I’ve Written *1 MILLION* Words in Scrivener - Here’s My Review

There’s quite a few word processors, with Microsoft Word a titan among them, but Scrivener beats Microsoft’s offering for long form writing. It’s not even close. Scrivener has helped me write almost seven novels, and in this review, I discuss some pros and cons that you might want to consider when deciding whether to purchase Scrivener.

0:00 - Introduction
0:35 - Word processing and Scrivener history
2:48 - Why I use Scrivener
5:31 - Portability across Mac, Windows, and iOS
7:29 - Why Scrivener is good for focus
8:28 - Other useful Scrivener features
9:50 - Downsides of using Scrivener
11:26 - Conclusion

[Jeremy-am]

I’ve recently started using Scrivener to work on a deeply personal and emotionally intense novel that chronicles the traumatic experiences of my life. I was initially hesitant about tackling such a challenging subject, but Scrivener’s organizational features have been a game-changer, helping me structure my thoughts and emotions in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming. The ability to break down my writing into manageable sections while keeping the bigger picture in view has made it easier to dive into these painful memories. So far, it’s been a great tool on this difficult but important journey

[Samantha_was_here_first]

A lot of people think Scrivener is all you need when writing books. It is a tool which focuses on First Drafts and giving you the resources (and lack of distractions) that'll get you writing your book. Because of this, it doesn't have a good editing system. It has a very basic spell and grammar checker (not sure about grammar) and as mentioned in the video, not fully compatible with 3rd party software. Plan and write your book but then export it to a platform which can

[johnnyragadoo]

Scrivener's file format is proprietary, but not locked away from the user. It's easy to reverse engineer, and if you ask nicely, Literature and Latte will send complete project internals. It's so wonderfully simple it's not that hard to create a project file that Scrivener will open without using Scrivener. An RTF editor and a plain text editor are all the tools needed.

That's one of the reasons I always had confidence in the safety of Scrivener.

[SomeUniqueHandle]

My main problem with Scrivener, besides the slow development, is that the formatting/exporting function is terrible. I bought Atticus so I could take the mess Scrivener outputs and format it the way I want, with nice chapter headings and section breaks and so on. Atticus has a couple of weird, hard coded limitations but it's overall the best I've seen for getting a manuscript publication ready. Atticus can be used for writing as well, but Scrivener beat it for flexibility and range of tools. Atticus has a more rapid development cycle so it's possible that I might switch at some point to using only Atticus, but for now the two programs used together are the dream team for novel writing in my opinion.

[joyce]

I absolutely love Scrivener. Can’t imagine using anything else. It brings organization to my writing.

[ms-s]

I’m just getting started with Scrivener and found your overview really helpful. Thank you.

[ariesmarsexpress]

I can't imagine writing without Scrivener now! I don't write directly in it, but it's a lifesaver for organizing and safeguarding my work. Before Scrivener, I lost entire chapters due to Google Docs and its useless versioning system. Scrivener's organization, automatic saves, backups, and compile features are invaluable. I love being able to compare scene parts side-by-side to fine-tune transitions.

[gnostie]

What Scrivener is to you Obsidian is to me. I work through interconnections and shape my thoughts there, then assemble chapters and bibs in Word, which I quite like. I don't trust Scrivener and prefer text (markdown).

[Tajhad]

A fair and balanced review. Thanks. I also agree with your love of the software. I must admit I had it for years before using it. Tried it - found it too complex. Ended up doing my first major piece in Pages. Came back to Scrivener and after some experimentation haven't looked back. Do all my major writing in it- working between the desktop and ipad versions. A great piece of software. A credit to the developing team.

[pauljr]

Thank you for this review Mann! Appreciated! 🤙🏼

[joyce]

I love Scrivener and have used it for years. Can’t imagine using any other writing app. Great review.

[DawnMontgomeryAuthor]

I love this video but I have an off-topic question. What is the brand of pen you used at the beginning of the video?

[kjaime]

I do use Scrivener, but it's been frustrating being a PC user that they haven't yet figured out how to hire someone to build them a Windows version. I've used Windows PCs since 1987, know them inside and out, and just can never justify the high expense of Apple products. I have a brand new Samsung I got for free thanks to Google Fi and my latest PC after I moved homes last cost me $120 and it's 5"x5"x2". It's all I need. (My monitor is a 52" non-smart-tv that cost me $200.) I generally use Microsoft 365 since what I pay each year comes with all the storage I need for everything I do.

[eddylimaperu]

I am writing a book about my dad's life using Scrivener. I will only need a few copies of the book when it is over. I have a few questions. Which company do you use to print your book? Would they print just a couple of books? When you upload your book from Scrivener to the printing company, would the format change? Would the pictures move around according to the new format? Thank you to anyone who can give me some tips.

[FlosBlog]

Is there a review function on the ios app to trace changes in subsequent drafts of a text?

[Grunfeld]

Nice video; love Scrivener, used it extensively on Windows. Switched to Linux two years ago but there is no Linux Scrivener so had to go back to Word (well, LibreOffice; same sort of thing. Horrible). However, good news, *Scrivener can run in Linux via Lutris* . I know this is relatively niche but someone might want to know 🙂

[byte.raccoon]

you may use obsidian -> vault for book with whatever structure you like

[hfranke]

I could not have written my 6 books without Scrivener. All books are +500K words and with complex stories.... I love Scrivener.

[futuristmarketers]

Great video AJ - I'm looking to write my first book on marketing. This is ace, keep em coming. Subbed!

[Darkslide]

Is there a way to get the view to not have that huge gap of blank screen in the text editor part on computer? I just want my text to cover that white space? hmm