The Best Amazon Storywriter Alternatives for Screenwriters
Amazon Storywriter, a brainchild of Amazon Studios, offered a compelling screenwriting experience with features like auto-formatting, offline writing, and direct submission to Amazon Studios. While it provided unlimited cloud storage and various import/export options (PDF, FDX, Fountain), many writers seek out different tools for their unique creative workflows. Whether you're looking for more advanced organizational features, a different user interface, or simply a free/open-source option, there are numerous powerful Amazon Storywriter alternative applications available to help you craft your next masterpiece.
Top Amazon Storywriter Alternatives
Finding the perfect screenwriting software can significantly impact your productivity and creative flow. Here are some of the best alternatives to Amazon Storywriter, each offering a distinct set of features and benefits for writers of all stripes.
Scrivener
Scrivener is a comprehensive writing tool that excels at managing large, complex documents, making it an excellent Amazon Storywriter alternative for novelists, screenwriters, and researchers alike. Available as a freemium product for Mac, Windows, iPhone, and iPad (with PlayOnLinux/Wine support), it acts as a digital corkboard, ring-binder, and scrapbook all in one. Its features like Corkboard, Character database, Scene Management, Outliner, and the ability to split files into sections provide unparalleled organizational power, surpassing Amazon Storywriter's more basic structure. It also offers distraction-free writing and robust export options, including PDF and ePub.
Manuskript
Manuskript is a powerful free and open-source Amazon Storywriter alternative available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It offers a suite of tools specifically designed for writers, including an outliner, character management, plot development, and a distraction-free editor. Its focus on detailed organization with features like tracking of characters, locations, and plots, along with a visual timeline and tree structure, provides a deeper level of pre-writing and organizational support than Amazon Storywriter. It also supports Markdown and can export to ePub and PDF.
Hemingway Editor
The Hemingway Editor, a commercial application for Mac, Windows, and Web, serves as an excellent Amazon Storywriter alternative for writers focused on refining their prose. While Amazon Storywriter handles formatting, Hemingway focuses on clarity and conciseness, highlighting common errors like wordy sentences, adverbs, and passive voice. Its distraction-free UI, automated proofreading, grammar check, and writing assistance features make it an invaluable tool for polishing your script, complementing any screenwriting software you use for initial drafting.
Gingko
Gingko is a unique freemium, web-based (SaaS) Amazon Storywriter alternative that allows users to organize ideas in a tree-like structure. This visual approach to document structure management, combined with collaborative writing and real-time collaboration features, makes it ideal for brainstorming and outlining complex narratives. While Amazon Storywriter focuses on linear scriptwriting, Gingko provides a more fluid and interconnected way to develop your story's ideas, supporting Markdown and export to LaTeX for diverse needs.
Quoll Writer
Quoll Writer is a free and open-source Amazon Storywriter alternative for Windows users, designed to help writers focus on their words with a clean and uncluttered interface. It offers a rich set of features including a distraction-free writing environment, an outliner, story management, and writing assistance. Unlike Amazon Storywriter's cloud focus, Quoll Writer is a desktop application, providing a local, robust tool for organizing and developing your narratives, complete with export options to ePub and PDF.
KIT Scenarist
KIT Scenarist is a robust free and open-source Amazon Storywriter alternative for desktops (Mac, Windows, Linux), with commercial options available on mobile (Android, iPhone, iPad, Android Tablet). It functions as a fully-featured studio for screenwriters, offering auto-formatting similar to Amazon Storywriter but with the added benefits of collaborative writing, real-time collaboration, and multiple language support. This makes it a strong contender for teams or writers needing more flexible sharing and co-authoring capabilities.
Typely
Typely is a free, web-based Amazon Storywriter alternative that specializes in precise automated proofreading and writing assistance. While Amazon Storywriter provides formatting, Typely focuses on the quality of your prose, aiming to reduce false alarms often found in other proofreading tools. It's a valuable companion for any writer looking to refine their script's language, ensuring clarity and impact before submission.
Trelby
Trelby is a simple, fast, and elegantly laid out free and open-source Amazon Storywriter alternative for Windows and Linux. It focuses on making screenwriting straightforward by enforcing correct script format and being infinitely configurable. While Amazon Storywriter offered cloud storage and direct submission, Trelby prioritizes a customizable, WYSIWYG editor for efficient local script creation, making it a solid choice for writers who prefer a lean and focused tool.
Celtx
Celtx is a freemium Amazon Storywriter alternative available across various platforms including Mac, Web, Android, iPhone, Android Tablet, and iPad. Beyond just screenwriting, Celtx offers a full pre-production studio with features like visual storyboarding, production scheduling, and real-time collaboration. While Amazon Storywriter's strength was writing and submission, Celtx expands into the broader filmmaking process, making it ideal for those who need an integrated solution for their entire production workflow.
JotterPad
JotterPad is a freemium Amazon Storywriter alternative designed specifically for creative writers, available on Android, Chrome OS, and Android Tablet. It's a plain text editor that prides itself on being distraction-free, perfect for writing books, novels, and lyrics. While Amazon Storywriter focused on screenwriting format, JotterPad provides a minimalist yet powerful environment for pure writing, with features like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Onedrive integration for secure cloud storage, making it a great mobile-first option for focused drafting.
Each of these alternatives offers unique strengths, from comprehensive project management and advanced organizational tools to distraction-free environments and robust collaborative features. Consider your specific needs—whether it's detailed outlining, collaborative writing, or simply a powerful text editor—to choose the best Amazon Storywriter alternative for your screenwriting journey.