Category: General Tips and Tricks

Editing Tools For Writers

by Allie P., posted in General Tips and Tricks, Product, Service, and Software Reviews, Writing and Publishing Tips

Writers, whether they pursue traditional publication under the writer-agent model, publish under their own name, or sign with a smaller imprint, need to edit their work prior to submission. However, while some authors believe their background makes them a grammatical expert, the truth is no one should rely on a single set of eyes.

Unfortunately, professional editing services cost money, and as most reputable editors charge by the word, the cost to help you polish a full-fledged novel quickly adds up. I understand the temptation to do without. That said, I’ve also spent more than I would like to admit on editing services for words that, upon hindsight, never stood a chance of making it to the final proof copy.

Thankfully, while no online editing tool or plug-in is good enough to replace a set of human eyes—for now, there are several programs on the market today that can help you identify more than the occasional typo. Many can now check for tone, misused words, readability, and even provide recommendations to help your pacing. Even better, many of them are offered for free or at a price point that is low enough to pay for itself in short order.

As a result, editing software programs are critical applications for every aspiring author’s toolbox and can help you bridge the gap between rough draft and editor ready. I’ve used dozens over the years, some with more success than others. To save you from making many of the mistakes I have, I’ve compiled this list of those I’ve found to be the best for fiction and non-fiction writing.

editing tools for writers

Grammarly

According to my Grammarly dashboard, the program has been correcting my text since 2015, so it’s a tool that has definitely impacted my writing. In fact, it has caught at least three errors in this paragraph since I started typing. That said, I’ve found the program misses errors occasionally when I’ve used it with Google Docs and I’ve had to disable it altogether on certain websites, like VistaPrint, as it doesn’t play nice with their text box editor.

Occasional bug aside, Grammarly has a free plan that works well as a spellchecker online via its browser extensions or as a Word plugin. However, there is also a premium version of the service, which can help you check tone, sentence variability, and make sure you aren’t inadvertently plagiarising online content.

Grammarly Achievements

  • Pros – It’s hard to beat free and is great for catching things like passive voice, incorrect punctuation, or misused homonyms in your daily writing. Plus, Grammarly sends out weekly progress reports telling you fun things like how unique your vocabulary is or how long you’ve kept your writing streak going which is great for staying motivated.
  • Cons – It’s much better suited for shorter business or online writing than creative long-form writing as it requires you to disable features like track changes in Word to operate.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is another editing tool you can download and run as a plug-in with Word or Scrivener to check your writing or to check your writing online using its browser extension. Like Grammarly, its Chrome extension is free, however, in my opinion, its paid features, like its overused, cliche, echo, and consistency reports are well worth signing up for the premium version if you are a novelist.

prowritingaid reports

  • Pros – I can’t even begin to describe how much time this tool has helped me save looking for things like a missing quotation mark at the end of dialogue and identifying my clutch words and phrases. It is also more stable than Grammarly in certain web forms.
  • Cons – The plug-in for Word doesn’t always load correctly the first time, which has caused me to shut down Word and re-open my file on a semi-regular basis. In addition, the reports it runs can be somewhat overwhelming and do take a while to complete a check for a full manuscript.

Fictionary

Full disclosure, I am somewhat biased as I was invited to help test an early version of Fictionary, but I absolutely love what this program has to offer (they’ve also added a ton of extra features since then). Unlike all the other tools in this list, which I consider more copy-editing software, Fictionary is designed to help you automate a development edit.

To use it, all you have to do is upload your manuscript and tag where your plot points are located. Fictionary will then tell you if your pacing is too fast or too slow with a graphical representation of the story arc. It can also help point out things that can help strengthen your story like are the five senses represented in each scene of your writing, has a character gone missing from the story, or are you varying your openings and closings enough to keep your reader interested.

Fictionary Story Arc
graphical representation of the story arc from Fictionary.com
  • Pros – While I still put more stock in beta reader feedback than I do a computer program, allowed me to perform a proactive developmental edit before I risked my reputation or burdened advance readers with a two-dimensional story.
  • Cons – Fictionary advertises that it can help you evaluate and revise your manuscript against 38 story elements. This sounds like a pro, until you are actually ready to make all those edits. If you are a pantser rather than plotter, you may not have had a goal for each scene in mind related to the overall plot or may have included scenes you loved to write, but don’t serve any purpose. Tagging all these elements in the software can be overwhelming as well as time-consuming. It’s also not free, which is understandable given its value but does offer a free trial.

