I Tested All the Writing Software So You Don't Have To

[@chelseamcampbell]

I've been a professional author for 15 years now, and my software criteria are basically the same as yours (usable offline, one-time non-outrageous fee, works for writing and planning), and I totally agree on all of these! I started out in the "too cool for Scrivener" camp and couldn't understand why all my writer friends were raving about it, but I eventually tried it out, and it's basically all I've used for the last decade or so. Every couple years I go on a search to find something new, and I never find anything that even comes close to replacing it. Which is good in a way, but also boring, lol. Loved this video and seriously appreciate all the time and effort you put into testing these out!

[@Ranter_]

Can’t tell you how hard I laughed at the final bit of the Novel Factory segment. 600 fucking dollars, the nerve!!! XD Great video, btw, I thought: this is way too long, probably gonna watch only a few minutes and ended up staying for the whole thing. Also, I literally arrived here by searching “World Anvil vs Campfire” so I was very excited when you said you were planning to release a video comparing them both. Hope it comes out sometime soon. Good luck on the novels!

[@Mauricio-zv8jn]

Loved your sense of humor and your review! Most say that I agreed with most of what you said. Let's make your channel grow! Cheers

[@DigitalBrooke]

You had me at the hoodie.

[@DeadlyDays-TalesofDarkFa-wl9yl]

Thanks for this review! I recently purchased Scrivener and was a bit lost. But I just started writing and putting things together half understanding what I was doing. Your video has helped me realize that I did make the right choice. I'm currently rewriting my first novel of a trilogy that I began over twenty years ago and still have all the hand written notes and plots for the entire series. Scrivener has the ability to hold all three novels together and that is just what I need.

[@AngelaKHarrell]

NEW SUBSCRIBER!! Love your honesty and down-to-earth attitude. Great video. Definitely will look at Campfire, and Scrivener. 😊

[@sandmanslim7155]

Oh my gosh! You used the phrase "it raises the question"! Thank you! People have been using "it begs the question" which refers to circular reasoning. Geeky I know but it's just one of those nails on the chalkboard for me.

[@aikijujitsu2001]

What a refreshing review of writing software. Thank you. You saved me a lot of time. I've been reviewing the available software on my own and wasn't sure I knew what I was doing. Surprise, surprise...I didn't. Now I know what to do. Excellent.

[@titaniumfelicia]

Thank you for doing this video. I was honestly about to have to do all this myself and you might be my spirit animal as much as our values align. You've done so fantastic on t his and I appreciate your dedication on such a detailed video!

[@michellem7225]

Just came across this video. Fantastic review! Scrivener is good, but I did lose my work with it once ( I did have it set to backup) so that did not make me happy and it made me very wary of it. Plus I have a Chrome book and not having a window based app makes it complicated for me, and makes me prefer an online based software. The problem for me is that all these writing softwares (I’ve tried all the ones you reviewed,except for Wave Maker and YWriter) each have one outstanding feature that I love, but then lack in something else I want. If I could marry Campfire, Dabble, and Novel Pad together I would have my perfect writing software. (Campfire for world building, Dabble for plotting and drafting, Novel Pad for revising and for its recovery features) Thanks for taking the time to do this in depth review!

[@mysticmikester]

This was so much fun to watch, thank you for this!!!

[@LeoBoon-SG]

Thank you very much Kelly for your deeply insightful evaluation of these writing softwares. I am starting to use a writing program and had decided on using Scrivener for its completeness and cost-effectiveness. My learning curve might be shallower as much the editor is Word-like.

[@jgrayhi]

Loved this video, thank you for all the work you put into this ❤

[@TiggerTellsTales]

Thank you for this! I’m a 2x published author and yes, looking for some “fun” software with mood boards and an immersive environment. I’ve been working in MS Word since 2014 and bored with it and tired of finding documents. I’ve been testing out Campfire and can’t wait to open it up everyday and work but worried it won’t have all the features I’ll need to write/publish. Before I purchase I wanted to see everything out there. 🙏🙌

[@EndTheWokeMindVirus]

Great thorough and honest review with refreshing, wonderful comedy! I subbed.

[@aliciac.7569]

Scrivener and campfire are my babies. Campfire is for my series while Scrivener is for my standalones. They're perfect and as simple or complicated as you want them to be, as bare or aesthetic as you want them to be. I create graphics to use and surround myself with the vibes for my work or the season. And the way to link research is super important so you never have to leave your dashboards. Amazing. I got all the modules for Campfire for half the price of lifetime because I won Nano. Best thing ever. I'm even able to have playlists and videos in the research modules.

