Top 10 apps for author and writers

The way in which we both read and write books has changed so much over the past 25 years, for those who write, the landscape has shifted and the tools now available for you to be able to create is growing very quickly. This is not to say that writers don’t use pen and paper and there may be some who still use a typewriter, but on the whole, we have adapted to new technology and embraced the new options it has given us.
​
And this leads on to our obsession with cell phones, we have them with us at all times and use them for more and more tasks, so why not use them to help with your writing and publishing?

Now we know that most of you won’t want to try and write a 90,000 word book upon your phone, I’m sure after an hour of typing, your hands would cramp up and you’ll wonder why you ever started! But there are apps out there (many of which are free) that you can download and use to help with your journey as an author.

Here are ten apps that you might find useful:

Writer Plus
​This App allows you to capture and write ideas down wherever you are, the app has been designed to be simple and easy to use without the fuss of standard word-processing software (which doesn’t always transfer that well to a cell phone). 

---

The Brainstormer
This app is a story and idea generator created to help you focus towards your next book/short story, it uses a wheel which gives three random ideas for you to think about with your writing, these individual ideas have been carefully chosen to challenge creatively and get the best from each writer.

---

Werdsmith
Is a free app for Apple users (both phone, tablet and even watch), it gives you options to put your saved documents in to categories, it gives details on word counts and even the time you’ve spent writing, it allows you to create small documents and up to novel sized works.

---

Novelist
Completely free and currently without ads too, it gives you the tools to plot, outline and organize your story, you can schedule goals with dates for when a specific word count is due. It will allow you to back up to Google drive and also create templates for you to use.

---

JotterPad
This is a plain text editor which keeps things very simple (as you’re using a smaller device to write with), again, this app can sync to your cloud storage (such as Google drive, Dropbox and OneDrive) keeping everything backed up for you. They offer a free version, but the paid app gives more for the author.

---

Cold Turkey
This great app will temporarily block everything on your phone, so if you are easily distracted when trying to write, this is a must.

---

White Noise Generator
With this app you can slip on your headphones and let the noise of the outside world slip away as you write, you can mix their chosen sounds to your own preference, choosing from the sound of rain, wind, ocean, night, forest and many others.

---

Dictionary.com
The leading free English dictionary for Android, this app also offers a thesaurus and you can search for words using your voice, they offer a paid version which will give advice and tips on grammar, a rhyming dictionary, idioms, phrases and more. 

---

Grammarly Keyboard
This works throughout your cellphone/tablet and ensures what you’re writing looks great, it also works with swipe typing (if you use this), it’s used by millions of people and integrates smoothly with your other apps.

---

Calm
If you’re struggling with writer’s block, this app could be for you, Calm offers guided meditation sessions for countless situations, it gets you to relax and leave stress behind, they have a free version of the app, but of course you will get more services for the paid one.

---