Hemingway App

The Hemingway App, also known as the Hemingway Editor is offered as either a online editing tool or as a desktop app designed around making your prose more like Ernest Hemingway’s. That is to say, it will help your writing get right to the point, which is clearly something I need more help with. The tool highlights sentences that it deems too long, identifies adverbs that are keeping you from showing rather than telling, and warns you about passive voice, and gives you a readability score which can help you better connect with your target audience.

HemingwayApp

  • Pros – The free online tool loads quickly and features easy to interpret color codes which change in real-time as you edit your copy. The paid desktop version also lets you publish directly to WordPress and Medium, making it a great editing option for serialized stories.
  • Cons – Not everyone is a fan of Ernest Hemingway’s style of writing. Was I forced to read 127 pages about an old man trying to reel in a marlin? Yes, I was. Did I enjoy it? No, I did not. Also, it does not integrate directly into other word processing programs, meaning you can use it to tweak your copy, but then will need to export it to Word, text, or PDF before you can do anything with it.

EditMinion

Before I bit the bullet and purchased the premium version of ProWritingAid, I used EditMinion to help polish up my work before sending it out for a professional edit. EditMinion is a completely free online editing program, that helps identify cliche phrases, passive voice, adverbs, and missing dialogue tags. However, it relies on copy and paste, and can only check a chapter of your text at a time.

EditMinion

  • Pros – It’s simple and you can’t beat the price point. Also, because there is absolutely nothing to download, you don’t risk corrupting your files or crashing other applications.
  • Cons – Copying and pasting each chapter one by one into the program can feel agonizingly slow, especially when you feel like you are so close to the literary finish line you can practically taste it. The tool also does not help your writing outside of the app or let you know if you have accidentally misspelled a character name. As a result, I use it when I need a second opinion but rely on the other products for heavier edits.

I am delighted to report I have reached the end of an editing project yet again and will be releasing my fifth full-length novel, Lies and Legacy: Project Gene Assist Book 3 to the general public in March 2020. You can read more about this series by visiting my Project Gene Assist book page, or by visiting your favorite online retailer to pre-order a copy.

Project Gene Assist Series Banner

How Not to Launch a Book in Ten Easy Steps

by Allie P., posted in Book Stuff and Publishing News, General Tips and Tricks, Life as I know it, Writing and Publishing Tips

This time next week, I’ll officially have four novels with my name on them. Four. I can hardly believe it, but it’s true. You would think that this would mean that I’m quite the expert on launching a book, but sadly this is another example of something I’m far more qualified on the topic of what not to do.

1. If it is your first project, don’t wait to start building up a presence on social media, blogs, or working on growing your mailing list until after the book is for sale. For some strange reasons telling people about your book after it is officially on sale doesn’t exactly make for the best opening weekend.

2. If it is a sequel to that first project, consider launching it within a year of the first in the series, if not sooner. You might have been obsessed with your characters and the world over that time, but apparently, readers move on during that time. Readers can be fickle like that.

3. If you do mistakenly wait for more than a year (or five), consider re-reading your original time or two before attempting to write the sequel. You might think the fact that you read and re-read your original novel twenty-gajillion times during the editing process would mean you have your character’s mannerisms and tone etched into your bone. You’d be wrong.

4. If you go ahead and write the novel without revisiting your original story and send out a half-baked manuscript to early readers, don’t be surprised when they tell you your story is flat (but in the nicest, most constructive, supportive way).

5. If you did send out a half-baked story, don’t spend more than a week questioning all your life choices leading up to this moment of misery while pondering if it might be better to change your name and start again in Idaho (which I hear is lovely), or similar place.

6. If you do decide to give yourself a break by pushing out your self-imposed publishing calendar from the Spring to the Fall, don’t think all that extra time means you can’t still be working on it.

7. If the stress of working on a seemingly never-ending project did get to you and you found yourself going on a vacation, savor that time with your family or friends, but know you will have to kick the work into overdrive the minute you get back.

8. If you did allow bad habits to creep back into your process while you indulged in a few weeks of rest and relaxation, write out a marketing and production plan the day you return so you can start planning out your tasks and get your head back into the game as quickly as possible if only to make up for lost time.

