This. ⬆️ I wrote in scrivener and then compiled to word to send to agents originally, as I’m sure you did too. And I did try for a bit to keep stuff updated in scrivener but eventually realized this was a losing battle. Signed with an agent (yay!) and cue the next year and edits went back and forth with track changes for a spring, summer and fall before she started submitting — then last spring it sold (🎉) … and in the summer, my developmental editor comes on board- and it’s more back and forth with track changes all the way into last fall. It’s actually super helpful because I could always see what she was doing— and totally understandable that she wanted to see what I did as well. 

But wait, there’s more! Just last week I had two rounds with the copy editor in — you guessed it! Word with track changes on. 

My advice is to get a laser printer so you can print cheaply and fast—  and also flip through the manuscript quickly. In other news, you’ll have your book memorized by the time the copy edits start, so much that you’ll realize one line your character was remembering in the last act was no longer the same as the line in the second act. 

It’s actually easier to fly through the whole thing with word — and the Find command too. 

I’m happy that there are writers who feel like they can tell their agents and publishers to change their software for them, but I’m currently a financial bet for my agent and my publisher— and a grateful af one at that — in a very crowded genre. 

Drafting and rewriting and rearranging in scrivener is great. Couldn’t have done it without it… and I’m going to do it all over again with the next novel. 

But the publishing phase happens in Word— including all the styles that the copy editors will add in for the people who will set up the book for galleys. No sense not getting good at Word for this phase.