Why does writing have to be so hard? Not the actual “thinking up the words part”, but the “motivate yourself and follow through” part. 
Because it is, by its nature, a solitary and self sufficient activity, you have to be able to push yourself to complete each task. It doesn't matter if you are writing a novel, a blog post, or a technical manual.
Having a few good tools to use can make all the difference in the world. These ten writing tools are probably the best I have personally found. They are sure to blow your creative mind.
1. SERPstat
SERPstat is a keyword research tool on steroids. Apart from keyword suggestions expanding your core term, the tool has a wealth of other helpful features keeping you inspired and your content optimized and ranked high:
- Cluster research: Various words that have the same URLs ranked in top 20. The more URLs the words have in common, the closer the cluster terms are. This is a great keyword discovery feature!
- Questions: Find lots of questions containing your keyword people type in the search box. Most of these questions will look like an article idea to you!
- Missing keywords: Find keywords many of your competitors are ranking but you are not. Some of these will be new content ideas, others will prompt you to go back and optimize your old content
This is one of the most powerful content marketing and writing tools I am aware of.
2. Hemingway
The first step to writing anything is just to sit down, shut up, and write. Editing a you go along can mean adding a ton of time to the process, and possibly weakening the results.
“Write drunk, edit sober” was Ernest Hemingway's motto, and while that isn't exactly what is required with this app, it does follow the general idea. You write first, then wait until you are done to edit. It even provides you with tips on how to better form sentences for readability.
Recommended Reading:Â How to Find Your Writing Voice
3. Reedsy
Reedsy is technically a marketplace, where you can find professionals ready to help you with your book (editors, publishing experts, etc). But I want to point out their awesome Book Editor tool.
This handy feature gives you a powerful editing application that includes professional looking typeset and formatting. When you are done, you can export the file in a ready-to-publish digital format. It is awesome for people who want to self-publish online.
4. Squibler
Squibler promises to help you “Write & Publish Your Book in 30 Days. Store all your ideas without ever losing them, then filter by tags. Store all your chapters, scenes, and notes safely. Then, drag and drop them into the right place.” Keep your notes and outlines organized with this innovative tool.
5. ProWritingAid
Improve your writing, including blog posts, by getting helpful advice based on what you have so far. Eliminate errors in grammar and syntax, catch run on sentence and overused words, and receive suggestions on how to improve the overall structure.
ProWritingAid can be used in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, the ProWritingAid Chrome Extension, or integrated into other apps using API. You need the pro version for using it in Word or Google, but it is only $40 a year. And for $45 a year you also get a plagiarism checker.
6. Duplicate Content Checks
Speaking of plagiarism, you'll be surprised how many times your content has been copied without you getting any credit. Have your articles checked for plagiarism using this handy tool to make sure your blog posts are not being copied without permission.
7. Jasper
Artificial intelligence makes it fast & easy to create content for your blog, social media, website, and more! Watch this short demo of using Jasper template.
8. Grammar Monster
This site might not seem much, but it is actually a great little resource. Improve your grammar through learning. Check out their tip of the day. Take tests to see where you stand since passing High School English. Get a list of easily confused words. (airplane and aeroplane, sympathy and empathy, etc).
They also have a link to Grammarly, which will check your grammar and catch up to ten times more mistakes than you would on your own. In spite of it being a pretty simplistic page, especially in comparison to some of the other items on this list, this one is probably my personal favorite. I use both Grammar Monster and Grammarly all the time.
9. Ulysses
Have a lot of writing projects? If you are a blogger, the answer to that is probably a resounding “YES! Please save me!” Ulysses is a simple – but effective – dashboard that puts all of your writing projects in one place.
You can access all of those projects from the app, and work on it from your iPhone, iPad or Mac. It is clean, easy to use, and designed to keep you focused without distractions. As a writer, I love this dashboard. Especially as I am your classic “jump from piece to piece” style of author who can't just work on one thing at once.
10. Polish My Writing
Is your writing the best it can be? Probably not, none of us get it write on the first, second, third, or even fourth try. Polish My Writing will take your text and make suggestions to how you can improve it.
