Get 50% off Scrivener, the writing tool pros swear by

By

Writers of all kinds can use a $29.99 lifetime subscription to Scrivener to get organized.
Turn your Mac into a writing work station with Scrivener 3, now only $29.99.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

I’ve written six nonfiction books about Apple, and every time during the writing process, I’d grind to a halt because I had no idea how to organize all the material I’d gathered.

So I’d do what every writer has done since time immemorial: I’d take reams and reams of notes, cut them up into small pieces, and then tape them together in an order that made some kind of sense. The trouble is, it rarely did!

Little did I know, there’s a much easier way: Scrivener.

This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.

Scrivener: The indispensable app for complex writing projects

Scrivener is a writing tool for Mac or Windows that helps with big, complex writing projects. A ton of professional writers I know swear by it.

Clive Thompson, Steven Johnson and Charlie Stross are just three scribblers who have written bestselling books using the software.

“I use Scrivener to organize most of my nonfiction research and writing,” says Clive Thompson, a technology journalist who writes for The New York Times Magazine, Wired and others, and who wrote Coders, a highly praised book about programmers.

It’s a terrific database and writing tool,” Thompson said.

Thompson uses Scrivener for the entire writing process: research, organization and writing — and even uses it as a kind of external brain.

“When I’m at my desk, someone asks me a question and I’ll go oh, I think I have something on that,” he said. “It really helps me come up with new ideas, to reaccess things I vaguely remember but can refresh myself on the details. The searchability is really fantastic.”

Thompson’s such a fan, he’s written about how he uses Scrivener for note-taking, conducting research and for handling the writing process itself.

Scrivener helps with the writers’ workflow

Likewise, bestselling nonfiction author Steven Johnson is a dedicated Scrivener user. Johnson says the software can be complex and has a learning curve, but the fundamental architecture “changes everything about the way you navigate from the early stages of the project to a completed manuscript.”

He adds: “My Scrivener-based workflow seems to fit the way my mind works better than any approach I’ve employed in the past.”

Charlie Stross, a Hugo-winning sci-fi author, wrote his novel, Neptune’s Brood, entirely in Scrivener.

He describes the software as “a creator’s workbench, and as such it offers a panoply of tools to assist you in composition.”

Scrivener is especially useful with plotting, Stross writes.

“I’ve used it before in writing several novels where the plot got so gnarly and tangled up that I badly needed a tool to manage all my plot strands, an area in which Scrivener excels.”

Dozens and dozens of other writers also rave about the software. There are several pages of testimonials on the Scrivener website.

Save 50% on a lifetime subscription to Scrivener 3

So, if you’ve got the itch to pen the great American novel, we have Scrivener on sale now for only $29.99 — that’s half the normal price of $59.99.

Buy from: Cult of Mac Deals

P.S. If you don’t yet own MS Office — which includes Word, another essential writer’s tool — we have a sweet deal that’s expiring soon. Get a lifetime license for Microsoft Office for Mac or PC for just $29.99.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.