9. If the words “marketing” or “production” plan put you on edge, know you are in good company. However, know that you still have to do these things even if you’d rather put your fingers in your ear and sing lalalalalalala. Therefore, you might as well get over yourself and find a way to write that stuff down, but more importantly, follow-through. You’ll save yourself a ton of heartache later.

10. If your eyes completed glossed over #9 as some sort of mental denial, or you are already coming up with a dozen or more reasons why there was always something else more pressing to do, well then you too might just find yourself a week from launch day in a state of mild panic realizing that while you do have a completely re-written book itching to go on sale, you only a handful of advanced reviews scheduled, and absolutely no blog tour stops or social media events planned on your calendar.

It’s not an insurmountable situation, but the alternative is much to be preferred.

And that, my friends, is how not to launch a book.

Living happily ever after is a full-time job.

Uncertain-Confidence-www.alliepottswrites.comCharlotte’s life is on an upward swing. She’s in business with her best friend and her art is finally getting noticed.

Nothing could possibly go wrong … until everything does.

One disastrous night out ends with the sudden collapse of her best friend’s husband, putting him in the hospital and leaving Charlotte to manage things alone.

Uncertain about her ability to keep her business and her aspirations for artistic stardom afloat, Charlotte enlists the help of a stranger who promises to make her dreams come true. But in doing so, Charlotte may learn just how dangerous trusting the wrong person with your dreams can be.

Will Charlotte’s confidence prove to be her greatest strength or will it be her greatest mistake yet?

An Uncertain Confidence is a sweet contemporary story and fast read about friendship, trust, and the lengths we often go to protect those we love.

On Sale Oct 24th

Read an excerpt

7 Alternatives to Vellum, or How I Spend My Weekends

by Allie P., posted in General Tips and Tricks, Product, Service, and Software Reviews, Writing and Publishing Tips

5 Alternatives to Vellum - www.alliepottswrites.comVellum. It’s not just for illuminated scrolls. For those of you not in the self-publishing world, or those newer to book formatting, Vellum is also a popular software option that helps magically transform your manuscript from a document processing file into something the non-publishing world might call a book. (This post includes affiliate links)

I know plenty of authors who basically describe it as the bee’s knees when it comes to formatting your book. But what if you are allergic to bees? What do you do then? I say that as a bit of a joke, however, They limit Vellum to Mac users. It’s not cheap to use either, so it isn’t for everyone. Nor is the entire process of book formatting for that matter, but that is an entirely different subject.

So what is an author intent on publishing a new book to do?

I’m glad you asked as I have recently spent far too many hours getting my various books ready for its upcoming publication date by experimenting with Vellum alternatives offering formatted files I could then take to a professional printer.

Microsoft Word

This was my trusted go-to method of getting my books in initial shape for years as it allowed me to tweak font sizes, add decorative flourishes, and basically customize my book’s size and content any way I saw fit. However, Word has an annoying habit of inserting blank pages, “helpfully” adjusting page numbers, and text can be overly stretched with funky spaces between the words if you don’t know some of the advanced tricks.

  • Pros – High degree of control
  • Cons – Takes forever and a day if you don’t know what you’re doing, or haven’t written your entire manuscript with Word formatting in mind (i.e. you didn’t take advantage of Word ‘styles’) and may just drive an author to drink.

Affinity Publisher

A few years ago, I discovered an alternative—Affinity Publisher. The one caveat is, while you can, in theory, use Affinity Publisher to write your novels or text books from scratch, I don’t recommend it. It works much better when you import a Word file, or to a lesser extent a PDF file, with your text and then use the program’s fantastic text and paragraph control features to tweak how words appear on the page. The program costs approximately $54 US, but it is a onetime fee versus an ongoing subscription.

  • Pros – Improved readability compared to Word in terms of text spacing. Much easier to control pesky things like blank pages and funky page numbers.
  • Cons – Occasionally glitches when you try to move pages around after initial import, so save and save often.

Adobe InDesign

InDesign offers a lot of the same customization capability of Word and Affinity, which can help your book stand out from the competition (caution – this isn’t necessarily a good thing). Like Affinity, it also does a better job then Word at handling the space between words on the page. But unlike Affinity, InDesign is no newcomer to the industry. This means there are plenty of tutorials available to help you get started, which is good because it has more features than you even know you need. However, it isn’t cheap.

