Looking to get more out of writing? Then you've come to the right place.
I'm Michael with WriterSanctuary.
It's my goal to share with you everything I've learned over the years about freelance writing, blogging, WordPress, and self-publishing. I've been a freelance writer since 2012 and published my first book in November of 2021. Over the years, I've accumulated a great deal of knowledge and hope I can help you find your own path as a writer.
From writing with content mills like Textbroker to self-publishing books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, I'll do what I can to help you succeed in your writing endeavors.
As a WordPress expert, I also dive into many aspects of operating a blog. Because every writer should have a professional website, I want yours to succeed.
@@thamisfit333 Well, Autocrit can help with ideas, but you're still the one writing. In that case, I wouldn't hold it against you. It's when people use generative AI to write is when my feathers get ruffled. 😁
@@WriterSanctuary yeah, I can completely concur with that……. Writing is a difficult craft to develop… so for somebody to jump the line like that using AI is just not cool with me at all
I use Scrivener. Have for years. I love it. I’ve noticed that the videos for Atticus ignore writing and concentrate on formatting. I’d like to know about setting up sections and chapters. I have a plot chart and a storyline path that gives me a solid base for reference. The outline in Scrivener allows for easy access to it all. The more I know about Atticus the less I like it.
@@Pluscelamemechose Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the writing part of Atticus. It is amazing for formatting, especially if you plan to print. But for writing the book, it's just north of wonky.
autocrit is looking for lines starting with the word "Chapter" plus the next 75 characters. you can open your doc in word and use the nav pane and paste "Chapter: " at the start of each H1 tag, include the space. start on the first H1 tag and type "Chapter: " at the beginning of the heading. highlight the "Chapter: " and then click the next H1 tag in the nav pane, then paste. should just be a sequence of click the next H1 > ctrl+v for the rest of the chapters. works in both the web and the desktop versions of word for me. shouldn't take more than a minute or two unless you have hundreds of chapters or something. maybe reedsy has export options that will include the "Chapter: " at the start? i don't know because i've never used Reedsy myself. hope that helps.
This is a six month old review, and it was pretty accurate back then. But. AutoCrit is constantly upgrading their platform and listens to their community. Many of the criticisms he has are no longer issues. Most notably, AutoCrit doesn't encourage formatting before you export for publishing and has a new publishing suite. So although you CAN format now (I think that is a change from when this review was done) they encourage you not to until you format for publishing. I'm a lifer. thet means that I paid once, and I never pay again. So it's way cheaper than any competition. I don't believe that it is $30 a month as another reviewer says $15, which was more in line with what I paid before I went lifer, but I don't know any more. It's been over a year, but I'd be surprised to find it is now $30 per month. As far as Ai, he is quite correct. The Ai is non-learning and does not put your work into the zeitgeist, it also sometimes is a bit odd on it's suggestions. Sometimes hilariously so, but mostly, it's like having a beta reader on call whenever you need it. I've learned from the filters as I've used them, and when I run the filters now, my score is much higher. I also use word 365 and my score for them is also much higher for straight grammar and spelling. Go AutoCrit. They are very responsive to their writers and are constantly upgrading, so much so that they have a 1 pm class every week to explain all the new stuff and take questions. There are tech's in on the class too. My advice would be this. Try the free version. If you are intrigued, try it for a month or so for the monthly rate, then decide if it's for you or not- if it is, go lifer and become an AutoCritter. You'll never pay again and it will be the absolutely cheapest platform available that is constantly being updated and is very responsive to suggestions.
I am just now starting to use Reedsy, but I have a second screen, so with the Planning Tab, I just right click and open in a new tab, so I can have the full Planning screen open on another window. Probably not something a lot of people can do based on working on a laptop or having limited space for multiple monitors, but figured I would toss that out there.
@@EricSexton Having a second monitor is a game changer, that is for sure. Best part is that most laptops nowadays let you use monitors and televisions as well. 🙂
THank you. That was my question on your video regarding how to add ads. This helped and I am referring to your previous video to learn this. This helped, although I am still wondering how to place ads on the "sidebar". In a block post let say I ahve the content block and nothing else but I want to add an ad on the side of the content. In Classic themes, I would assume there would be a sidebar widget and in block themes a separate group would be there. In case I dont have a separate placeholder block for the sidebar, can I still instruct this plugin to load ads on the side of the content block automatically? Edit: another situation I am unable to wrap my head around. I see many websites which have a wide ad between the header and the content. Now in block themes, this would be a header and the Content will be in a group/container. How would one place an ad between these two? Do i have to create a separate container to our the ad block there? But if I do that, on browsers where ad blocks are installed wouldn't it leave a wide blank space instead of bringing the header and content/body closer as seen on classic themes? Sorry if these are a lot of noob questions.
@@Whatreally123 You are very welcome. Glad I could help. You would need to put the block in the content sidebar (widget area) if your theme supports them. There should be page templates in the Full Site Editor for content that you can edit. I'll see if I can find a block theme that has one and upload a quick video for that.
