I have recently found Papyrus Author, an amazing writing software that works best with fiction but can also work with nonfiction. You can organize and write your best book with this amazing software.

Type of Software: Freemium

Disclaimer: I am basing this review off the free version of Papyrus Author.

I have been evaluating and reviewing writing software that could help you write a book. Recently, I looked at Scrivner and the advantages of Grammarly and ProWritingAid. There are several reviews I have done so far and you can check them out on my reviews page.

Papyrus Author is a great app for organizing and writing your fiction or nonfiction book. It gives you a ton of options on how to visualize and fill out your manuscript. I was pleasantly surprised at the many features available even on the free version of the software.

I think Papyrus Author is best suited for fiction writers but I can see how I could use it as a nonfiction writer. It has many parts of the software that allow you to plan a novel or a manuscript. I will detail those features below.

Availability

Papyrus Author is a desktop application you can download from the Papyrus Author website. You can install it on your computer and use the desktop application. You can begin a free plan to use the software in which many of its features are unlocked. To get the full benefits of Papyrus Author, a subscription to Papyrus Author+ ($14.99 at time of review) would be your best opportunity.

User Interface

The interface takes getting use to at the start, but it is not a steep learning curve. Anything on the toolbar can be accessed through the menu. My favorite part about the menu is the menu option “Author.” It has many of the features under it that you would use in your day-to-day writing.

When you first start Papyrus Author, you get a welcome screen that gives you the main options for starting your project or document.

You haven’t opportunity with the yellow button to learn more about the program and its uses. You can start a document or a project. Most of the time, you will start a project. You want all your characters, events, locations, and other parts of your book to be saved into one neat little folder. That’s the project you would start.

Once you get your project file named and click what type of project you want to begin, you will see the main interface. Here is an example of what your project will look like as it progresses:

In the current version, you will see a sort of binder or table of contents on the left. This is where your chapters will show up. In the middle is your manuscript way you will type out your chapters and format them.

To the right of the manuscript is the pinboard. You can put sticky notes, snippets of text from the manuscript, and even images on it. If you put sticky notes on the document itself, they will stay in that place in your manuscript. It’s an easy way to make notes if you want to come back to something. The rest of the pinboard items stay on the right side no matter where you are in your document.

The Papyrus Author toolbar starts with some typical formatting options for your document. Also on the first line, it has it has highlighting and commenting options, options for exporting for an editor, ePUB, and PDF, a shortcut for your characters, timeline, and thinkboard.

On the second line of the Papyrus Author toolbar it has a place for styles, headings, alignment, line height and spacing, ghost text, tracking changes, direct speech mode, distraction free mode, undo, and redo. I will explain some of these features below.

The other feature of the user interface is the status bar at the bottom. It does more than track what you are doing with statistics. It also has a place for inputting your writing goals for the project and the sessions.

Tools and Features

There is a list of features on the Feature page of their website. I will tell you about my favorite teachers. I like the planning stage for your book using the thinkboard. It is a tool that allows you to plan your book out and think about everything you need to do in the book. There are templates you can use to get you started.

I also like the grammar tools like the spell check and grammar checker, and the thesaurus. Perhaps my favorite is the thesaurus which is aimed at authors. It is not your typical thesaurus. It is way more advanced and gives you so many options for word choices.

For fiction authors, there are extensive character sheets, even sheets, and location sheets that are tied to the document. They show up like hyperlinks in the program so you can look at your characters and locations at a glance. This is a very helpful feature in Papyrus Author. I know it comes in other programs, but it just seems so seamless in this program.

I mentioned the writing goals in the status bar. You can set deadlines, goals for writing in each session and the whole book, and several other features for goal setting. I’m a big fan of this commission point

Papyrus Author also has a ghost text feature that is really interesting. It allows you to write notes to yourself that no one else will ever see. I really like this feature too. You can also track your revisions, which is really important to know how you document and book have changed through your revisions.

I think the most helpful feature of the program is the Organizer. It allows you to see everything about your project from your notes, comments, thinkboard, and research. Then you can quickly get back to your writing.

Support

Papyrus Author has a lot of help and support. It has a YouTube channel dedicated to showing you how to use the software and answer your questions. There is also a Papyrus Author community that can help you.

Strengths and Weaknesses

There are many strengths to Papyrus Author. I think it is especially helpful for fiction writers. But as a nonfiction writer, I could see myself using especially the planning stages and the pinboard as I write my book.

There are a lot of writing softwares out there that can help fiction writers with characters, locations, and events. But I think Papyrus Author can give them a run for their money. Even with the free features, you can get a lot done. There are some benefits to the Plus features.

The only weakness I see in the software is that nonfiction writers will not find it as useful to track characters, locations, and events lead perhaps if you are writing a memoir they would be very helpful. I think the research tracker could help nonfiction writers also.

Final Thoughts

After looking at all the features and tools you have available in Papyrus Author, I highly recommend it for fiction writers. If you are a nonfiction writer, you will also find it useful in several aspects. Anyone could use this program to write a stunning novel or memoir. It has many uses for writers and he tried will find ways to use its tools and features in ways that suit them and their projects. You can’t go wrong with trying out Papyrus Author to see if it is the fit for you.

Check Out My Other Book Writing Software Reviews

• What’s the Best Editor for Writers – Grammarly or ProWritingAid
• The Best Word Processor for Writers (Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, WPS Office)
• Scrivener Is the Best Writer-Tailored Word Processor
• Great Benefits of the Outlining Your Workbook Program for Fiction Writing