It catches spelling and grammar mistakes, gives tips on better word choices, catches word overuse, and offers advice on better formatting choices that could improve readability. Also, it is free. Who doesn't love that?
If you have a tool that you feel should go on this list, let us know in the comments!
Ann,
Thanks for these resources. I thought I knew all the writing tools, but 6 out of 10 I had never heard about.
Do you feel like ProWritingAid is as good as Grammarly? Thanks in advance.
Hi Justin, I think ProWritingAid is more powerful in terms of syntax but I use both! ProWritingAid is best for Google Docs and I use them for collaboration a lot!
Are these tools support other languages? Or only English?
Hi Sandri, I am only aware of the English versions, so many of them may have options..
Thanks for this list. I’m definitely checking Reedsy. I would also add the Proofreading plug-in for WordPress. I forget the exact name, but do a search for it. That plug-in is helpful for catching misspelled words, double words, awkward phrasing, etc.
Thanks, Bakari! I’ll check those out!
Ann, thanks for mentioning us! Very proud to see Blogo here! 😀
Thanks for stopping by to comment, Amure!
Thank you for this list! I have been blogging for close to two years now, and must admit I’ve never thought about seeking support for my text writing. Very useful, especially since English is not my native language 🙂
Again, thanks for sharing!
Warm regards,
Tieme
I’m using Reedsy and I highly recommend it. I didn’t know about Grammar Monster. I may try it the future. Thanks for sharing this article 😉
Thanks for Reedsy feedback! I love it too!
I have been using tools like GrammarLink, CopyScape etc. It was good using them. However, I wanted to give shots to some new stuff for my writings. I think the tools you have listed here would be best picks for me. Thanks for the update.
Thanks for giving my list a try, Rocky!
Great recommendations ! If you’re writing shorter articles or papers, i would recommend steller to add some visual aspects and publish where your audience will read it.
Cool tools Ann, I have not heard of many of these and SerpStat certainly got my attention for the SEO goodness it delivers. Have you had much chance to play with it? is there a free option and how good is the data (where does it come from? any ideas KWP?)
great roundup of tools
ashley
Hello Ann,
The tools you mentioned are very useful. I especially liked Duplicate Content Tool. It checks plagiarism and can notify us how many times our content has been copied without credits. ProWriting Aid also seems good. Also, I was not aware of most of the tools you mentioned. Thanks for sharing the list.
Hey Ann,
The list contains many powerful tools but I haven’t had experience with a couple of them. I am planning to self-publish a book and Reedsy’s book editor looks like an interesting option.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ann,
Thanks for wonderful tools. It seems that Ulysses is for Apple Users. Can you recommend some alternate tool for windows?
Hi Ann,
Some awesome tools here. ProWritingAid seems to be a writer’s best friend. Would like to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.
Very usefull tools Ann, I use SERPstat and Duplicate Content Tool too 🙂
But unfortunately, so many bloggers now are only utilizing spin tool to fill their content for AdSense…
Maybe they should read your article Ann
Thanks btw
Hi Ann. It is a nice article and helpful. I am using grammar monster to learn English. It is very easy to learn here. Through its grammar test i can find out my mistakes and solve them.
Hey Ann,
It’s true that blog-style writing tends to be more conversational and loose, the traditional rules of grammar, spelling and readability are still as in important in our blog posts as they are if we were writing our Master’s dissertation. It is one tool I could not live without, it’s like having a built in writing editor for us to work. The best part about Grammarly is that it is dead simple to use, if we can copy & paste, we can use it and our grammar nerd readers will thank you for it.
It has a Chrome plugin that we can download and use for free. Once we’ve downloaded it, it automatically checks our work when we are writing in WordPress, Facebook, Gmail and just about anywhere we write on the web. Eventually, thanks for exploring much information regarding significant topic.
With best regards,
Amar kumar
Hey Ann,
Thank you for this helpful post.
As my native language isn’t English I have a lot of work for learning it better.
I already tried Grammar Monster (it helps me write this comment), and I will reread this post and try more.
Thank you for your time and great post.