82 Replies: What’s the best free software to write a book?

According to research between 2017 and 2018, sales of the top 100 bestselling books in the United States grew by an astonishing 23 percent and in spite of the unconcluded debate of print versus electronic, popularity of e‐books is increasing and thereby the e‐book market is growing at a very fast pace. User friendliness, cost, portability are some of the reasons for the increased use of e‐books. (Top-selling books sales growth in the U.S. 2017-2018 and emerald insight). With these facts, you can see, that writing books is lucrative and if you’re looking for free software to write a book, then you might want to read these 82 answers gotten from real authors like you on Facebook. Please to retain the authenticity of these answers, I didn’t edit the comments.

Let’s dive….

Software to write a book:

Google Docs for Writing Books

1. Google docs.
2. Check out yWriter. I was impressed with it and used it for years.
3. I use Open Office Writer to write and format all my novels (9 so far) and Calibre to create ebook format for same.
4. Using ms office with prowriting aid plugged into it. Highly recommend using prowriting aid.
5. Libreoffice www.libreoffice.org it’s better supported than open office.
6. I did my whole novel on Google docs.
7. The only downside, in my experience, was when wrote on planes and had to either buy the Wi-Fi or have the forethought to work offline or port my chapter over to the notes app.
8. My friend had good success with Sprinter from Freewrite
9. Whatever suits you but I write on Scrivener because it allows me to move chapters around easily and plan on a cork board note board.
10. yWriter is really good.
11. Google Docs.
12. Google Drive – formerly Google Docs.

Microsoft Word Book Writing Tools

1. I’ve written ten books in Word.
2. Libre Office.
3. Google Doc or Libre office is ok.
4. Pencil.
5. Google docs.
6. You can write using TextEdit or Notepad.
7. Docs.
8. Open Office but now I use WPS Office.
9. MS Word.
10. Open Office/ Apache office.
11. Microsoft Words.
12. Reedsy.com. Saves your work on the cloud, you can access from any device and once complete, you can look for others such as cover designers, editors and more all from the site. It also exports and typesets your book in eBook and pdf format. Best part is that it’s completely free.
13. Google Docs & Kindle Create.

