NovelPad VS Novlr: Which writing program is right for you?

This is an in-depth look at two novel writing programs: NovelPad and Novlr. If you'd rather read the blog version: hannahleekidder.com/2023/08/0...
INTRO - 0:00
NOVELPAD WALKTHROUGH - 0:32
Creating a project - 0:43
Setting up a project - 1:06
Backups - 3:23
Settings - 3:57
Goal Tracking- 4:56
Drafting - 6:04
Exporting - 10:09
Community - 10:34
NOVLR WALKTHROUGH - 11:36
Creating a project - 11:58
Setting up a project - 12:33
Backups - 12:37
Settings - 13:00
Goal Tracking - 13:47
Drafting - 15:03
Exporting - 19:20
Community - 19:56
Novlr Pros - 21:30
NovelPad Pros - 22:21
Comparison Summary - 24:08
Conclusion - 29:19
TRY NOVLR FOR FREE: novlr.org/
TRY NOVELPAD FOR FREE: novelpad.co/?via=hannah
📚 B O O K S
STARLIGHT: SHORT STORIES
amazon: amzn.to/3hkuUiF
b&n: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star...
indiebound: www.indiebound.org/book/97817...
signed copies: hannahleekidder.com/shop/
LITTLE BIRDS: SHORT STORIES
amazon: amzn.to/2FMdbmg
audiobook: adbl.co/2Vo8sMo
signed copies: hannahleekidder.com/shop/
✉️ M A I L
PO Box 125
Manitou Springs, CO
80829
🌎 S O C I A L
MAILING LIST: view.flodesk.com/pages/60a6ad...
WEBSITE: hannahleekidder.com/
TWITCH: / hannahleekidder
PATREON: / hannahleekidder
TWITTER: / hannahleekidder
INSTAGRAM: / hannahleekidder

[@HannahLeeKidder]

hot tip, novelpad's instagram is constantly giving away accounts: instagram.com/novelpadapp/

[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

I don't even have to watch this video and I already know that nothing compares to novel pad.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

shh, spoilers! :P

[@HannahLeeKidder]

if you're watching this the day it was posted, we'll be live on twitch at 3pm EST for co-working and writing sprints! come hang out www.twitch.tv/hannahleekidder

[@samkathryn4825]

Yes!! Let’s go!!

[@kelseybisset88]

"I would show you what I was working on, but it is porn" 🤣

[@-Willow.Tree-]

I wanna send this to one of my friends who dosen't care about writing whatsoever just because she's named Emily

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Please do it. I wanna look into her eyes.

[@Rex_426]

“I know y’all aren’t leaving the house.” That felt personal 😂😂😂

[@deldevours]

I've been looking for an alternative to Scrivener. I was already leaning towards Novelpad because of your previous video, and this one has nailed it. Signing up this morning.

[@SecondFloor2311]

I was just about to upgrade my NP account and then you posted this video! Thought I'd check it out first and see if I'm not making a rash decision (for 15 bucks a month...lol) but this just confirmed what I already thought. Novelpad is just great! I've been using it for a few days now (found your channel last week^^). I've had this story in my head for yearsss and I had so many notes and lists but barely any scenes actually written. It's a novel series btw (dream big I guess). I was inspired by some things, including your videos, and I'm more serious about this project than ever. Let's hope that keeps up cause my mental health is shite haha. Lots of love from the Netherlands!

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Yay!! I'm so glad you're feeling committed to a project. That's always so exciting. And I'm happy I could help you feel confident in your NP decision. ^_^ It has drastically changed my writing process for the better, for sure. Good luck, and I hope you stick around the channel!

[@Rex_426]

I LOVE NovelPad! I was actually looking to switch from Scrivener because it just wasn’t working for me. Your first video about NovelPad was so perfectly timed because as soon as I saw it I thought, yes! This is the programme for me. So, I got the free trial and honestly, I signed up before the first week had finished, haha. I’ve never looked back. It completely changed the way I write - I felt more in control, more organised and definitely more motivated to write because of it. I thought this video was super interesting because a lot of my writer friends use Novelr and keep telling me how great it is. But looking at your overview, I know it wouldn’t be right for the way I write. Thank you for the video!!

