Jun 16, 2015 3 min read

Scrivener Review: Why Scrivener is My Favorite Tool for Writing

Is it possible to have one software that can be your “go to” tool for content creation? Whether you are mapping out your next book, writing show prep notes for a podcast, creating a video script, or preparing notes for your next keynote talk, Scrivener is a popular tool among content creators. Many

Many people have asked me how I wrote my latest 50,000+ word book, The 15 Success Traits of Pro Bloggers, in just four months. Well, one of my secret weapons was Scrivener.

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I thought it would be fun to boot up Scrivener and show you at least six ways I’ve used it in the past to create content.

1. Mapping out the structure and ideas for your next book

With Scrivener, you can easily create separate text documents for your chapter ideas. From there you can jump in and begin writing (assuming it’s non-fiction) on the chapter you are most interested in writing. With the drag and drop functionality of Scrivener, you can re-order your chapters. Something that’s much harder to do in Microsoft Word.

2. Collecting research, thoughts and quotes to include in specific chapters

I like to use the yellow notes box that appears in the right sidebar inside Scrivener to collect big ideas, thoughts, potential quotes, stories or illustrations I’d like to include in that particular chapter. This allows me to keep my actual writing space clutter-free. The note section is also a great place to store hyperlinks to prior blog posts you’ve written or other articles you want to keep in mind while writing that chapter.

3. Having a distraction-free writing environment

I love having a minimalistic feel when writing. It’s so easy for me to get pulled into other tasks beyond writing when I see other apps, buttons, or notifications. You can take any text document and with a click of the button change your view into a beautiful distraction-free writing environment.

I also take a moment and play some music using FocusAtWill.com. These two things alone inspire me to write.

4. Displaying show prep notes for your podcast show

You can also be creative when using Scrivener. For example, I use Scrivener when recording my two podcasts (Blogging Your Passion Podcast and the Simple Life Habits Podcast). Scrivener keeps me organized since it is easy for me to see which topics I recorded over the past few episodes, what I want to remember to say in this episode, and so much more.

5. Writing draft notes for future keynote talks

You can also create a section to store your notes for Keynote talks. While you may want to eventually break your notes up and place them in your Keynote or PowerPoint presentation. Scrivener can be a great tool to house all of your more popular keynote notes.

6. Integrating Evernote for capturing stories, quotes, and illustrations

Here is a cool ninja trick for you Evernote users out there. Create a section inside Scrivener for “research.” Then share an Evernote notebook inside Scrivener. This will allow you to collect quotes, stories, ideas, and illustrations with Evernote and get easy access to them inside Scrivener when you need inspiration for your book, podcast, or next Keynote talk.

BONUS TIP: Using Scrivener for podcast interviews about your book

Finally, I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to be interviewed on several podcasts since launching my latest book. I found it incredibly helpful to have my book opened up in Scrivener while actually on the podcast interview.

I’m able to quickly navigate to any part of my book to answer the questions being asked of me. This is much easier then having the paperback copy in hand and searching for answers. It’s a great ninja trick that will help you come across super smart on your interview.

If you use Scrivener, I’d love to hear some ideas on how you are using it!