Writing an eBook can be a challenge for even the most seasoned writers at times, let alone for those just starting. Whether you’re looking to get published or ghostwriting an eBook for a client, a little help from eBook writing toolscan go a long way in making sure your eBook is not just error-free but also stands out from the crowd.
Whatever your motivation, we must commend you for taking the first step in a long series of steps towards compiling, editing, formatting, and publishing an eBook. The eBook market is ever-growing, with the global eBooks market standing at $15.7 billionin 2020 (1.01 billion readers worldwide).
And that is not the end of it. With more and more people turning towards reading, the market is expected to see a 6.2% year-on-year growth in revenue and a 7.9% increase in readership.
You might be wondering at this point how the eBook market can compete against physical books, right? Well, here is a graph showing how the sale of eBooks has increased over the years.
As the eBook market grows, the demand for online editing tools is also growing – especially free ones. There is an overwhelming number of these editing tools available, and all it takes is a simple Google search to find most of them.
However, how do you know this is the right eBook editing software? How much does it cost? Are there any free tools for eBook editing? And if there are, are they worth it?
Here, we’ll discuss the top 8 free eBook editing tools that you can use to immediately improve not just your writing skills, but also the reading experience of your followers. Think of them as Shadowfax for Gandalf the white – carrying him over great distances in speed and being a good friend to him for years.
Did we mention they’re free?
1. Grammarly
No list of online editing tools would be complete without having Grammarly in it. You’ll find this tool in almost every such list, every professional computer, and most likely in every seasoned eBook writer or ghostwriter’s system.
Grammarly’s algorithms check your sentences thoroughly for four major categories:
- Correctness
- Clarity
- Engagement
- Delivery
There is also a plagiarism check that you can enable, but that is a paid feature.
What makes it a usefuleBook writing tool is the fact that it allows you to set goals according to your needs. For example, if you’re writing a fictional eBook, you can target the “general” audience. If you’re writing an educational eBook, choose “knowledgeable,” and so on. Here is a screenshot to show you some of the settings you can tweak;
Grammarly can fix over 250 English language errors and has an add-in that you can incorporate directly into your Microsoft Word application. Grammarly released the same add-in for Mac as in April 2020 so that no one gets left behind!
If you wish to purchase the premium subscription of Grammarly, it costs $29.95/month.
2. Read-Able
With Read-Able, it’s all about you and your target audience. First, it learns, then it implements. It basically evaluates your writing style and then rates your work based on its readability. It gives you a score along with highlighting areas with poor readability red, and average in yellow.
Some areas where Read-Able can help you include:
- Blogs/articles
- Technical writing
- Academic writing
- eBooks
- Introductions
- Job descriptions
- Emails
- Video scripts
- Social media posts, and so much more.
Each of these has a different requirement in terms of how you should structure your sentences, especially eBooks, and that is exactly what this free tool for writing eBooks helps you achieve. What’s more, it’s free to use. In the free version, you can get spell-checks and the all-time useful readability score.
Moreover, you can go pro for as little as $4 and get access to full readability reports, team management and results sharing capabilities.
3. PlagTracker
Available in 6 different languages, PlagTracker is the best free plagiarism checker that you can get. Plagiarism, be it in a business paper, blog, or an eBook is unacceptable. That is where Plagtracker.com comes into play, scanning your eBook from the working title to conclusion against content on the web.
And that’s not the end of it. If PlagTracker finds plagiarism in your file, it suggests rewrites in order to ensure that they are unique.
4. Dragon Dictation
For those of you who’re looking to publish an eBook but don’t want to write, you have two options;
- eBook Ghostwriting services
- Dragon dictation
The software acts like your personal typewriter, jotting everything down as you speak into your phone’s microphone. This way, you can dictate your eBook and only touch the document for editing once you’re done.
This saves a lot of time and effort on your part. After all, how hard is it to speak into a phone?
The latest versions can also support voice commands, but that one isn’t free, nor is it particularly useful for an eBook writer. Instead, you can find older versions online free of cost and start ‘writing’ an eBook with your voice!
5. Verbix
For those of you looking for free tools for eBook writing, Verbix is yet another great eBook writing tool – especially for those who aren’t as strong at grammar. It works with English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, and Latin verb conjugations, so that you get to go crazy with you eBook.
There is no premium account – instead you get access to all the available features for free. There is an option to donate, but it’s up to you whether you want to contribute or not.
6. Hemingway App
Fun fact: addressing the mobile application, it’s not “the Hemingway App” but it’s “the Hemingway App app.” Weird, isn’t it?
Jokes aside, Hemingway App itself is a wonderful web-based eBook writing tool for those of you looking to improve their eBooks. It’s colorful, it’s helpful, it’s effective, and most importantly, it’s free.
It contains everything we’ve listed above in other apps and more, with one more thing that comes with the paid version – convenience.
It helps writers tackle the nuances of English language, helping you break down complex sentences, overused words, prepositions, and everything in between. Its readability score gives you a rough idea of how readable your content is.
For example, a readability score of 5 means that your content can be read and understood by the average fifth grader. It highlights the wordy sentences in yellow and highlights in red those sentences you fear might be difficult to understand.
You also get recommendations on how to improve the structure and flow of your content, which is a big plus. All that, and you don’t have to pay a single cent! That changes, however, if you’re looking for the desktop app and plagiarism checker.
7. Pro Writing Aid
Okay, this one is a must-have for fiction writers. It is considered to be an industry-standardeBook editing and writing tool. Pro Writing Aid is used by eBook and printed book publishers alike, not to mention eBook ghostwriters, so you’d fare off pretty well with it.
You don’t have to buy it, either. The text editing software is available in web-form for free. You can edit up to 500 words at a time with their free web tool. It might be a grind, but you can get it to work regardless. The text is checked for the following:
- Plagiarism
- Vague or abstract words
- Alliteration analysis
- Typos
- Grammatical errors
- Flow
- Stylish issues
The best bit, apart from it being free, is that Pro Writing Aid is rather vocal about any mistakes, making sure you learn along the way. The tool has seen many an eBook, both in free and paid versions.
The premium versions start at $70 a year (less than 6 dollars a month), so it is definitely a steal and worth it, considering how well an eBook sells.
8. One Look Reverse Dictionary
As a writer you must have faced this scenario quite often when there’s a word at the tip of your tongue (fingers, in this case), but you just can’t remember it. You know what it means but can’t put your finger on it. Know what we mean?
Well, the next time you’re facing such a conundrum, try the One Look Reverse Dictionary. It works as a ‘reverse’ thesaurus. You simply type in the definition or a rough abstract in your mind and this eBook writing tool will list down 100 matching words for you. You can choose whichever one resembles the word you’re looking for and sort accordingly. Within a few clicks, you’ll find the word you’re looking for.
This tool is free and by the looks of it, will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Writing itself is a long and rather difficult process, but when combined with an eBook, it becomes even more difficult. There are easier ways to complete your eBook and get published such as ghost book writing services or by using any of the eBook writing tools we mentioned above.
It will take some time, but you will eventually get the hang of it. And let us tell you this from experience, the grind is well-worth the fruits in the end!
If you think we’ve missed out any important free tool or if you simply want to share your thoughts, let us know down in the comments. We’ll be waiting to hear from you!
A Sr. Editor at Ghost eBook Writers, a professional writing agency that provides quality eBook proofreading, editing, and writing services to a wide range of businesses. They have a team of experts who provide well-researched and written content for businesses.