Storyist writing software for Mac and iPad

Hi Everyone,

I'm Steve Shepard, the developer of Storyist—a novel writing environment for Mac and iPad. It's NaNoWriMo time again, and I couldn't be more excited.

Since last November, Storyist for Mac has continued to evolve. This year, as in previous years, you can download a special NaNoWriMo edition, use it for free in November, and get 25% off at the Storyist store if you decide you'd like to continue using it after NaNoWriMo (details below).

But the big news this year is that Storyist for iPad is now available in the App Store.

Storyist for iPad

If you've got an iPad, you know that it could be a great writing device: it's portable, elegant, and has great battery life. Storyist for iPad adds the necessary writing tools so you can create, review, and revise your work wherever inspiration strikes.



Storyist for iPad provides:

• A rich text editor with support for fonts, colors, comments, images, headers, footers, and style sheets.


• Color-coded index cards.


• Customizable plot, character, setting, and section sheets, so you can sketch out your story elements and track them through the manuscript.


• Virtual and Bluetooth keyboard support.


• Easy import and export of Storyist, RTF, Plain Text, and Final Draft FDX files via Dropbox, iTunes, and the Open In menu.


• One-tap Dropbox sync, so you can quickly access your projects when and where you need them.


• Live word count, so you can update your stats here at the NaNoWriMo site.

Storyist for iPad and Storyist for Mac use the same file format, so you could, for example, write in Storyist for Mac at your writing desk and then bounce your project to your iPad to take to a write-in or to make some setting notes on location.

Your novel is always with you. Now your writing tools can be too.

Storyist for Mac



Like the iPad version, Storyist for Mac has great writing tools, including:

• A full-featured word processor with support for headers, footers, and style sheets.


• Customizable plot, character, setting, and section sheets.


• A collage view, so you can visualize the relationships between your story elements.


• Full-screen mode, so you can shut out the distractions and write.


• A themeable workspace manager, so you can customize the fonts, colors, and background images of your writing environment to suite your style.


• Color-coded index cards.


• Live word count.

It also has some great self-publishing features:

• Kindle Export. Export your NaNoWriMo manuscripts to Kindle format for reading on Kindle devices and software, and for publishing on Amazon.com. (Screencast: Publishing on Amazon.com with Storyist)


• ePub Export. Create ePub-formatted eBooks for reading on an iPad, iPhone, Nook, Sony Reader, or other device that supports the ePub standard, and for publishing on Apple's iBookstore. (Screencast: Creating ePub for iPad)

And like Storyist for iPad, Storyist for Mac works great with Dropbox. Just put your Storyist project in your Dropbox folder, and Dropbox will instantly back up and sync your project to all your computers.

You’ll find more information on these and other features on the Storyist site at http://storyist.com/nanowrimo. There you can download a special NaNoWriMo trial version that will let you use Storyist for Mac for free throughout November (and into December).

If you decide to purchase Storyist for Mac, you can get it for 25% off through December 12th using the coupon code "NANOWRIMO11" at the online store.

Happy Noveling,

Steve

I loveeeeee Storyist and have used it the past two Novembers. You have helped me with technical issues last December and I absolutely love your support team. But again I am having issues... I tried downloading this morning and it is still only showing the 15 day trial edition. Is there some special link that I need to go to or is the trial edition for nanoists still not up?

I used a different Mac centered program for last year's NaNo, and was very happy with it. The main shortcoming for me was the lack of real iPad support -- but no one had that at that time, so there was no reason to try a different program.

Then Steve came out with his Storyist for iPad a few months ago. I know that a writer should only need a pen and paper to write -- even a computer is a luxury, much less a computer and a separate program for the iPad -- but what can I say? I wanted to be able to write interchangeably on my iPad and on my Mac, with a minimum of go-between fuss.

So my first step was to download a desktop Storyist demo. It is somewhat different in its operation than the program I was using. For me, neither one is "better" or "worse" than the other -- they are simply, as I said, different, with some elements of each I really like and some I don't. The distinctions between these programs have been endlessly debated elsewhere, and I think they are both worthwhile, so I'm not going to take sides on that debate. However, I was sufficiently impressed with the Storyist desktop to invest in the iPad app, in the hopes that the iPad integration -- the one indisputable distinction between Storyist and the program I was using -- would work smoothly. (My old program had a kind of piecemeal process by which individual sections could be exported and imported for editing through third party programs, but it wasn't, for me at least, as straightforward and all-encompassing as Storyist's method.)

Storyist for iPad lived up to my hopes. I am very, very happy with the iPad integration. One's whole manuscript, with supporting character, section, etc. notes, can be easily, quickly, and seemlessly transferred back and forth through DropBox. I am very impressed, and for me, this is the killer feature that really sets Storyist apart. I realized that (unlike some fervent partisans out there) I could be very happy using either my previous program or Storyist. But it is the impressive iPad integration that has prompted me to make the switch from one very good program to another.

