For my LOCKDOWN book, I tagged the foreword like this: #lockdown/0. Here’s how Bear’s hashtag feature can sometimes get in the way of organizing content. That’s an area where Scrivener shines it allows you to move things around and put them in the preferred order.Īnd neither iA Writer nor Bear let you select a group of documents or notes and view them in a contiguous view, a compelling Scrivener feature. IA Writer only lets you organize files in date order, which is even less flexible. The tag list is either shown in alphabetical order or ranked by the number of tagged notes. Like Scrivener, Bear uses a three-pane window with a tag list on the left (called “Binder” in Scrivener), a notes list in the middle, and an editor on the right. The main problem with Bear is that it relies on a hashtag scheme to organize notes. Using Bear for writing, however, presents a few challenges. Many writers also recommend Bear, which has a gorgeous interface, can sync with iOS apps, and, like Evernote, offers the ability to clip articles from the web using a browser extension that unfortunately only works in Safari. I also find that iA Writer’s drag-and-drop process is not always as smooth as it should be, particularly when trying to make a selection that can be dragged. txt format, iA Writer is much easier to deal with when it comes to recovery than either Scrivener or the next one up, Bear, which both use a proprietary database of files. Finding the folder where iA Writer stores its files is a bit of a hassle, but most of the time, you don’t have to worry about this. IA Writer is not without its shortcomings. Both tools also let you export to Markdown (iA Writer) and MultiMarkdown (Scrivener). This feature is particularly helpful if you’re the type of writer who overuses words like “game-changer.” Like Scrivener, iA Writer can export to HTML and Microsoft Word, but only Scrivener imports Word files. Scrivener even lets you control background transparency for those suffering from FOMO.īut iA Writer goes one step further by including the ability to color identify adjectives, nouns, adverbs, verbs, and conjunctions. iA Writer, like Scrivener, boasts a composition mode that lets you eliminate background clutter so you can focus on writing. This process also allows you to have a cloud-based backup of all your writing, not that Scrivener has ever lost anything of mine in more than eight years of using the tool. That’s why I prefer copying my research content from Scrivener into iA Writer before starting to write. Product reviews suggest that process is not as seamless because Scrivener lacks a live-synching capability, requiring you to close your desktop app before using your iOS app ($20).Īnother thing of note, Literature & Latte hasn’t updated its iOS app in a year, which does not inspire much confidence in branching out to a mobile platform. Scrivener’s publisher, Literature & Latte, chose a more complicated Dropbox approach. IA Writer is a venerable cross-platform tool, launched in 2010, that synchronizes seamlessly via iCloud with an iPad app ($30). While navigating Scrivener’s multitude of settings and options is a confusing nightmare, the program still shines once you compare it to the competition. Once all the content is organized the way you like, you can publish it instantly to PDF or e-book by “compiling” your content. You can even colorize backgrounds and choose fonts to customize Scrivener to your heart’s content. You can also change folder and file icons to make them easier to recognize visually. Scrivener lets you organize your content in a non-linear fashion, allowing you to create a mashup of folders and files that can have their own sub-folders and files. Yet despite a dense jungle of options, it’s relatively easy to learn, especially if you watch a video like “Scrivener for Dummies” by Greg Gountanis: This writer’s jack of all trades, which made its debut in 2007, has an overly complicated feature set that only a nerd could love. I rely on two core tools to create and organize content: Scrivener ($40) Let me share my insider techniques and tips.Īs a publisher of content that either ends up online as a blog post, electronically in an e-book, or in a printed book, here are the tools and processes I use to create content (thus far, I promise to update this whenever necessary). In my 25 years of internet publishing, I have acquired extensive experience on how to get the job done. With the plethora of applications available today, you would think that you could easily choose a writing tool that could fulfill all your content creation needs.
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