Scrivener vs Novelist

Struggling to choose between Scrivener and Novelist? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Scrivener is a Office & Productivity solution with tags like writing, authoring, drafting, outlining.

It boasts features such as Corkboard view to visualize story structure, Outliner to organize scenes and chapters, Annotations and comments to provide feedback on drafts, Split screen to view multiple documents, Templates for common formats like novels and screenplays, Revision tracking to compare draft changes, Export to common formats like PDF and ePub and pros including Powerful tools for planning and organizing long documents, Flexible interface to suit different writing styles, Great for collaborating with editors and co-authors, Robust formatting and export options, Helpful for drafting and revising.

On the other hand, Novelist is a Education & Reference product tagged with reading-recommendations, book-search, library-analytics.

Its standout features include Provides reading recommendations, Detailed information on over 400,000 fiction and non-fiction books, Analytics to inform collection development decisions, and it shines with pros like Helps librarians provide personalized reading recommendations, Large database of book information, Data-driven collection development.

Feature	Scrivener	Novelist
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Office & Productivity	Education & Reference

Product Overview

Scrivener

Description: Scrivener is professional writing software used by authors to plan, organize and write long documents like novels and screenplays. It has features like corkboard, outliner, annotations, and split screen to help write drafts and revisions.

Novelist

Description: Novelist is a reader's advisory and collection development tool for libraries. It provides reading recommendations, detailed information on over 400,000 fiction and non-fiction books, and analytics to inform collection development decisions.

Key Features Comparison

Scrivener Features

• Corkboard view to visualize story structure
• Outliner to organize scenes and chapters
• Annotations and comments to provide feedback on drafts
• Split screen to view multiple documents
• Templates for common formats like novels and screenplays
• Revision tracking to compare draft changes
• Export to common formats like PDF and ePub

Novelist Features

• Provides reading recommendations
• Detailed information on over 400,000 fiction and non-fiction books
• Analytics to inform collection development decisions

Pros & Cons Analysis

Scrivener

Pros

• Powerful tools for planning and organizing long documents
• Flexible interface to suit different writing styles
• Great for collaborating with editors and co-authors
• Robust formatting and export options
• Helpful for drafting and revising

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Overwhelming interface for new users
• Limited cloud sync and collaboration features
• Windows and Mac only, no Linux or mobile versions
• Can be slow with very large documents

Novelist

Pros

• Helps librarians provide personalized reading recommendations
• Large database of book information
• Data-driven collection development

Cons

• Requires subscription, not free
• Limited mainly to fiction and non-fiction books
• Not as robust for other types of materials

Pricing Comparison

Scrivener

• One-time Purchase

Novelist

• Subscription-Based