[@Andymegaara]

Can you use Campfire offline? For example, if I want my projects to only be available from my local storage and not on the cloud, is that possible with Campfire? (I haven't watched the full video yet, so I'm not sure if my questions have been answered in this video)

[@aliciac.7569]

@@Andymegaara I use it offline. Yes.

[@Andymegaara]

@@aliciac.7569 Thanks a lot t for your answer!!!

[@dianedurkin5027]

I like Scrivener, because of all its features. One cool thing that she didn't bring up was that you could hear your story being read to you. That was cool.

[@mariannepena7073]

I just found this a couple days ago.

[@ellenkramp]

Thanks for your thorough research and candor with the results 🙏 This has been an incredibly useful video for me!

[@SolitudeSA]

Great video! Enjoyed it a lot and it's amazing to finally find some honest comparisons.

[@S.W.Best-Author]

The Novel Factory bit made me laugh. lol OMG... :)

[@KellyGDamon]

It's my personal favourite part of the video lol

[@kriscree8627]

I love your video and the way you arranged it. Thank you!

[@Veronicafinch]

Oh my God getting through the software is my Vietnam. I have used Scrivener forever but I’m always searching. My fantasy and dream would be to be able to smoke a joint and sit back and watch you go through all of them and guess what, that’s exactly what I did. Thank you sis, you took one for the team.

[@Linkard]

Thank you for this video!

[@crippsverse]

Very entertaining...and helpful. More, please 🙂

[@Svea114]

Really interesting video. Very thorough! Hope to see more from you. :)

[@lyndonkessler4766]

Every time I get depressed about my lack of progress writing - I watch your video. It is like a breath of fresh air. THANKS!

[@scientious]

No review of Papyrus Author. That's the other one I see recommended a lot as a Scrivener alternative.

[@gutenbird]

very good video. You tell it took a lot of effort.

[@MrMoorejm34]

Just discovered you can fully customize how your scrivener windows look on windows. People even make free themes you can download. So it can be as aesthetic as you want it to be. Enjoy 🎉

[@SFAutor]

I've been a fan of Scrivener since it was released and I'm not considering switching to another authoring solution, but I found your video very interesting. It gives a good overview of what software is still available on the market. When I look at your favorite apps, they often have user interfaces that are reminiscent of Scrivener in one way or another, but in their entirety don't even come close to the features Scrivener offers. The good thing about Scrivener is that an author is not forced to use all the features and is also completely free to choose how the manuscript is structured. For me, it's the best software on the market with a very fair price-performance ratio. I can't think of a more productive authoring software and use Scrivener for my entire planning, writing and production process.

[@t0dd000]

I'm sold on the model that notebook software applications advocate: writing scene by scene as represented by organized clusters of simple text documents without any distracting fluff. These applications also excel as compilers of all your research, world building notes, etc. These are the Evernotes, Obsidians, and Joplins of the world. I personally prefer Joplin. (And I keep Obsidian around for it's brainstorming Panel feature.) All of my poetry, short stories, and my novel WIP sit in one application. The writing experience is that of a simple text editor (a markdown++ editor actually). You write. You edit and revise forever. And when finally finished, you port it all to Word or Libreoffice in order to ready your manuscript for submission or to share with an editor. And then if you are going the self-publishing route, you port it again to Scribus or InDesign or Vellum in order to format the book itself. But for the actual writing: Joplin or Obsidian or the like.

[@reginapetty]

Wow! I have been looking for exactly this (on and off) for months! Your methodology speaks to me, and your ratings do, too. (Wtf, Novel Factory?!) Many, many thanks! Fwiw, I clicked on the referral link and signed up. Hopefully that added to your referral count. 🤞 🍀

[@KellyGDamon]

Your comment made my morning 😊🥰 I'm so glad this is what you were looking for. I was a bit convinced no one would find this interesting 😂😂 I appreciate you.

[@KellyGDamon]

P.S. I just saw an email from ProWritingAid saying I'm halfway to a free year license so it still works 😁 Thanks so much!!!

[@reginapetty]

@@KellyGDamon That’s great news that the referral link still works. I almost used the affiliate link instead thinking that if the referral link wasn’t going to help you, you’d at least get something. Maybe remove the affiliate link for now?

[@KellyGDamon]

​@@reginapettyI did :D Just to be safe. Thanks again. You're so nice ❤

[@kokoro_flow]

Do you need more people to test out ProWritingAid to reach your goal?@@KellyGDamon

[@sandmanslim7155]

I'm looking for writing software and am brand new to novel writing. Finding my first software is a daunting task. I keep floating between several potentials. A lot of people are raving about Save the Cat, but the further I look into it the more I find out that its beats are way way too vague to be of any use. Anyone have thoughts on Save the Cat? Anyone use that one yet?