Free Open Office Writing Software

1. I like mystory and have it on my phone, laptop, and tablet.
2. I would say yes. And the best software for writers is Scrivener. Very cheap.
3. I do most of my writing on my phone. I use Word.
4. The best software is in the human brain.
5. I use WriteItNow. It’s like Scrivener but with more features.
6. Your software is your imagination. You can’t, yet, program software to write a decent book. And even if you could, being an author is in no way a ticket to wealth. There are over 200,000 books published every year. There’s only 1 Harry potter. You do the maths.
7. The one you have. You don’t need fancy software to write a book. Once you’re published, spend some of your royalties on fancy software. But whatever you do, don’t let software be your excuse for not writing.
8. Whichever works best for you. I would say Microsoft Word is the best.
9. Microsoft Word is the best. I prefer Upnote, though.
10. I write it pen and paper then type it into MS Word. The time typing it in let’s me find errors, add, subtract and refine, develop, create more in-depth ideas…it’s just how I process.
11. Scrivener for fiction. It is great for building scenes and characters. It has a steep learning curve though. Atticus for nonfiction. It has great templates, ornamentals, and is easy to use.
12. It’s not the software that will create a great book, it’s you. Don’t get hung up on the tools.
13. Many of the most iconic novels were written on a typewriter. I have seen writers simply use pen and paper. But Microsoft Word are good and Scrivener is great to be even more organized. But when I am reading a book I never start thinking “wow, this is great book, it must have been written on a good software”
14. For me it is Canva Pro.
15. Easy depends in what is best for you. I like Google Docs for drafts (can access a share), Scrivener to organize and clean up first draft, Word to finalize, Calibre to convert to ebook. There are many other approaches. What will work for you?
16. Papyrus Author. I use the free version. I had the premium version but found I like the free one better. I also have WriteItNow by Knightsbridge. It’s a great program, but with my vision problems, the easier-to-read interface on Papyrus made me change.
17. Your soul.
18. I like Ulysses.
19. Any software that records what you key into a keyboard is the right software for writing.
20. I use Scrivener with InDesign to format.
21. First draft on pen and notebook. Then on computer to start the second draft / re-write.
22. First have something to say.
23. The great writers of the past used only pen and paper…because it should be an adventure to write, not a shortcut…!
24. I write it pen and paper then type it into MS Word. The time typing it in let’s me find errors, add, subtract and refine, develop, create more in-depth ideas…it’s just how I process.
25. Dabble. Easy to use!!
26. ChatGPT? Lol
27. I use MS-WORD. I grew up on it, it’s compatible with Amazon.
28. Cannabis for some people. ChatGPT for ideas but you could get caught when trying to publish it electronically. Best . . . your imagination and time.
29. Dragon is helpful…
30. Obsidian. And free plugin.
31. I prefer Atticus
32. The public library
33. Visual studio
34. Practice. Great piece of free software that seems to help others achieve anything.
35. Final draft pro, for screenplays.
36. In the past I’ve used Photo Shop because We wanted to get the best quality photos. The printer also used PS & they could enter it directly w/o any changes. You could use any of a large number of SW programs but best to check with publisher or even more important the printer. Converting from one program to another means having reedit & make a lot of changes which are easy to miss. We had some documents written in MS Word, like intro written by someone else, bio & references. It took some time & patience to get them entered so they matched the style we wanted.
37. Plottr and Word.
38. Living writer.
39. 1. Microsoft Word. 2. Keep your вuттоскs on the chair and stop procrastinating.
40. InDesign is the standard.
41. LibreOffice allows you to display two pages side-by-side, though I find the text a bit too small to read comfortably if I set the zoom low enough to fit the full height of the page on-screen at once. (Maybe I need a bigger monitor…) The LibreOffice UI is largely copied from MS Office before Microsoft redid everything with the ribbon, so I imagine MS Word can do this too.
42. Vellum
43. Wrote my first novel on Pages. The second with pen and paper after hearing that a Chuck Palahnuik still writes longhand. Currently revising with Autocrit and am LOVING it. It breaks down everything from most overused words to sentence patterns and more.
44. I use FADE IN….easy, works well enough and pretty inexpensive.
45. Notepad ++ – I hate being corrected during first drafts. Autocorrect and grammar checking is for editing – I use word only after the book is written. If you want to use correct grammar, read and re-read The Elements of Style.
46. I love Storyist. It’s so simple. All the same features as scrivener but not all on the screen keeping the visual plains clear.
47. Word, editors and collaborators have it, so do publishers and it’s compatible with Kindle Create. And it works well.
48. Apache Open Office (and it’s free, (google for download)
49. I really like Papyrus Author.
50. Just started using cetacean… It’s ok for a free site.
51. Google Docs w/ Grammarly, and then transfer over to Word
52. I use Novlr.
53. I’m enjoying final draft
54. I simply use Word in office 10. It has a spell checker, thesaurus, grammar checker, and if you go to the review ribbon, it will read what you wrote out loud so you can see if your sentences flow.

Wrapping up

The best software to write a book is a matter of personal preference and writing style. Whether you prefer a simple platform like Google Docs, a feature-packed tool like Scrivener, or traditional methods like pen and paper, the key is to find what works for you and stick with it. Ultimately, it’s not about the software—it’s about your creativity and commitment to put your skills into practice.

Disclaimer

The following answers were curated from discussions relating to “Software Writing for Book” and “Writers Helping Writers” Facebook groups. The responses reflect the personal opinions and experiences of individual members and have been minimally edited for clarity. The recommendations provided are based on their preferences and may not apply to every writer’s needs. Please research and test different software options to find what works best for you.