• Scrivener—this is a popular writing program that allows you to keep all of your notes and information in one file. It also lets you break your story into scenes/chapters/or whatever works for you. This is a great program for everyone, but it will be especially useful for those writers who like to plot out their stories.
  • Storyist—this is a Mac only writing program. It’s similar to Scrivener in a lot of ways. It’s also what I use to write.
  • Ulysses—this is a Mac only writing program. The one downside is that it requires a yearly subscription. But it syncs across all your Apple products as long as they are all using the same Apple ID. It’s easy to use, and you can nest groups inside of other groups as well as create tags to make it easy to search for items. I’ve found this especially useful for writing a series. It’s kind of like Scrivener and Evernote combined into one program.
  • Bear—is a note app that allows you to use #hastags to make your notes easily searchable. It’s like an electronic three-ring binder.
  • Evernote—is a note app that allows you to organize notes and information into easily searchable files. You can add tags to make it easy to find specific items. It’s available in both free and paid options.
  • ExpoBoard—this is like a giant corkboard that allows you to have different boards. I like to use this for my inspiration board when I’m working on a book. It sometimes helps me to have images of the places I plan to go in the story. It also helps me stay consistent with my physical description of a business or a town.
  • Sigil—this is an open source Epub creation program. It allows complete control over the coding of the Epub file, therefore creating a cleaner Epub. This is the program I use to create all of my self-published digital books.
  • Pixelmator—this is a Mac only photo manipulation program with layers. It’s similar to Photoshop in a lot of ways and is a great tool to begin learning the basics of using layers and masking without the high cost of Adobe Photoshop.
  • Photoshop—this is the industry standard for photo manipulation. Photoshop has a higher learning curve than other programs, but that’s because it is a powerful tool in which the limitations are almost nonexistent. If you can dream it, odds are it can be done on Adobe Photoshop.
  • InDesign—this is the industry standard for layout designs. Like Photoshop, InDesign has a pretty steep learning curve. However, the finished product is well worth the time and effort. This is what I use to design all of my print book interiors as well as any printed promotional materials like bookmarks, bookplates, and postcards.
  • Affinity—The latest version of Affinity is free and combines their layout, vector, and photo manipulation programs into one. I highly suggest this for anyone looking to get into design without the big investment that Adobe requires.
  • Word—while some authors and editors still prefer to print out their manuscript and pass it back and forth, writing notes in the margins with their red pens, most have embraced the digital age and use the track changes feature in Word for their edits. This allows the author and editor(s) to make changes and notes that will appear without changing the actual manuscript itself. Some authors also prefer to write in Word instead of using another program like Scrivener, Ulysses, Storyist, etc.
  • Pages—this is the Mac version of Word. One great thing about Pages is that it now has track changes that work in much the same way as Word. Another is, you can use Pages to write or edit and then simply export it to Word.
  • GoodNotes—this app works great with iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil. It allows you to use it just like a physical notebook, scrapbook, binder, planner, etc.
  • Nebo—this is the app I use to write blog posts, notes, story ideas, etc. It works with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, to turn your handwriting into text. If you’re like me and like to write things out by hand, but hate having to then type them up later, this is the app for you.
  • Obsidian—This is a free program that I use for all kinds of things, but mostly I use it to create searchable story/series bibles. There is a learning curve for getting started if you’re not familiar with markup, but I think it’s worth taking the time to learn the basics. (You can email me for a free copy of my story/series bible template to get you started.)

I have used a lot of programs and software throughout the years, trying to find what works for me. I am an organic writer, meaning I don’t plot out my stories ahead of time, or at all really. So there are some programs that have far too many features for me, since I will never use them.

In 2022, I set out to better organize my writing business and future proof it since I’ve already had some things I started using early in my career, disappear. Technology and software, has changed a lot in ten years.

So I’ve been focusing on finding solutions I can control. Ones not dependent upon subscriptions or proprietary formats.

This is what I’m using: 

  • Storyist—this is a MAC only writing program. It has an outline function and uses digital index cards, as well as bullet point style outlining. It creates separate files for your chapters, allowing you to easily skip to one or to move them around as needed. But it also has split screens and allows you to have your manuscript in one screen and then have a characters list along the side. Which is a feature I use for nearly all my books.
  • Sigil—this is an open source Epub creation/editing program. Open source means it’s free. It allows me to have total control over the coding of the files, creating cleaner ePubs. It requires basic knowledge of CSS and HTML. This is the program I’ve used to create every ebook I’ve ever formatted.
  • Affinity Photo—this is a photo manipulation program, similar to Adobe’s Photoshop. One definite positive about this program is that it is a onetime purchase. It has everything you need to create social media graphics, design book covers, or any other kinds of graphics you need.
  • Affinity Designer—this is a vector program, similar to Adobe’s Illustrator. It is great for creating vector graphics, designing custom texts, or editing vectors. It is also a onetime purchase.
  • Affinity Publisher—this is a layout design program, similar to Adobe’s InDesign. This is what I now use to design all of my print interiors, as well as any printed promotional materials like bookmarks, bookplates, postcards, etc. It is also a onetime purchase.
  • Obsidian—this is an open source (free) program you can download to your desktop or use on your tablet or phone. Obsidian is a markdown program that’s like a virtual binder. I chose this program, not only because it’s free but also because markdown in a language that’s been around for a long time and one that’s not likely to go away. It allows you to create vaults (which is basically a master folder) and then you can create folders and files within each vault. I have a vault for each pen name. Inside those vaults I have business information, website design information, passwords, book information. Each book series gets their own folder, then each book gets a page where I have the title, series number, tagline, blurbs, publication date, imprint, list price, retailers where the book is listed, and any other relevant information. I have a vault for general business information. And then I have begun to create series bible for each series with all the information I could possibly need. One great thing is that you can make it searchable and apply hashtags to words, phrases, etc. then Obsidian links those together.
  • Pages—this is the word processing program that comes with a Mac. I used to pay for Word for Mac, but I only ever had issues with it and when they switched to subscription services, I switched to Pages. It allows for track changes, just like Word. It also has capabilities to format and export your files as an ePub. You can also export it as a Word file to send to editors.
  • Numbers—this is Mac’s version of Excel. I use this to keep track of book sales numbers.
  • Nebo—this is a note-taking app for iPad that works with Apple Pencil. It allows you to write notes by hand, then it converts your handwriting into text. You can then copy and paste into another document if you would like. I use this when I’m writing to keep track of information, or jot down things that I plan to add to my story/series bible later.

With all of these programs, I constantly backup the files on my external hard drive and thumb drives. I also export files to RTF formats when I save them, since that format is a universal one that should be able to be opened in almost any word program.

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”

—Thomas Mann