David Sparks (a genial lawyer) has written a book about using Macs in a work environment that prominently features Scrivener’s place in his writing work flow. It’s called Mac at Work and is available in various formats including iPads, Kindles, and paperback. The book is 368 pages long and covers almost every imaginable aspect of using Macs in a work environment or, indeed, any environment where you need to get work done. Here’s the Amazon US link:
As I write this, all 8 reviewers have given the book a five-star rating.
The author is one of the two hosts for the Mac Power Users podcast, so you can hear him describe the process of writing the book and getting it published through Wiley in this podcast:
For authors-to-be the podcast is a good description of how a first-time author works with the editors of a major publisher. If you listen to podcasts, Mac Power Users is well worth including in your must-hear list. Here’s the iTunes webpage link for the podcast.
Here’s an illustration of the practical, time-saving advice he gives:
From the contents and how he runs his podcast, I’d say that, in general, in the book he takes up a topic and discusses the best software for that area. Under outlining, for instance, he discusses OmniOutliner, Circus Ponies Notebook, Evernote, MindNode Pro, Notational Velocity, and the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen. Under word processing, he discusses Word, Pages, Scrivener (CHEERS!) and web-based writing tools.
I’ll probably pick up a copy for myself when I get out from under my current glut of reading. Even a couple of hours saved should repay the cost.
At the moment, Amazon US is giving a quite substantial 39% discount and it is up to 10 reviews, all five-star. Either he’s got a lot of friends, his mom is faking a lot of identities, or it really is good.
The key reason not to buy? Most of the book’s benefits come from buying software he suggests. If your budget is tight, you might want to take a pass on this book. If I’d been one of his editors, I’d have insisted that every chapter recommend at least on free or very cheap application. He’s not devoid of interest in that area. In his podcast, he does stress that PDF Pen Pro has most of the features of Acrobat Pro for far less money. (I agree.) But he’s working with a lawyer’s budget and not that of an aspiring author There are alternatives, for instance to pricey OmniGraffle. But he devotes six pages to discussing it and only three to “other graphics software.”
Thanks for bringing this to everyone’s attention. I knew Scrivener was getting a mention in there - David has been an enthusiastic user of Scrivener for a long time - but I didn’t know it was complete and out there already. I’ll have to take a look.