[@anjilala]

Amazing video thanks. I came here for a review on Novlr, I didnt know about Novelpad but now I'm leaning towards it. I love well designed websites. I also like being able to view the full manuscript.

[@deuscaritas1]

Wonderful video. Your happiness just shines through your videos. I'm new to the writing software scene. Can you do one comparing NovelPad and Campfire? I'd love your thoughts on Campfire. I use NovelPad right now. Thank you! Keep up the great work.

[@faithfaraday]

That was incredibly informative and entirely adorable. The giggle at "I have problems telling how long things are" felt like an Easter egg. :)

[@trin-is-late]

This is a terrific video! Thank you so much for such an in-depth review. I did have one question: reading over the privacy policy for both companies left me a little (just a LITTLE) leery re: Novelpad, as it talks about third parties receiving my data without my permission. I wondered if you'd taken a look at those yet!

[@jasonjohntyler]

I tried everything including Dabble. I loved Dabble's Plotting Information Grid that automatically links to your manuscript so that you can refer to it as you write. It's like JKR's Excel-like spreadsheet were she made her own plot grid to follow her Potter novels. Only Dabble's Plot Grid is merely for information. It would have been nice to click in any part of the Plot Grid and begin writing from there, but this is not possible. As a writer this kind of thing was the functionality I was looking for and out of your entire list I never found it. LivingWriter allows you to write from their plot grid and so does Novel Factory. Only I found there were too many clicks to get to do what I wanted to do and both of these were not as straight forward as I needed them to be so as to illuminate distractions when trying to work quickly and clearly, and none of the writing software out there gave me a clear Birdseye View of my novel. That is why I moved over to NovelPad; because it does everything I need it to do and then some. I can write from any scene, character or plot card and I can link everything together as I so wish and color code and tag to my hearts content where I can see my entire novel clearly illuminating that feeling of getting overwhelmed by very long documents. Lastly, the new updated Wavemaker and YWriter which were both mentioned a few times in other posts are absolutely awesome free writing apps that do much to assist writers by the way, but for my needs - as an author that writes the way I do with the needs I have - NovelPad just does it for me. My only wish with NovelPad is that Christian from NovelPad adds SCENES to the Insights Sort Feature so that I can sort and write from their Insights SCENES by PLOT cards which will help me that much more and which would give NovelPad Dabble's awesome plotting information functionality with the added benefit of actually being able to write directly from the scenes and plot cards which is something Dabble just can't do right now. I am eagerly waiting for NovelPad to add this one extra feature as it will enhance NovelPad's Plotting functionality greatly and it will be of much assistance, I'm sure, to many writers currently using NovelPad.

[@barrowc]

Great video, Hannah! Both programs looked good but I can see why you preferred the one you did over the other. The co-owning aspect of Novlr is interesting but could get messy (if every co-owner wants their favourite feature to be developed). Novlr need to be super-clear on what influence co-owners will have or if it's purely a financial investment. Thanks for adding captions too!

[@erincox1393]

You've converted me lmao THANK YOU Google Docs got so unweidly nothing would load without lagging and I also got lost in all the different revisions and could never tell what was what. And I used to have to use the subheadings to keep track of scene titles WITHOUT room to fit a description, without being able to drag around, and I literally used to put the scene word count in the subheading and manually recalculate chapter word counts when I moved scenes around 🤦 lol NOVELPAD IS AMAZING SO FAR

[@user-hl6vo8cz8g]

H Hannah, I liked Novelpad the minute i got on to their website, and i just went beserka and wrote quite a lot almost 700 words and i thought it was saving when it said that am not connected to the net and asked me to continue i did that and continued writing but then this warning persisted so i clicked the other button and my work vanished am still trying to figure out where all of it went BTW Loved your tutorial you have the patience to explain

[@ZenitaDee]

Have you looked at Dabble yet?

[@jasonjohntyler]

Thank you Hannah. Awesome information. Please see my earlier post concerning a new feature to be added to NovelPad if possible and please, if you can ask NovelPad to add a SCENES option in the insights sort section so that authors who write by Scenes only can sort via SCENE & PLOT in the insights sort section. This would be of great help to me and, I'm sure, many who currently use NovelPad. See my earlier post where I explained it in more detail. Once again thanks for your video on NovelPad, it's awesome.