  • Pros – Highly stable platform with industry leading functionality
  • Cons – it’s an Adobe product, which means a steep learning curve and a high price tag though there is a free trial option.

Scrivener

Scrivener is a word processing and story organization tool specifically designed for books. You can copy and paste your manuscript from another word processor into the software, or import it depending on the file type, and export the Scrivener version as a print-ready PDF. However, it is probably far easier to write the entire project in the software from the get-go. While Scrivener is designed for print books, it also has a partnership with Vellum if you prefer their templates over Scrivener’s offerings provided you are willing to pay the price for both services.

  • Pros – Super easy to export your complete manuscript into a print-ready pdf
  • Cons – The product works best when you write your manuscript from end to end in the tool rather than try to import it from another processing program, and doesn’t offer the same level of customization in your book’s format as offered by Word or InDesign (once again, this is not necessarily a bad thing as some people can’t handle the awesome power that is font selection).

Reedsy

In addition to editing, Reedsy includes a free book formatting service. All you have to do is upload your manuscript into its online user interface, designate elements of your book like chapter name or section separator, select a book size, and a theme. It also is partnered with Blurb, which is a print on demand service, making it easy to print your book once it has been formatted.

  • Pros – Easy to use with a price that’s hard to beat. It even inserts back matter pages for you like your social media links, description (with images) of your other books, and a note about how people can join your mailing list.
  • Cons – There is no desktop app, which means you have to trust the cloud completely with your manuscript, and the user interface isn’t intuitive. Also, you are limited to three themes and three book sizes. Also, you don’t get your formatted file right away, though I only had to wait for a few minutes before I received the email saying my book was ready.

Atticus

Atticus was created specifically as a direct alternative to Vellum for more budget-conscious authors and non-Mac users. However, while it is cheaper than Vellum, it isn’t free. That said, like Affinity, you only have to pay a one-time fee of $147 to purchase it rather than sign your earnings away with a subscription. It is worth mentioning that it is newly released software just out of its initial testing phase. This means that there are some features still in development, but does come with 17 customizable templates, and free updates for life.

  • Pros – You can use the same software to write your book and for formatting it for print and ebook distribution. It also supports both offline editing and online access with automatic backups of your work to the cloud.
  • Cons – As this software has just been released, it may be glitchy and will likely require a number of updates. It will also take a while for tutorials to catch up, so may require more learning through experience compared to other tools.

Outsource it

Of course, you also have the option to outsource book formatting if, unlike me, you are a sensible person who would like to actually spend time with your family or friends on the weekends (or be working on your next book) rather than seated in front of a computer screen waiting for swirling wheels or flipping hourglasses to say your file is ready.

  • Pros – You keep your weekends
  • Cons – You have to trust that your formatter knows what they are doing and, if you find that edits are required in your final proof, it can start getting costly.

But in the end, no matter which path you choose, holding that end product in your hands for the first time is always worth the hassle. Trust me.

How to Build a Readership with Blogging by Debby Gies and a progress update

by Allie P., posted in Book Stuff and Publishing News, General Tips and Tricks, Life as I know it, Writing and Publishing Tips

I’ve finished my major re-writes and secondary edits for my upcoming sequel to An Uncertain Faith, entitled An Uncertain Confidence. This means the time has come to start talking with professional editors.

Admittedly, I could have, and probably should have, already had this conversation in order to a spot in an editor’s queue, but I wasn’t sure what my writing output would be after starting the new job. Therefore, I opted to hold off until I was sure I’d gotten it in a decent enough position to be handed off to anyone.

Such is flexibility that is self-publishing.

While I might be ready to hand off An Uncertain Confidence to an editor, there is still much to do before this book will be made available to the general public. In all probability, there will be yet another round of re-writes following editorial recommendations as well as a round of proof-reading or two (as typos have a way of waiting until you hit the publish button before they magically become visible to the naked eye). Then there is the oh-so-much fun process of lining up advanced reviews or preparing my pre-sales book launch marketing and I’m responsible for it all.

Because this is the joy that is self-publishing too.

For those of you considering going down this road too, which has been rewarding while being exhausting (much like being a parent is), I encourage you to check out an article recently published over on the Carrot Ranch Literary community on how to build a readership through blogging by fellow indie author, Debby Gies.

