Book authors: what writing software do you use?
I'm writing my first book (a technical one - https://cutintothejamstack.com/) and am having trouble finding the right software to write it in. So far everything I've tried has had some of the features I need, but falls short on one of the other important ones.
Key features I think are most vital:
- Organization. Outline mode, ability to put things in chapters, reorganize easily.
- Collaboration. Others besides me can edit, and I can tag them for review.
- Export to PDF, mobi, epub.
- Markdown export / direct writing.
What I've tried so far:
- Notion (https://www.notion.so/). Great for note-taking, but lacks the ability to organize long-form content really easily. Also has some performance challenges.
- Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview). Has no support for collaboration, and no intention of creating it.
- Ulysses (https://ulysses.app/). Good organizational tools, export feature works, markdown editing, collaboration is through Git only. No way I can find to tag others.
- LivingWriter (https://livingwriter.com/). Trying this one out. Editing experience looks good so far. You can invite others, but I see no way of tagging them. Import only works from docx which means I'll have to copy and paste my existing content in bit-by-bit.
Is there an app that does all the above? What do you use?
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I use Google Docs to write the manuscript in Markua, Leanpub's Markdown dialect designed for books, and publish with Leanpub's ebook formatting, publishing, and distribution tools.
Have you tried Wavemaker?
Thanks for the tips! Wavemaker looks interesting but I don't think it has the features I need unfortunately. Good to know that you can write MD in Google Docs in some form at least. 👍🏼
I actually write bare Markdown code in Google Docs. But there's a Google Docs add-on that lets you export rich text to Markdown.
Oh awesome, thanks! This may come in very handy.