• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Twitter
  • FaceBook
  • RSS Feed
  • Get Published
  • Book Proposals
  • Book Business
  • Writing Craft
    • Conferences
    • Copyright
    • Craft
    • Creativity
    • Grammar
  • Fun Fridays
Home » Technology

Technology

A Scrivener Flunky Weighs In – Guest Post

By Guest Bloggeron September 30, 2024
Share
Tweet
11

A Guest Post by Deborah Raney

Deborah Raney’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Thirty years, forty-plus books, and numerous awards later, she’s still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. A RITA and ACFW Carol Award winner and three-time Christy Award finalist, Deb is represented by our agency.  She is a Missouri transplant, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas. They love road trips, Friday garage sale dates, time with their family, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

I, Steve, have had the privilege of working with Deborah as her agent for more than twenty years. Time flies when you are having fun! This photo was taken of us at the 2024 ACFW Gala where she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. (We didn’t intentionally color coordinate, but isn’t it great that it happened?!) Visit her on the Web at www.deborahraney.com.

_______________

I’m probably not the best spokesperson for Scrivener, the popular novel-writing software program from Literature and Latte, because I certainly don’t use Scrivener to its maximum capabilities. I don’t even actually write my novel within the Scrivener program. I still use Pages––Mac’s version of Word––to write the manuscript, although I do copy the manuscript into the program once I have a final version, just to keep my project all in one place.

I also don’t know how to use Scrivener for formatting e-books. My husband does that for me with a program called Vellum. So I’m truly not an expert on Scrivener. I may never be. Yet, I do love the software enough that I paid good money for a tutorial and have taken several classes trying to learn more about the program.

Despite my lack of expertise with Scrivener, I am an enthusiastic fan of the software; and I can testify that it is a great program, even for those who haven’t yet figured out all the bells and whistles Scrivener has to offer.

I found the program very user-friendly and intuitive right out of the “box” (it’s actually downloaded from the Internet, so no box necessary). Here are some of the ways I’ve used Scrivener’s basic features:

• To organize my material
I find Scrivener to be a great way to collect all the various elements for my novel—images, research notes and resources, deadline and contract info, etc.—under one “roof.”

• To collect research links
It is incredibly handy to have all my research URLs/links and other research documents, interviews, and photos in one location. I especially like the way Scrivener serves as a browser window so links can be opened right within the program, without having to open another browser and risk going down a rabbit trail.

• To create a virtual bulletin board
Scrivener is great for “tacking” photos of characters and settings on a virtual bulletin board. I can also post virtual 3×5 cards with lists of my characters’ physical descriptions, personality traits, or any other list I choose.

• To keep a timeline
It’s great to be able to use scene cards, a calendar, or other timeline of my choice to plot the events of my story in chronological order. This also makes it easy to switch events around on the timeline if necessary. [Note for those of you who know that I am an “intuitive writer”: by “plot the events,” I mean after I’ve already come up with said events by the seat of my pants. Ha!]

• For help coming up with character names
Scrivener has a name-generator feature that is not only fun, but helpful if I need a name with a certain ethnicity or specific initials, etc. This is especially helpful when I just need a quick “throwaway” name for a walk-on character. Scrivener’s Name Generator came up with 50 names (and you can ask for more!) after I gave it the parameters of “a female with the initials S.P. and a popular British surname.” The possibilities are endless!

All of the above are, I’m sure, only a fraction of what Scrivener has to offer writers, but those features alone are enough to make the program totally worthwhile for me. And totally worth the very reasonable price.

Below is a screen shot of one of my bulletin boards (click the picture to see it full screen):

AboveAllThingscorkboard

Leave a Comment
Category: Book Business, Guest Post, Technology, Writing CraftTag: Scrivener, Technology

What Do You Do When Your Technology Fails?

By Steve Laubeon March 25, 2024
Share
Tweet
26

Today, I tell the story of an author’s tragedy. We had a client who lost their entire manuscript the day of their deadline. Poof. It was gone. Their thumb drive malfunctioned too; it was empty. Because they had borrowed a laptop, the author didn’t know it was programmed to empty the trash each time it was rebooted. The author had moved the manuscript to the trash after emailing it to …

Read moreWhat Do You Do When Your Technology Fails?
Category: Book Business, Career, Technology, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Career, Technology, The Writing Life

J Is for Just-in-Time

By Steve Laubeon October 30, 2023
Share
Tweet
9

The economics of bookselling are complex and ever-changing. There is a method of inventory control called “Just-in-Time” (or JIT) that revolutionized both the retail and manufacturing industries. When I began as a bookseller, there was no such thing as computerized inventory, at least not in the Christian bookstore business. We used a method called “Stack ’em high and watch ’em fly.” Because “If …

Read moreJ Is for Just-in-Time
Category: Book Business, Marketing, Publishing A-ZTag: Book Business, Economics, Publishing A-Z, Technology

Do You Have a Backup Plan?

