First writing tools

A writing fluid or ink filled the stem and squeezing the reed forced fluid to the nib. By the year , a stable form of ink developed, a composite of iron-salts, nutgalls, and gum. This became the basic formula for centuries. Its color when first applied to paper was a bluish-black, rapidly turning into a darker black before fading to the familiar dull brown color commonly seen in old documents.

Wood-fiber paper was invented in China in the year but was not widely used throughout Europe until paper mills were built in the late 14th century. The writing instrument that dominated for the longest period in history over one-thousand years was the quill pen.

Introduced around the year , the quill is a pen made from a bird feather. The strongest quills were those taken from living birds in the spring from the five outer left wing feathers.

The left wing was favored because the feathers curved outward and away when used by a right-handed writer. Quill pens lasted for only a week before it was necessary to replace them. There were other disadvantages associated with their use, including lengthy preparation time.

Early European writing parchments made from animal skins required careful scraping and cleaning. To sharpen the quill, the writer needed a special knife. Beneath the writer's high-top desk was a coal stove, used to dry the ink as quickly as possible. Plant-fiber paper became the primary medium for writing after another dramatic invention took place. In , Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable wooden or metal letters.

Later, newer printing technologies were developed based on Gutenberg's printing machine, such as offset printing. The ability to mass-produce writing in this way revolutionized the way humans communicate. As much as any other invention since the sharpened-stone, Gutenberg's printing press set forth a new era of human history. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Eventually, I realized Evernote makes it hard to export content to Google Docs; somehow the formatting got all messed up. Then, it distracted me too much—since I also had personal notes in there, the draft management got too complicated. I still love Evernote for saving the highlights of my book, as I explained in my becoming a better writer article, and some research.

All in all, Evernote is a great second option for any writer who wants a robust piece of software for all writers alike. Google Docs is also great if you work with an editor or client who wants to make comments or make suggestions without disrupting your content. For example, you can add a table of contents to your content, use speech writing software, add a dictionary and thesaurus, and add a free grammar checker like ProWritingAid.

You know very well how easy it is to run away from your writing commitments when you get into a dead end. Still, Google Docs is one of the best writing tools you can ever hope to use. When you write, you will make grammar mistakes. While you should always aim to re-read everything you write at least twice before you publish it, you will miss a few key errors that will ruin your piece without you noticing it.

The following three tools will help you find those grammar mistakes and fix them before they wreak havoc your piece. More importantly, they will give you critical recommendations to improve your style, which will make you a more proficient writer. Grammarly is an AI-powered grammar checker and writing assistant that helps you find grammar errors and fix them right on the spot.

Some even ask me how I do it despite not being a native speaker—Grammarly is the answer. While the free version gives you most of the most basic grammar, syntax, and punctuation suggestions, the premium version gives you synonyms, advanced grammar tips, and even writing style advice. Grammarly comes with a free Chrome extension that helps you correct your grammar as you write an email, a Facebook post, or anything you put in your browser. If you are a writer who makes a living with your words, then you need a grammar checker.

So far, Grammarly is my favorite tool; one that has helped me become a much better writer. To start using this tool, you first need to upload or paste your content into their editor. Then, you will be given a summary of all the suggestions for improvement.

They also share the most common readability measures, like the Flesch-Kincaid Grade, which analyzes the ease of reading of your content. In contrast with Grammarly and other grammar checkers, ProWritingAid provides very analytical and granular writing recommendations, something I find refreshing. Hemingway is a free alternative content editor that, like Ernie, will make your content tight and powerful.

One of the most interesting aspects of Hemingway Editor is its color highlighting of their improvement suggestions. Their suggestions focus on a few key aspects of your writing:. These are basic suggestions, no doubts, but I like the fact they indicate broad stylistic problems instead of specific word issues, like Grammarly or ProWritingAid tend to highlight. Hemingway Editor also shared the word and sentence count, approximate reading time, and even specify the results of the Flesch-Kincaid Grade readability test.

Also, I like the more detailed suggestions the former tools give, something Hemingway lacks. Such comparison, however, would be unfair to Hemingway Editor. The whole idea of the tool, I believe, is to give simple yet useful recommendations. Therefore, if you want a quick editor to give you a few key suggestions, Hemingway is the tool you need to use. Circle of Seven Productions — Focuses on producing your book trailer for multimedia and online marketing.

As a FirstEditing author, you benefit from their proven video distribution strategies. They network your book to over online distribution portals. Choose from a range of video production packages. Book publicity and author promotion begins anywhere from 6 months before publication to a year or more after the launch. Smith Publicity offers a variety of promotional campaigns and services to meet your budget. Explore a range of personalized services and create a unique book marketing campaign.

Take your self-published book to the next level with New Shelves. Amy is an established book sales training expert. Discover the best and most suitable options to gain publicity for your book. Bound Book Scanning expertly scan manuscripts and books. They convert hard books into electronic word documents via OCR technology. They convert the text to a document such as Microsoft Word. It is magical! Subsequently, you can submit your manuscript for editing.

As a result, you can then publish in all book and eBook formats! MasterWriter is the most powerful suite of writing tools in one program. This premier book writing software is specifically for authors. You have word families, phrases, synonyms, figures of speech, rhymes, pop culture, a searchable Bible, and the dictionary.

Why struggle to find the right word when you can have all the possibilities in an instant? Learn how to self-publish from successful bestselling author Joanna Penn! Plus, she has written 20 books and sold over , books in 74 countries and five languages. In fact, Ms. Penn also has many books and writing courses for fellow writers. Check out The Creative Penn!