BookFunnel

 

BookFunnel is a paid app for indie authors to distribute e-books, e-audiobooks, advanced reader copies, and reader magnets. Through their webpage, authors can send digital material to their readers directly.

BookFunnel makes distribution easy. Readers are directed to a landing page to download free books. Authors can use the site as a place to distribute free materials. Reader magnets, free first in series, beta copies, and ARCs can get to readers quickly with minimal hassle.

Writers wear so many hats. Creating links to your free materials simplifies many tasks.

BookFunnel helps maintain your copyright and protects readers’ email privacy at the same time. No one can get the files from the site without the link. Books are distributed as either mobi, epub, or pdf. Authors can choose if they want a pdf or not. Email addresses are not saved unless permissions are given.

The app will monitor your books and give stats on the number of downloads. The site will also connect you to group promotions, book swaps, codes, and ways to sell your stories using Book Funnel as your distributor.

Pricing for BookFunnel falls into three categories. I’ll cover the annual costs. You can pay monthly if you choose. At the bottom tier for $20 a year, authors can use one pen name, have 500 downloads a month, unlimited book storage, custom landing pages, and participate in group promotions. For $100 a year, authors can maintain two pen names and 5000 downloads a month. Additionally, they can collect emails, have secure ARC deliveries, downloadable gift codes, and distribute short MP3 audio files. For an additional $50, authors can also have direct integration of mailing lists (like from Mailchimp or MailerLite). With the $250 a year plan gives authors three pen names, and unlimited downloads, with the additional services of automatic integration of three mailing lists and priority support.

If you aren’t satisfied with the service, cancel for a full refund up to thirty days after enrolling.

If you’re ready to build your newsletter, secure beta readers, or sell indie books from your site, check out BookFunnel.

 

 

 

Dabble for Authors

 

When I first opened this app, I saw its ad slogan and scoffed. It totes itself to be “Like Scrivener, without the learning curve.” Scrivener’s curve is huge. It’s a fact. I use it for all my drafting and still don’t know what half the stuff is. So “no learning curve” sounds lovely. And I can tell you, that ad line is so accurate.

I love Scrivener, but Dabble has all I require without all the extra fuss. If you are just starting with a writing app, I recommend using Dabble first. It’s simple, easy, and has a few features Scrivener does not.

Both apps have an outline on the left side. It has binders, folders, and text files listed. It’s easily moveable on both, with added sections if needed. Wonderful. For this almost fifty-year-old writer, here’s the bonus. Dabble’s screen text is larger and much easier to read. If you’re using the app online, you can zoom in until the screen is huge. It’s a small but necessary thing because I do not want to wear my glasses.

I also love that adding new material seems faster and simpler. There is no giant list (of tiny text). A click on the plus sign gives the writer a list of things to add immediately, including a new book, additional notes, files, and plot points. How ever your brain works, you can add what you need with ease. As long as you’re fine with the product not being as robust as Scrivener, Dabble is a great way to write your novels.

Let’s talk about plotting. By now, I’m sure you’ve all read Romancing the Beats by Gwen Hayes. That book has everything a romance author needs for their novel. If you’re writing just fiction, it can help with your romantic arc. There are many other plotting books and author suggestions for story arcs. Why not take your favorite and throw them into the Plot section? Save your document as Beats or something. Then refer to it as you write. Templates are not yet available on Dabble as they are on Scrivener. But that doesn’t mean you can create one for reference.

Subscription versus paid model. Here is have to say, I prefer a one-time payment method. This limits updates and makes bugs a little hard to fix. But I’m old and used to paying one time for software. The lowest price for Dabble is almost $100 a year. Scrivener costs $50 to use forever, plus the ability to put it on multiple devices. I really like Dabble, like, REALLY like it. But I’ve already paid for Scrivener and the upgrade to version 3.1.

Authors need to take care with subscriptions as they can add up. Get a premium graphic program, a writing app, and a mailing service, and you could pay up to $500 a year. I don’t make that much! Dabble has a coupon if you participate in National Novel Writing Month (which I encourage for everyone). You can get 20% straight off the bat or 50% if you win. Not a bad deal.

So Dabble… Yes, I want it. It’s wonderful and easy, but I already spent the money. You might find that it’s worth every penny.

 

 

 

How To Dabble

 

Dabble is a basic word processing app for fiction writing. To start, either go to the website https://www.dabblewriter.com/ or download it from the app store.

Once loaded, log in with a simple email and password. You’re ready to go.

The Home screen is a simple splash screen with all your projects listed. Since we’re just starting, this is blank. Click plus sign to create a new novel. The screen opens to the word processing page. On the left is a list of menus. The middle has the document for typing. On the right is more workspace for things like comments. More on that later.

Let’s start on the left. Skip down a few options to MANUSCRIPT. The app starts users off with a title page, chapter one, and the first scene. This section is the actual text of the novel that will be compiled when you finish. Click on the file labeled Untitled Book to give your story a title and add your author name. I’m stressing to do this first, as the app will file your story under this name. If you forget to title it, you might end up with numerous untitled books. Not great for organization.