How to Build a Readership with Blogging and Prepare for Publishing

by Debby Gies

As writers who choose to self-publish, we must understand that we’ve chosen to be not only writers but publishers, marketers, and promoters of our work because these components are all essential parts of running a business. Yes, your business! If we intend to sell books, it’s in our best interests to learn about these things as well as building an author platform. If we don’t put in the time to promote our work, our books will surely sit and collect dust on the virtual shelves, lost in a sea of hundreds of thousands of other books…

To read more visit the source at the Carrot Ranch Literary Community Platform: Self-Publishing

As a way of saying thank you for your continued patience, I’d like to offer you with this sneak peek at the cover for An Uncertain Confidence

Set five years after the events of An Uncertain Faith (now available for Kindle, iBook, Nook, and other e-readers), Charlotte’s life is on an upward swing. She’s business partners with her best friend and her art is finally getting noticed.

Nothing could possibly go wrong – until everything does.

After a disastrous evening out, which results in the hospitalization of her friend’s husband, Charlotte is forced to seek other help to keep her business afloat, while juggling the ever-present demands of motherhood.  As a result, she has the potential to grow as a person and as an independent business owner in ways she never anticipated, but in doing so will also learn just how dangerous trusting the wrong person can be.

While the first book centered around family, this one focuses on the value of friendship, trust, and the often lengths we go to protect those we love.

That Vs Which: Self Editing Tip and Reason Number 501 Why it is taking so long to finish my next novel

by Allie P., posted in General Tips and Tricks, Writing and Publishing Tips

I do not blog daily – my hat’s off to those that do – but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy enough to receive The Writer’s Daily Companion by Amy Peters as a gift several months ago. It’s like having my own daily prompt generator without the distraction that is the internet.

Somedays it’s a story prompt. Other days it is more of a workbook for improving your writing. For example, one of the Daily Companion’s lessons of the day was the difference between that and which.

It’s been a while since I published my first novel, An Uncertain Faith, and though I don’t obsess over the reviews nearly as much as I once did, I have never forgotten one review suggesting my writing could be removed if I didn’t use quite so many ‘thats.’

Imagine that.

To be clear, I was very appreciative of that particular feedback. Until I read that review, I had no idea that I said and wrote quite so many thats. Of course, now that it’s been pointed out to my attention I see that the reviewer might have a point. Then again, when you are writing books that are supposed to contain tens of thousands of words, it should be understood that a few words might just be repeated.

I also know my other half will forevermore lovingly point out future overuses of the word that – much to my dismay and embarrassment. (To be fair – I probably have it coming)

The tip is to remove the word that from a sentence. If it doesn’t make sense, the ‘that’ stays in. If it does – leave it out.

To be clear, I was very appreciative of particular feedback. This sentence doesn’t work. Therefore – hurray! I get to leave the ‘that’ in there.

Therefore, if I follow my own tip, I should edit my paragraph as follows:

To be clear, I was very appreciative of that particular feedback. Until I read that review, I had no idea I said and wrote quite so many thats. Of course, now it’s been pointed out to my attention I see the reviewer might have a point. Then again, when you are writing books that are supposed to contain tens of thousands of words, it should be understood a few words might just be repeated.

It’s better, but the next thing to obsess over is whether the word ‘which’ might be better.

That is a restrictive clause, while Which is an unrestrictive clause.

Clicks on the image will take you to an affiliate link

For non-English majors like myself, this means asking yourself if the sentence would still is accurate if you were to cut out any text following either qualifying word.

for example, if I cut out the “that are supposed to contain tens of thousands of words,” the last sentence of my paragraph would read like this:

Then again, when you are writing books, it should be understood a few words might just be repeated.

The statement is truthful and accurate. Therefore, my edited paragraph is:

To be clear, I was very appreciative of that particular feedback. Until I read that review, I had no idea I said and wrote quite so many thats. Of course, now it’s been pointed out to my attention I see the reviewer might have a point. Then again, when you are writing books, which are supposed to contain tens of thousands of words, it should be understood a few words might just be repeated.

The downside of this tip is I have to go through my work in progress with a fine-toothed comb, in order to tighten my writing before I send it off to the professional editor. This has been no quick and easy process. But I have to say the reviewer who first gave me the tip has a point (and thank you to all who have ever shared a review) and I look forward to being on the other side of edits soon.

And that’s all I am going to say about that.