When we start talking about software, I am mostly out of my depth, but what I know I, I know. And the products I recommend below I know—or know about. Does the market shift like quicksand under our feet? You bet. But today, this is where I stand.
Seriously, I cannot publish a blogpost, or a book, without these five. Are there a hundred more tools that I love and rely on? You bet. But essentials? These are where I start.
The Essential Blogging Software: Substack
Notice that I am writing this blog on my website, a website using WordPress. But I am not stupid, and I can feel which way the wind is blowing. And that way is toward Substack.
While I am only a novice on Substack, I am already following several people who are using it to blog, to communicate in lieu of or in addition to other social media sites and in other creative ways.
Many people think you must pay to subscribe to Substack writers, but most creatives still allow you to access their content for free, although not all.
Here’s how Substack itself describes on their site:
Today, Substack’s subscription network encompasses more than 35 million active subscriptions, including more than 3 million paid subscriptions. Some of the world’s most celebrated writers and creators are here—Margaret Atwood, George Saunders, Elizabeth Gilbert, Mehdi Hasan, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to name a few—and they have been joined by a new generation of writers and creators who are building their livelihoods and communities on Substack.
As Substack grows to accommodate more writers, podcasters, videomakers, musicians, scientists, and culture-makers of all kinds, we believe that together we can build a new economic engine for culture. We think the internet’s powers, married to the right business model, can be harnessed to build the most valuable media economy the world has ever known—an economy where value is measured not only in dollars but also in quality, in good-faith discourse, and in creating an internet that celebrates and supports humanity.
Here’s what I know. Good content is good content, and most of the great blog content I want to read today is either still on WordPress or it’s on Substack. If I were starting today, I would go with the newer medium, Substack.
I think it’s easier to master than WordPress. I think it’s the future. I’ve seen people use it for longform and short-form content, for writing and video. It doesn’t require you to have a website.
On the flip side, I own my website and own the content that’s on it, including all my blog posts. It won’t go away like TikTok did. There is that.
The Essential Writing Software: Microsoft Word
When I first started writing, I bought Scrivener ($59.99/license). It’s all anyone talked about for writing software. I have been writing for almost a dozen years and Scrivener is still the apex of writing software.
But I don’t use it.
Why? It’s got so many bells and whistles that it is difficult to learn. Very difficult. Even the most ardent lover of Scrivener will agree with me on that. There are some wonderful tutorials, so if you want to go the Scrivener route, I recommend finding some good tutorials. But for me, I used the tutorial time to write two novels instead. On Microsoft Word.
Yeah, I recommend Microsoft Word.(As part of Microsoft 365 $99/year.)
Word does absolutely everything you need to create your manuscript. You can compare versions, collaborate, write on or offline, include grammar, spelling and editing support and that all-important thesaurus tool. There are templates and cloud storage, and it comes with Excel and PowerPoint and more. There are new AI tools I have yet to discover and dictation tools I have just learned to master. And word is the preferred format for uploading your manuscript to most sites once it is complete. So, most Scrivener users have to convert to Word to upload their files.
I’m sticking with Word, and I’m recommending it, but I know a lot of Scrivener users who would disagree with me.
The Essential Editing Software: ProwritingAid
A great developmental editor can help you write a better book, but ProwritingAid (free to $699 for Lifetime Pro Version) will make you a better writer. Period. It will say it will fix your spelling and grammar, but it will also help you reduce the number of times you use words like just, that, was or ridiculous dialog tags. It will point out your overuse of the same word or phrase—echo words—or passive voice. Let ProwritingAid fix a manuscript or two, learn from the hundreds of mistakes it fixes, because there will be hundreds, and you will be a better writer. And you will have a better manuscript, or blog post, or short story, or even email.
Of all the software I have invested in, the investment in ProwritingAid was the best money spent by far. It has so many features that I am unable to use them all on every manuscript, but I have tried many, starting simply with grammar and spelling and working up from there. I have allowed it to compare my writing to Virgin River author Robyn Carr, for instance, or to specifically help me reduce my use of sticky words that weigh down my sentences. With the help of ProwritingAid, I have identified specific words I overuse, and they are now flagged in every manuscript. The reports are powerful tools—extremely powerful.
As if that wasn’t enough? This month they introduced Manuscript Analysis. Manuscript Analysis provides comprehensive, actionable feedback on what’s working well and where you can improve your story’s characters, plot, settings, and more—at the touch of a button.
Learn more and try this amazing editing tool for yourself using my affiliate link.
The Essential AI Software: QuickWrite
While most of the world is creating the perfect prompt for ChatGPT, I have spent a few dollars to buy an AI tool built specifically for writers. And what a difference it makes when you can skip wrestling with a prompt and get to the meat of a blog post, create a character, or brainstorm titles for novels in a matter of moments. Because with QuickWrite, you don’t have to prompt at all. And that makes it an essential tool for writers.
Instead of grappling with prompts, simply select the dropdown for the category and fill in your specifics and boom, you are off and running with powerful AI in seconds. You can build worlds, characters, and so much more. I have used QuickWrite to brainstorm plot ideas, generate blog outlines, to research both posts and novels, to come up with titles and emails, even book outlines and social media posts.
Here are just a few of QuickWrite’s amazing features:
It outperforms ChatGPT+, Gemini and most likely whatever other AI you find yourself using
- Lifetime access is way cheaper than only a year of ChatGPT+
- QuickWrite taps into six enterprise AI solutions and four proprietary APIs that no other AI system has access to.
- The built-in translation and image creation tools allow you to do everything from one interface.
- Unlike ChatGPT and other services, QuickWrite is serious about security; your information is seen by no one and deleted immediately from all systems other than your account. The only person who sees your content is you.
And you can get lifetime access without being hit with a recurring subscription (and save $200 with my affiliate link!) Want to know more? There are several demo videos, so you can see just how it works. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, fantasy or mystery you deserve to start with an AI product designed with you, the author, in mind. Learn more and get your lifetime license here.
The Essential Formatting Software: Atticus
If you read my previous blog, you know that I am a big fan of Dave Chesson (Kindlepreneur). He is the brains behind a brilliant and easy to use formatting software program called Atticus. I know it’s easy to use because I taught myself to use it and I am not good at this stuff. If you have been following me in this space you know that technology is not my strong suit. Yet, using Atticus, I formatted the first book in my series, and almost immediately I was able to complete formatting the rest of a five-book series at warp speed. Why? Templates! The ones built into Atticus, and the ones the software allows me to save. Genius!
For a one-time fee of $147 you will be able to format your books in about 24 hours, and I am not exaggerating. A day is all it took me to create my first eBook and paperback. And since I used the same template for the five-book series, by the end of a week, I had formatted five books and the software had paid for itself three times over.
Plus, you can write and edit in Atticus too, as they have incorporated the powerful ProwritingAid tool that I adore (see above). Atticus works on Mac and Windows, exports EPub, Doc and PDF files, supports an enormous number of fonts and themes, has custom theme builders, offers a large print option, and best of all walks you through the process every step of the way. Get stuck? Their support team is outstanding.
This is software built for authors by authors, well considered and thought through and seriously easy to use. Stop paying someone to format your books. You’ll be able to do it yourself in a week. Maybe less.