Given that the iOS version isn’t ready for public consumption, and also that I have a novel ready for editing, it would be great if anyone would share their success (and failure) stories from editing on a tablet?
What I mean is that I want to export the book to a digital format and read it on the tablet while making light edits, making notes, and possibly adding questions at the end of each chapter I would like to ask alpha readers to answer. Anything that meets this criteria (epub in Kindle, DOCX in Word for iOS, PDF in whatever) is great. What worked, the issues you had, and also what didn’t work.
To begin, I found DOCX in iOS Word was hard to read when I tested this a few months ago. I will play with some settings and think it can work, but I’m not certain yet. Also, Kindle was nice for notes, but then accessing them and such wasn’t very friendly. Finally, I purchased the Documents To Go app and have worked with it. I don’t have a good recollection, as it has been a few months, but the PDF notation seemed good if not great.
I compile my projects-to-be-edited to ePub then upload them to my iPad where I read and annotate them with iBooks. When that round of revisions is complete I export the annotations to email and pick up the notes on my desktop where I integrate the suggestions, amendments, extensions, deletions, changes, etc into my Scrivener master copy. Repeat until staisfied.
Of course once the iOS version of Scrivener is released my workflow will change.
I like proof-reading and editing in PDF. I used to use GoodReader to do this, but now use Documents by Readdle. While Documents can edit RTF well (and, I think, Word documents – I simply haven’t tried) I really like its PDF capabilities. With a stylus in hand, it’s almost like editing a paper version.
Getting PDFs into Documents is easy: it syncs with multiple cloud services including Dropbox, iCloud Drive and Cubby (via webDAV).
As I have noted elsewhere, I have also started to use Documents to edit live Scrivener projects using Scrivener’s folder sync feature.
I have the same workflow as reepicheep, with epub format and iBooks. I tested pdf, didn’t like it. But I don’t email the annotations. When I am back at the Mac I put my iPad beside it and go through the document again, on Mac-Scrivener and iPad-iBooks in parallell.
If I get more general ideas about the text, when reading on the iPad, I open the Drafts app, jot down my thoughts, and send it to the Scrivener Scratch Pad.
I have my iPad beside me too when I incorporate my revisions as the version on there might be out of synch with the Scrivener version. The reason I email the annotations is that I use them as you would use Drafts but I copy and paste the new text from the email to Scrivener. Occasionally I use Textilus for notes when the project I’m working on isn’t mature enough for me to compile an ebook version of it.
When finally we have Scrivener for iOS available the workflow will change. Though I might still compile to ePub format for revision. The difference in presentations has more than once alerted me to issues with a Scrivener document.
Thanks everyone, great insights. I’m going to tinker now that I have some free time. I agree the iOS version of Scriv will change things, though I am interested in something that lets me add annotations and I wonder if it will. Overall, I still see Scriv as a writing/org tool and still do brainstorming and such in other tools. That may change.
I really need to find a workflow that allows me to get into deep processing. I’m ready to prep my novel for an alpha read and want to do a quick edit to clean things up, while also registering questions I would like alpha readers to answer. That may require two tools or perhaps just a notepad to write down questions as they come to me.
Once I find a workflow, I may build some tutorials to share. Thanks again.
Wouldn’t Inline Annotations give you that? Format > Inline Annotation. You also have to remember to include them when you compile for your alpha readers. Check that Compile > Footnotes > Comments > Remove inline annotations is not selected.