Now click on the Once Upon A Time icon or the Chapter icon. Here you can begin crafting your novel. You will notice that there aren’t any ribbons, menus, or toolbars with formatting options on this screen. These are located on the left menu. Click Project Setting. This menu will let you set the name, subtitle, and author. If you’ve chosen a subscription level with co-authors, enter that information here. Scroll down to set Font and Size. Literary, Romance, Thriller, and Screenplay set both fonts and paragraph styles in one step. Preview the changes below the options. Be sure to hit Save Formatting when finished.

Back on the middle page section, type away at your will. As you type, the side panels disappear, leaving only the text page. This is Focused Mode. Click the mouse or hit the Esc key to exit. You can immediately enter this mode by clicking the eye icon at the bottom of the screen.

What about other formatting options? Highlight the text you want to change, and a pop-up menu will appear over the text. The options include bold, italic, strike-through, and highlight. It also allows you to make a comment which will appear on the right side. The middle double quote will automatically put your text into an indented quote-style paragraph. Handy for song lyrics, research papers, and the like. The last option that looks like a dog-eared square will place a sticky note over the text. Type in it to give yourself a comment that way. You can drag the colored square anywhere on the MANUSCRIPT page.

Yes, there are fewer options than other writing apps, but Dabble focuses on writing.

At the start of the last paragraph, you may notice a faded plus sign in a circle. This handy option will let you split a scene or a chapter right there. No need to add more text on the left menu.

If you need to add more text, click on the three dots next to each manuscript piece. MANUSCRIPT will allow you to create a new book. The title page will add another part or chapter. The chapter page will add a new scene. Most options will allow the user to rename or export the file.

Next on the left-side menu is the PLOT section. Here you can use index-sized cards to outline the novel. If you’re a pantser, you can synthesize your novel into chunks to use for a synopsis or scan for story holes. Dabble uses the terms plot point and plot grid for organizing your information. You can make a specific grid for your current novel or a generic to use with all your novels.

Click on PLOT for your title on the left menu. You will see a series of boxes. If you have already written some text, it will appear condensed in these boxes. Click on a card to add a summary of a scene or a plot point. Missed a scene? Easily fixed. Hover at the bottom of the list to see a large plus sign to add another scene. Click on the icon between cards that looks like a film strip. This will add a line to your book, and you can add a new scene.

Things out of order? No problem. Rearranging scenes is simple with drop and drag. Click on the scene or plot point (in either the MANUSCRIPT or PLOT section) and drag the piece where you need it to be, even if it’s the trash.

Last on the left is STORY NOTES. Here are places to create the novel’s bible. These text sections are not included in the larger manuscript. But you can add character sketches, setting descriptions, and other world-building.

Phew… on to the right side.

There are a few interesting features on the right side of the Dabble screen. Click on the MANUSCRIPT section on the left first to see the right-side menu. The first is Goals and Stats. Immediately clicking on this shows how many times in the last thirty days you’ve typed with Dabble. Hovering your mouse over the blue ticks will show how many words you wrote that day. Click on the gear to customize your goal. Set a place where new words will be counted from, choose a word count number, and a deadline. You can also click on the second tab to give yourself days off.

Next on the right is Notes. Click here to add text notes for your scenes or novels. After that is Comment History. This will show all comments and the date entered. (Remember, you can add comments after highlighting text.) The next icon allows you to hide comments. The eye icon here will turn on and off spelling, grammar, and sticky notes.

There are more options around the page. On the bottom, you can zoom, turn on Focus Mode, and hide the side panels. There’s a small cloud at the top to show your data is syncing if you are online with the app.

The person icon at the top will allow you to sign in and out, change your profile, and billing. It also has a NaNoWriMo sync option. This feature will allow writers to sync their word count with the NaNoWriMo website and update as they go. You must be registered for NaNo and link the two websites through your logins. The option works for Camp, not just November.

And that’s how you Dabble.

Next week, we will see how authors can use this app to their best advantage.

 

Dabble

 

Dabble is a novel drafting app. You can either download the app to a desktop or use their website to write. It works on both PC and apple browsers and computers. Online, you can save in the cloud. Their system can accommodate even the most prolific writer with two terabytes of space. The app contains various writing tools live for writers to use. It also has an option to request features that are not yet included.

The writing screen looks similar to Scrivener, with folders on the left and tools on the right. The novels have plots, scenes, characters, notes, and world-building. A blank page sits in the center, ready for all the words. Files can be exported to Word and text. The app can keep track of word counts and goals. It also has a sync with NaNoWriMo, handy as it is Camp NaNo time.

Writers can try out Dabble for a free two-week trial. A Basic subscription for $10 a month will earn you unlimited manuscripts, cloud backup, sync with multiple devices, goals, stats, and spell-check. A $15 a month Standard subscription adds plot grids, story notes, sticky notes, and comments. (So many notes.) For $20 a month at the Premium level, you get all the above with co-author options, advanced grammar and style checks, and enhanced prioritized support. Each level receives a 20% discount if you subscribe for the entire year. Students and teachers can receive a 30% discount. Check out the details on the website. There is also a lifetime subscription for a one-time payment of $549.

Next week, we’ll learn how to use this writing app.