By Steve Laubeon May 11, 2020
Share
Tweet
34

by Steve Laube

The question is not if your hard drive will fail, it is a question of when. At least twice a year I have a client who has lost their hard drive to equipment failure. There was a recent story of an editor at Wired magazine who got hacked via a security hole in his Amazon and Apple accounts. He not only lost data, he lost all the digital pictures of his baby girl. He wrote the …

Read moreDo You Have a Backup Plan?
Category: Book Business, Book Business, TechnologyTag: Backup, Technology

How to Sound Great As a Podcast Guest

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on November 17, 2018
Share
Tweet
4

Are you scheduled to come on a podcast as a guest? If you want to be invited back, or appear on any other podcast interviews for that matter, you need to have good audio. Many authors make the mistake of using their laptop’s microphone and speakers. This will undermine your quality and scare away popular podcasts that expect good audio. The key to sounding great on a podcast is to have some …

Read moreHow to Sound Great As a Podcast Guest
Category: Podcast, TechnologyTag: podcasting, Technology

The Automatic Writer

By Bob Hostetleron August 15, 2018
Share
Tweet
29

My coffee maker is on a timer. My thermostat is programmed to different temperatures at night and by day. My computer screen even dims to a softer hue as the day progresses. I try to automate everything I can, believing that the fewer tasks I have to remember every day, the more I can focus and achieve. That may or may not be true, but I’m convinced that automation has helped me—and many of my …

Read moreThe Automatic Writer
Category: Social Media, Technology, The Writing Life, TrendsTag: Technology, The Writing Life, Time Management

Three Significant Announcements Regarding E-books and Audiobooks

By Steve Laubeon January 29, 2018
Share
Tweet
32

Last week there were three significant announcements from Apple, Google, and Walmart of interest to all authors. First the three bits of news and then a few observations. Apple Apple announced that their iBooks app is being renamed to simply Books. Accompanying it will be a complete redesign of the reading app, their store, and the addition of an audiobook tab to make it easier for users to access …

Read moreThree Significant Announcements Regarding E-books and Audiobooks
Category: Book Business, Book Sales, E-Books, Economics, News You Can Use, The Publishing Life, TrendsTag: Audio Books, Book Sales, ebooks, Technology

Attack of the Writing Robots

By Dan Balowon October 10, 2017
Share
Tweet
11

I have a number of personal friends and long-time acquaintances who are talented voice-over artists. They work in radio, television and narrate audio books. I frequently get together with three other guys who are all professional speakers and radio people. I sound like Elmer Fudd when I am around those guys. So, with this background, no wonder I am disturbed when I see the increased use of …

Read moreAttack of the Writing Robots
Category: TechnologyTag: Technology, Text-to-Speech

A Writer’s Top 6 Productivity Practices

By Bob Hostetleron August 30, 2017
Share
Tweet
33

I’ve met fifty book deadlines, never missing one (though I have renegotiated a few), and many more article deadlines. These days, as a writer, editor, and agent, I have even more tasks, schedules, and details to juggle than ever before. Happily, I’ve installed a handful of productivity practices that aid my feeble mind and fragile memory. Here are six that I find the most helpful: Working ahead …

Read moreA Writer’s Top 6 Productivity Practices
Category: Technology, The Writing LifeTag: Productivity, Technology, The Writing Life

Media Changes and The Writer

By Dan Balowon January 17, 2017
Share
Tweet
17

The other day, a copy of the new Yellow Pages and phone directory was delivered to our house.  As I picked it up off the front step, I was reminded it has been years since I even looked at one. The recycling container has it now. I suppose I will regret tossing it if I lose internet access for a long time, or if I need to level a wobbly table, but the fact a Yellow Pages edition is still produced …

Read moreMedia Changes and The Writer
Category: Book Business, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, TrendsTag: Book Business, Technology, The Publishing Life
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Next

Sidebar

Get Blog Updates

Enter your email address to get new blog updates delivered via email. You can unsubscribe at any time.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Grow as a Writer


Find Out More →

Popular Posts

Top Posts on Book Proposals
  • Hints for a Great Cover Letter
  • The Keys to a Great Book Proposal
  • What Steve Laube is Looking For
  • Book Proposals I’d Love to See – Tamela Hancock Murray
  • What I’m Looking for – Bob Hostetler
  • What I’m Looking for – Dan Balow
  • What I’m Looking for – Lynette Eason
  • What’s the Best Way to Submit My Self-Published Book?
  • What Is the Agent Doing While I Wait?
  • God Gave Me This Blog Post
Top Posts on The Business Side
  • When Your Book Becomes Personal
  • The Myth of the Unearned Advance
  • How Long Does it Take to Get Published?
  • What Are Average Book Sales?
  • Can You Plagiarize Yourself?
  • Never Burn a Bridge
  • Who Decides to Publish Your Book?
  • That Conference Appointment
  • Goodbye to Traditional Publishing?
  • Who Owns Whom in Publishing?
  • Ten Commandments for Working with Your Agent
  • Writers Beware! Protect Yourself
Top Series
  • Book Proposal Basics
  • Publishing A-Z
  • A Defense of Traditional Publishing
Top Posts on Rejection
  • The Slush Pile: Enter at Your Own Risk
  • Even the Best Get Rejected
  • Five Reasons Why You May Never Get Published
  • The Unhelpful Rejection Letter
  • Writers Learn to Wait

Blog Post Archives by Month

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 · The Steve Laube Agency · All Rights Reserved · Website by Stormhill Media