How to be your own publisher
Writing and editing tools to help you wade through the process of self-publishing a book
Suhani Mishra, a 27-year-old public relations professional dreams of writing her own book. “But everyone can’t be Haruki Murakami or Arundhati Roy. You need to know how to write and also have connections in the publishing industry,” she says. Like her, there are hundreds out there who aspire to write and sell their own book but don’t know how to approach publishing houses. How about self-publishing your book in that case? These software tools will guide you.
YWRITER
yWriter is a powerful writing programme which is free to download and use. It is a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work. It also allows you to see your characters and settings, all at a glance. FREE OR PAID Free
DIFFICULTY LEVEL Easy AVAILABLE ON Windows and OS X GET IT FROM www.spacejock.com/ yWriter5.html
SCRIVENER
Writing a novel, research paper, script or any long-form text involves more than hammering away at the keyboard until you’re done. Collecting research, ordering fragmented ideas, shuffling index cards in search of that elusive structure—most writing software is fired up only after much of the hard work is over. Scrivener, a word processor and project management tool stays with you from that first, yet to be formed idea all the way through to the final draft. Outline and structure your ideas, take notes, view research alongside your writing and compose the constituent pieces of your text in isolation or in context. FREE OR PAID Free trial for 30 days DIFFICULTY LEVEL Medium AVAILABLE ON Windows and OS X GET IT FROM www.literatureandlatte.com/trial.php
GRAMMARLY
Want to have your own personal proof reader while writing the book? Grammarly, a chrome extension which spots
grammatical errors in your writing, can come handy. It can eliminate over 250 errors instantly, which Microsoft Word can’t find. FREE OR PAID Free
DIFFICULTY LEVEL Easy AVAILABLE ON Windows and OS X GET IT FROM www.grammarly.com/
HEMINGWAY EDITOR
It helps you unclutter and uncomplicate your writing using colour codes. The app highlights lengthy, complex sentences and common errors; if you see a sentence highlighted in yellow, the app alerts you to shorten it. If you see a red highlight, your sentence is dense and complicated, try editing it. FREE OR PAID Paid
DIFFICULTY LEVEL Easy AVAILABLE ON Windows and OS X GET IT FROM www.hemingwayapp. com/desktop.html
KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) lets authors sell digital version of their books on Amazon.com, free of cost. Unlike most other digital retailers, KDP uses the format known as “mobi.” This is the file format for all digital books that Amazon uses, and it works on Kindle devices. FREE OR PAID Free
DIFFICULTY LEVEL Easy AVAILABLE ON Windows and OS X GET IT FROM www.kdp.amazon.com/