[@JathenJacksonr2d2]

I'm glad you're back

[@KellyGDamon]

That's real sweet of you to say 😊 Thank you. And hopefully this time I won't take a year to upload 😂

[@VikyMiller]

Any thoughts on Story Planner for writers? Seems pretty similar to Scrivener

[@bobbiecarlton-hess9322]

🤓 Kelly, Thank you soooo much for this video It was exactly what I was looking for. It was informative, helpful, fun and funny, all in one. Looking forward to your comparison of Campfire and WorldAnvil! Unfortunately, I can't help with the ProWritingAid, since I already have a lifetime version. 😒

[@KellyGDamon]

I'm so happy you found value in this video :D Life through a few curveballs my way, so I had to take a step back, but I'll continue working on the Campfire vs World Anvil video as soon as I can! I just have to get some work out of the way!

[@KellyGDamon]

Oh, and no worries about ProWritingAid! No need to apologize :)

[@ImagineSilentWriter]

I love scrivener, but I will admit it can be overwhelming when you first get started. I don't use the templates scrivener offers, I use a blank template. Abbie Emmons has a video on her channel about changing the theme and colors.

[@bja2477]

Your hoodie looks like the love child of Lamb Chop [a famous puppet] and a Darlek [Dr Who]

[@jaisenmahne2832]

Campfire is constantly evolving which is why I love it so much… I tried Scrivener but it was a touch annoying. I’d give Scrivener 9 out of ten. Campfire pips it at 9.5. I loved listening to your reviews. Wondering now if you’ve worked more with Campfire since you made this video?

[@NevynTheWizard]

I have two other for you: Causality Story Sequencer (no mobile version though) but very interesting and Novelist (android software with a web version, completely free, no ads) There's also NovelCrafter - not only AI writing software, you can use it without it - just so you won't get discouraged. And of course, since you recorded it 5 months ago, I'm not even sure you will read this comment.

[@amethystb12345]

Does Dramatica demo have a print feature? That would be the only way I would use it lol

[@jimmccleery9394]

Rabbit holes 🕳️ are the best aren’t they!! Awesome video

[@titaniumfelicia]

I am 1 minute and 38 seconds in and I love you. Stand by.

[@mattcruz5266]

I enjoyed the reviews. You mentioned at one point you might look over AI writing stuff. If you do please review Novelcrafter and Sudowrite.

[@mdavidmullins]

Yep. Scrivener's the beast.

[@waldenkids5222]

Let me ask - IF Novel Factory was comparable in price to the others, WOULD it be your favorite?

[@blinkofaneye4451]

Novelcrafter is in beta but it is pretty perfect. It is great for series too. The ability to chat with AI side kicks is great.

[@annacaveney9968]

I have tried out the pro writing aid using your link, do I need to download it and do a free trial thing to get you your benny?

[@tonybaez3735]

Thanks for your info. What do you think about papyrus author?

[@Cvst1llo]

DONT DO THIS FCKNG BIG MISTAKE!

[@JanMarieKellyAuthor]

No Atticus?

[@RossPitSharkHunter]

I've known Novel Factory for less than ten minutes and I feel betrayed.

[@jessicasblack]

"The hipsters were right" I'm dead. Love your humor. 😂

[@icegrim3764]

Try Lore Forge...

[@zrienkersh1475]

You’re hilarious. Scrivener is the greatest.

[@lyndonkessler4766]

Lots of fun watching your software review. I have only one piece of advice. You need to get an Apple MacBook M1. I have power outages all summer long. The M1 MacBook has amazing battery stamina... up to 6 hours of constant use... it sips and gives you the opportunity to save your work and wait until Power is restored. No fans... complete silence is wonderful. Also watch Three Biscuit You Tube Videos. Scrivener was written for Mac.

[@Bekon241]

Hi for me wordstar 4.0 on ms-dos is still best, or nano from any linux disto becouse, on windows fill is just bad you need terminal :) Try focus writter. : ) If you can use markdown write book in obsidian :) Try. I have scrivener and also iAwrite and i dont know why ppl like any of this… Wordstar4.0 for me is best and i not need only piecefull and word processor without autocorect or other uselles shit.

[@ZeldaRulesMyLife]

I love Scrivener too! But the Windows-Version is almost horrible and the german translation painfull. Never... NEVER do the mistake and use "Papyrus-Author"... NEVER!!!

[@eoleol4750]

I think Seinfeld got it from her

[@maivezonk]

Oh man I hate Scrivener

[@wrestlingwithwords]

Your dedication to this rabbit hole of writing softwares is impressive 😵‍💫 🫡

[@w.brandon9847]

I’m probably “shouting around the corner”, but riding shotgun on your journey has most helpful. You are appreciated 🫵🏾🙏🏾✌🏾