[@anidilollo5478]

Working in a browser makes me feel like I'm working in the middle of the mall on Black Friday 😂 Thank you so much for all these reviews and side by sides. I don't like subscriptions but since I've been working on my novel SINCE 2018 maybe it is time to overcome my biases and try something new...

[@andrewwarren3849]

Great review! How exactly did you remove Novelpad from the browser? I don't see the icon you used to open it that way (Maybe it's not in Safari).

[@HannahLeeKidder]

I can only do it on Chrome unforch. Let me know if you find a way! ☺️

[@andrewwarren3849]

Ah, got it. I couldn't do it in Safari, but using Chrome on my Mac, I was able to download a web applet version, that opens from my dock. Thank you!

[@SamSam-esqe]

What keyboard do you use? The clickity-clacks are so satisfying

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Moonlander!

[@samkathryn4825]

I need to work a lot of hours and/or start a small business so I can renew my Novelpad this November! Don’t think I could write in anything else. So helpful for someone like me who is turning one book into two or flips wildly between super chaotic to OCD organization depending on my depression and mental health.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

If you don't want to pay for it, follow their Instagram! They give away a ton of free accounts.

[@WesleySmit]

Did you ever try autocrit?

[@ASyler]

Yeah, I'm Novelpad all the way! Love it!

[@Ronni0]

The only real problem I have with NovelPad is that there is no option for a grid display for characters, chapters, plots, and locations. It would be much easier to navigate if you could get a grid view of things I feel, instead of having to scroll up or down. This is mainly an issue in the characters tab, especially if you have several characters. Not so bad for chapters.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Just to make sure I understand before I write my demand letter: you're wanting the individual cards for characters, plots, and locations to be smaller so you can see them all at once in a grid, rather than having the longer rows/columns that let you see everything in the descriptions? That sounds pretty fly

[@Ronni0]

@@HannahLeeKidder More or less yeah. If there was just an option to sort of hide info and just have names would be great too. Though grid would be ideal.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

✍️✍️✍️

[@oddspongeout]

How do these programs compare to Scrivener and Dabble?

[@HannahLeeKidder]

NovelPad beats scrivener, scrivener beats novlr, dabble is still on my list to try, but from what I've seen, still NovelPad

[@oddspongeout]

@@HannahLeeKidder ooh ok thanks for replying!

[@oddspongeout]

I like that Scrivener is a one time investment but I know that having a built in backup is better and perhaps worth the investment 🙃

[@HannahLeeKidder]

You should do the free trial! See if it's worth it for you. If the cost is reasonable for them, I do think most writers would really benefit from NovelPad.

[@Bunnie1337]

Are you able to use novelpad with a freewrite device?

[@HannahLeeKidder]

The typewriter?

[@Bunnie1337]

@HannahLeeKidder yeah. I'm assuming no, but was curious.

[@HannahLeeKidder]

@@Bunnie1337 to my understanding, the typewriters can't run any external program? But I've never tried one 🤷‍♀️

[@Bunnie1337]

@HannahLeeKidder True. I don't believe they can. I know there's a feature that allows it to sync to places like Google, Dropbox, and Evernote, but thought maybe there was a work around to make it compatible outside of copy/paste. If you ever use one of these devices, this would be cool to get your opinion on! Thanks for your time! 🙏

[@C.DWoods]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@hyleore]

My name is Emilie - close enough for me to get spooked 😂

[@The_Open_Book]

I'm missing your new videos when they come out because the thumbnail is too random ':)

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Trying to stay underrated

[@HannahLeeKidder]

Did I fix it, let me know

[@helen2475]

“Are you writing fanfiction about jesus’s grandson?” I’m sorry I laughed

[@HannahLeeKidder]

my "Jesus III x Pharasmanes I" paranormal high school AU one-shot is actually no laughing matter

[@firedforfighting]

good lord, I wish i could get over how beautiful you are to pay attention, Jesus Christ , Im subscribed for the wrong reason honestly