook, a print file or a clean manuscript for an editor.
A dedicated writing app and an AI helper aren’t rivals, either. Plenty of writers keep their novel in one of the tools below and still use some of the best AI tools for brainstorming names or tightening dialogue. Some also run a messy first draft through an undetectable AI humanizer for polishing drafts before beta readers see it. The writing software is the workshop — everything else is tools on the wall.
How Do the Best Options Compare at a Glance
Here’s the short version before we dig into each tool properly.
| Software | Best for | Free option | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scrivener | Organizing long novels and series | Free trial | Windows, Mac, iOS |
| Atticus | Writing and formatting in one app | No free plan | Web, Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Linux |
| Living Writer | Cloud drafting with story planning | Free starter plan | Web, Windows, Mac, mobile apps |
| Storyist | Apple users who love storyboards | Free trial | Mac, iOS |
| Novlr | Clean, distraction-free drafting | Free plan to start | Web |
What Are the Best Writing Software Tools for Authors
Scrivener
Scrivener is the tool most novelists end up trying first, and honestly, it earns the reputation. Instead of one endless document, your book lives in a binder of chapters and scenes you can drag around, split, merge and rearrange freely. The corkboard view lets you shuffle scenes like index cards, the outliner shows your whole structure at a glance, and your research — character sketches, location photos, that PDF about medieval siege weapons — sits in the same project, one click from the draft.
It’s a one-time purchase, and the trial is generous because it counts days you actually use it, not calendar days. The catch? There’s a learning curve, and far more features than most writers will ever touch. Syncing between a computer and the iOS app through Dropbox can feel fiddly. But for a long novel or a whole series, nothing else here organizes chaos quite like it.
Atticus
Atticus was built by the team behind Kindlepreneur, and it shows — this is the app for authors who are tired of writing in one program and formatting in another. You draft your book in a clean editor, then switch to its formatting side to produce polished ebook and print files with chapter styling, front matter and trim sizes, without a separate formatting tool.
It runs in your browser and as an app across Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Linux, so your book follows you between machines easily. Pricing is one payment for lifetime access rather than a subscription, though there’s no free plan to test the waters with. The writing side is deliberately simpler than Scrivener — fewer power features, less to learn. If your biggest headache is the final step between “draft done” and “book published,” Atticus is probably your answer.
Living Writer
Living Writer takes the Scrivener-style feature set and moves it into the cloud. Your chapters and scenes live alongside structured story elements — characters, locations, items, lore — and the app is smart about them. Mention a character in your draft and you can pull up their full profile. Outlines, chapter goals and a board view keep plotters happy, and everything syncs automatically because the whole thing runs in your browser.
There’s a free starter plan with limits, and paid plans unlock the full feature set on subscription. That model is the main trade-off, along with needing an internet connection for the full experience. For writers who jump between laptop, tablet and phone and never want to think about backups again, it’s a genuinely pleasant way to write.
Storyist
Storyist is the polished, Apple-only option. It combines a proper manuscript editor with storyboarding tools — index cards, character and setting sheets, and outline views that sit alongside your text rather than in a separate app. The manuscript formatting is professional out of the box, and the iPad and iPhone versions are full partners rather than cut-down viewers.
The Mac version is a one-time purchase with a free trial available, so you can test it on a real chapter before committing. The obvious limitation is the platform. There is no Windows or Android version, and there never will be. If your whole writing life already lives on a Mac and an iPad, that doesn’t matter at all. If it doesn’t, skip to the next tool.
Novlr
Novlr is the minimalist of the group, built purely for novelists who find feature-packed software more distracting than helpful. The editor is clean and calm, chapters organize themselves in a simple sidebar, and thoughtful touches like writing goals, streaks and gentle progress stats keep you coming back each day. It runs in the browser, works offline once loaded, and saves continuously, so a crashed laptop never eats a chapter.
You can start free, with paid tiers adding extras like multiple novels and deeper analytics. What Novlr won’t do is heavy research management or complex series bibles — that’s deliberate. For a first novel, or any writer whose main enemy is procrastination, its simplicity is the entire point.
How Do You Choose the Right Writing Software
Still stuck between two or three? Run through these steps and the answer usually sorts itself out.
- Name your biggest headache first. If it’s organization, start with Scrivener or Living Writer. If it’s formatting, start with Atticus. If it’s simply not writing, start with Novlr.
- Test with a real chapter, never a blank demo. Import an actual messy chapter and your real notes — you’ll know within one session whether the app fits your brain.
- Check your devices before falling in love. Storyist is Apple-only, Atticus and Living Writer follow you almost anywhere, and Scrivener lives mainly on your computer.
- Think about the end of the process, not just the start. Ask how the book gets out — ebook file, print PDF, submission manuscript — and make sure your pick exports it cleanly.
- Fit the app into your wider workflow. Your writing software is one piece of a bigger system, and an AI assistant for productivity can handle the research, reminders and admin around the book while you write.
Frequently Asked Questions
Novlr or Living Writer are the friendliest starting points. Both run in the browser, both let you begin for free, and neither buries you in features you don’t understand yet. Write your first draft there. If the book grows complicated — multiple timelines, a sequel in the works — you can graduate to Scrivener later, and your manuscript exports cleanly when you do.
Yes, for most writers, and the trial makes the decision easy since it counts actual days of use. If your first novel is a straightforward single storyline, Scrivener may honestly be more power than you need. But the moment you start moving scenes around, tracking subplots or dreading revision, the binder and corkboard pay for themselves many times over.
You can. Novlr and Living Writer both offer free plans that are genuinely capable of carrying a full draft, and trials of Scrivener and Storyist can cover a solid chunk of a project too. Free plans usually limit storage, project counts or advanced features rather than word count, so the real question is whether the limits annoy you mid-book.
Atticus is the most popular answer among self-publishing authors because writing and formatting live in the same app and the exports are print and ebook ready. Scrivener’s compile feature can also produce ebook files and print-ready PDFs, though it takes more setup. Traditionally published authors usually just need a clean manuscript file, which every tool on this list can produce.
Mostly, yes. Scrivener and Storyist are installed apps, so they work fully offline by design. Novlr works offline in the browser once it has loaded and syncs when you reconnect. Living Writer and Atticus are cloud-first, so a connection keeps everything syncing smoothly, even though both handle brief dropouts gracefully.
A word processor is fine for short stories and straightforward books. Dedicated writing software pulls ahead as soon as a project gets long or complex — rearranging scenes, keeping character notes beside the draft, and exporting a properly formatted book are all dramatically easier. Think of it this way. A word processor stores your words. Writing software manages your book.
Hamad Arshad
SEO Specialist | SEO Manager | GEO Strategist
7+ Years of Experience in SEO, GEO, AEO, AI SEO, Local SEO, Technical SEO, PPC, Google Ads & Meta Ads.
Leave a Reply