So in sum: if you do not have an iPad, or don't care about iPad integration, then you can ignore this whole post (sorry I waited until now to tell you that). I certainly don't want to try to sway you between two excellent programs, and the best way to figure out which is most suited for you is to try them both out. But if, as I do, you care strongly about comprehensive and simple iPad integration, I just wanted to let everyone know that I, at least, am very happy with my switch to Storyist.

Oh, there's a story writing software for the iPad? MUST HAVE, NOW!

Finally someone realized that there was this big, gaping hole to fill... I usually write in coffee shops because at my house I'm too distracted. I also live in too different places, so having a portable writing device is essential for me. Therefore, I bought the iPad 2 last Spring. But then I noticed that my current writing program didn't have an iPad app. I'm definitely gonna try Storyist, and if I like it, I might keep using it.

Does the coupon code get you a 25% discount on the iPad version?

Hi all!

Yes, I am trying it out this year! I haven't played too much yet, but the tutorials are cool and the forum is wonderful!

As the proud posessor of an actual iPad 2 (thanks to a microgrant from the school where I teach) I was able to indulge in Storyist for myself just now and cannot wait to try it out! Yet another reason to wish November would simply get here already.

I use Scrivener on the mac platform and am interested in possibly using Storyist on the ipad. Does anybody have experience in sync'ing the two? Last year I used Simplenote on the ipad, which syncs reasonably nicely, but I would like a more featureful ipad app to work in. I realize that this involves competition issues, so its kinda strange.

Quick review here...downloaded iPad and nanowrimo version of storyist Mac app last night to try them out. First impression is really good. Was using another Mac program, which is good, but just seemed to box me in to a workflow I was not comfortable with. Ideally I'd prefer to do most of my word banging on the iPad using either the on screen keyboard or Bluetooth keyboard but, my old program did not have a native iPad app (did have some apps it worked with but not seamlessly). Within 5 minutes, was able to convert my current project (which will be my nanowrimo effort) from my old program to storyist Mac then sync it (via Dropbox) and open it up in the iPad. well done.

Since I'm still in the planning phases of my nanowrimo project, not yet banging out 1700 wpd yet (just outlines, scene lists, character briefs), this short review is a bit premature, but I am very encouraged with storyist so far...will update as I go along.

This looks amazing for the iPad! Glad I found you in time for this year's novel! :)

I downloaded the NaNo trial version after looking through the options in the forum. This will definitely help me stay organized and on track. I've never used story-writing software for noveling and so I look forward to trying Storyist out for this year's effort!

I've been using Storyist for a couple years now. It is absolutely the best novel writing software out there. I downloaded the iPad version about a month ago and I'm taking it for a test drive this week! I can't wait! Thanks Steve!

Susan

Just downloaded it for ipad, and it's great! Everything I used to do with obsessive cutting and pasting is now easily, intuitively available. Like every other ipad writing app, the only thing it's missing is the ability to add your own words tonthe dictionary, which can help when you're writing a fantasy novel full of made upnwords and strange names.

I use iawriter when i'm producing original writing, but only in chunks because it has no formatting or organizational capabilities. I paste those into storyist, where i can clean them up, organize them and move them around fluidly i n the overall plot structure.

Took me about two hours to put my existing 300 odd pages of work into storyist, set up chapters and sections... And then the notecard view waa incredibly helpful for reworking and reorganizing stuff

Can't reall complain about lack of discount when its only $9.99 ! Great app!

Downloaded the Mac Nano demo version. Looking forward to trying it out :)

Thanks for making it available. If I like, definitely will get for my ipad :)

I added this app to my iPad, LOVE IT!!! Gonna be my writing tool for Nano, double Yay!

Just looking at the screen captures I decided to roll the bones and pick this app up for my iPad. Just setting up the outline for NaNo this year has been a dream. Can't wait to get into writing with it on the 1st.

I just uploaded the file to my iPad2, but when then Dropbox says "unable to view file - this file type can't be viewed." What am I doing wrong?

Thank you. I look forward to trying Storyist.

Maureen

Downloaded on the iPad a week or so ago ... and left ... but last night I kicked it into gear. Downloaded the demo version for the Mac *and* set up a DropBox for transferring files between the two. Awesome.

I started playing aroud last night with Index Cards ... we shall see! Thanks for making this available.

- Kristen

Looks like I don't need to do any more online research about this product and it's 'rivals' I'm off to the app store now!
Will feed back my thoughts...

Okay, I've downloaded Storyist on my MacMini and I've been using the character sheets, plot sheets, the notebook sheets, etc. I have a question: how do you create separate scenes within chapters, and how do you create more than chapter 2? I build my stories scene by scene, and sometimes I don't have all the plot items known at the beginning of a project. So, how do I just create scene by scene (in Text mode and not on a note card or cork board view)?

BTW, I did print out the getting started guide (all 66 pages... free, of course...LOL) and I cannot find the answer.