How Writers Can Use Scrivener for More Than Books: Organize Writing, Marketing, and Your Author Life

From Edie: Lynn Blackburn helps writers discover how they can use Scrivener for more than books. Learn how to organize your writing, research, marketing, and entire author workflow in one powerful tool.

How Writers Can Use Scrivener for More Than Books: Organize Writing, Marketing, and Your Author Life

by Lynn H. Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn

Scrivener is for far more than your manuscript. 

Have you heard of Scrivener?

Scrivener is writing software designed specifically for organizing large manuscripts.  I’ve been a Scrivener devotee since 2010 when I became a beta user of their first offerings for PC.

When I purchased my first Mac, I immediately grabbed the iOS version of Scrivener. I’ve gone through a few big updates with Scrivener.

I have written every book I’ve published in Scrivener. And I’ve written almost everything else, including this blog post, in Scrivener. And y’all…my love affair with Scrivener has never burned brighter! 

Full disclosure: Not everyone will agree with me. That’s okay. 

Here are a few common complaints I hear: 

• Scrivener has a learning curve. Depending on your computer skills, that learning curve can be STEEP. 
• Some people don’t think it’s worth it to take the time to master Scrivener when they could use that time to write. 
• The Scrivener interface isn’t as intuitive as some users would like for it to be. 
• Compiling your work can be…challenging. 

Fair enough.

BUT…

Y’all…you can do so much with Scrivener. SO MUCH. 

Here are a few of the things I use Scrivener for:

1. Writing all my books.

This is the big one, obviously. But I want to throw this out there —if you’re an intuitive writer, an organic writer, a non-outlining writer—Scrivener could quite literally become your new bestie. When you’re moving scenes around with ease instead of trying to find them in a 400-page Word document? You’ll be so happy you took the time to learn Scrivener. 

When you’re on Book 3 of a 3-book series, and you just drag and drop ALL of the research and character profiles you’ve created for Books 1 and 2 into your new manuscript file, and it’s all at your fingertips? You’ll be whistling while you work. 

And when your editor asks you for a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of your book and you’re able to provide it in approximately two minutes? Yeah, you’ll be doing a happy dance at your desk. 

2. Writing everything else.

This blog post, newsletters, the notes for classes I teach, social media schedules…When I say I write everything in Scrivener, I mean everything! 

3. Organizing all my marketing and publicity. 

I use Scrivener to organize the many publicity and marketing requests I receive from my publisher. This includes everything from creating a playlist to accompany my latest novel to maintaining the schedule for podcast interviews. By keeping everything in one place, I’m able to minimize the chaos and maximize my productivity. 

At a glance, I can pull up what I did for publicity all the way back to Beneath the Surface in 2018! It’s freakishly convenient!

4. Planning trips.

Wait…what?

That’s right. Here’s where Scrivener can be a powerful tool for the rest of your life, not just your writing life! 

I recently started keeping all my travel planning documents in Scrivener, and it is a game-changer. I tend to be an analog girl when I travel. I want to have printed copies of, well, everything. But the problem with that is that I have to recreate the process for each trip. 

Now, I have everything organized and easily accessible. Flight data, rental car reservations, TSA PreCheck numbers, daily itineraries, and confirmation numbers for hotels and other activities are all sitting pretty and ready for me to check at any time. 

It’s super easy to maintain on my computer, and thanks to the syncing available with the mobile app, I also have everything handy on my phone. 

I’m currently planning several trips, and having everything in one convenient spot is working so well that I also decided to use it to keep up with some home improvements we have planned, and I’m playing around with using it to keep up with my kids’ schoolwork. 

The ways you can use Scrivener are only limited by your imagination. 

This is NOT an advertisement for Scrivener. :) These are my honest thoughts about a product that I love and that has made my writing life exponentially more organized.

 

If you’ll be at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in May, you could come to my Intro to Scrivener or my Organizing with Scrivener workshops to see what I’m talking about. 

And if you’re already a Scrivener user but you’re thinking…wait…it can do THAT? Then you might want to join us for my Advanced Scrivener practicum! Preregistration is required for the practicum. See the website for details. 

Have you heard of Scrivener?

Tried it?

Hated it?

Loved it?

Had no idea anyone would ever plan a trip to California using it? 

I’d love to chat more in the comments!

 

Grace and peace,

Lynn

 

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How Writers Can Use Scrivener for More Than Books: Organize Writing, Marketing, and Your Author Life from @LynnHBlackburn on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Lynn H. Blackburn loves writing swoon-worthy Southern stories—from nail-biting romantic suspense to butterfly-inducing contemporary romance—because her childhood dream of becoming a spy crashed into the reality that she'd probably dive behind the nearest potted plant at the first sign of actual danger. The truth is, she was more interested in those dashing fictional spies than in the actual spying. It's safer for everyone for her to live vicariously through her characters!

Lynn lives in South Carolina with her husband, children, and an overprotective goldendoodle. She writes her novels in between homeschooling, parenting an adult with special needs, watching her boys play baseball, and teaching at conferences. You can follow along with her real-life plot twists by signing up for her newsletter at LynnHBlackburn.com and connecting with her @LynnHBlackburn on social media.