@@Fixingtodraw Ah...unless you're talking about comparing myself to others. The trick is to take the information with a grain of salt and be realistic with your capabilities. 😉
The idea is not to try to write like someone else, but if you see that you do, or if you want to see how you stack up against a professional writer, it can compare your pacing or your sentence length, or even the amount of adverbs etc. This can help you if you want to see what kind of audience you might attract and how to choose the genre or advertise your book. If you want to write in the vein of Stephen King, but find out that your sentence structure and pacing are more like Tolkein, you can choose how to proceed. Knowledge is power!
Scribus is for typesetting and formatting, design etc. For simple writing you can use notepad and them copy format in Scribus. It can create excellent magazine layouts. I am using it for my Rotary bulletins.
@@studiogroup-go3ps no worries. Keep in mind the stuff on Wattpad needs to be rewritten a bit. I've learned a lot since 2016. lol Thank you, though. It's appreciated.
Does this also work on block themes? I am building a site on WP Block themes like 2024 or Spectra. Most tutorials ehoch show how to add ads donit by adding the code snippet to the header.php or body.php file. Id assume in block themes we dont have dedicated jeader.php or body.php files. Can you shed some light on how to add ads on block themes?
@@Whatreally123 You should still be able to add the shortcode for Advanced Ads to play them anywhere in a block theme. I'll have to try it on my test site later, but using the shortcode might be your best bet at the moment.
@@WriterSanctuary thanks for replying. Let's say I have a group block whosr width I have defined, let's say 1250 pixels. And all my content (featured image, title, paragraph, comments etc) are within this block. Let's say I don't have a sidebar on the right. How can I place the ad code so it appears on the right or left of this group? Since we would not have defined any space, where would we put this code? We can put them inside this group but outside of it or a footer code has me wondering how to go about this. Would it be possible for you to test this? I can't find answers to this anywhere.
@@Whatreally123 It might take me a bit as I have to work at the moment. However, I'll see what I can find. Just so I am clear, are you using the full-site editor with a block theme?
@@Whatreally123 OK, I was able to move my cursor to anywhere on the page of the block theme and add the Advanced Ads block. I'm wondering if just making a tutorial would be easier. Anyway, you should be able to click any block in the editor and add a new one with the + in the top left corner. Hope that helps.
Hiw do you remove the number 1 about chapter 1 . I don't want to title the chapter just want it to stay as chapter 1. How do I remove the number above it I want to use the drop cap format also
@@victoriatomlinson5379 In the formatting options, when you're ready to export your book, you can set Reedsy to hide the chapter numbers as well as enable drop caps. I hope that helps. 🙂
@@tachederosee9172 Have you tried holding down shift and hitting enter? It should move the cursor down one space instead of making a whole new paragraph. That is as long as I'm understanding what you're trying to do. I hope that helps.
You're welcome. As soon as the dust settles, I'll be recording how I am using it for my next book. So far, though, I kind of like Autocrit. I just wish the price tag was a tad lower.
Excellent. This is actually, for me anyway & the way that I think, work, create, an incredibly useful & powerful tool that I will be using for all manner of things, not only character creation & development. Thanks for sharing your knowledge & experience.
I've watched this review a number of times now and I'm picking up useful things every time. That means I'm either a simple creature or it means you've done a really good job packing this with useful information. I like that idea better than me being a dummy so I'm going with that. Now I'm going to look for a way to justify the text in Reedsy because I think justifying the writing is a must do.
@@daleanderson1727 unfortunately, I don't think Reedsy had justification settings. It auto-justifies for typical book settings while writing. Thank you for the compliment. I try to highlight as much as I can, and I'm glad the video has been useful for you.
All 23 episodes are here, if you're interested. As soon as I publish Shadows and finish writing Fury, I'll be going back to finish Despair. ru-vid.com/group/PL5-AQIcLv-KvRgTcsbyU3CBYd5wj1akuN
Thanks a lot for going over all of these, I haven't gotten to the cons part of the video yet but I noticed that some of the features are included in Microsoft Word. With the Microsoft 365 (I hate that I need this and it needs internet connection or you'll get the robot voices) review tab, you get a pretty nice AI text reader. It also includes some very minimal punctuation & spelling helper, dictionary and thesaurus which I have found helpful. I tend to use the review comments for keeping notes as I'm not sure if there's a better way yet. I'm wondering how AutoCrit compares to Word?
Unfortunately, I don't have Word nor have any interest in using it. I stopped using anything of the office suite once it went online. I know a lot of people like using it for writing a book, but it's not something that I would use. Nowadays, I think it's more out of principle than anything. Everyone has their cup of tea. Mine is sans Microsoft. Well, outside of Windows, anyway.
I have word 365. The two play well together, and since there is no offline version of AutoCrit, the word 365 steps in and fills that gap for me. I like and keep them both. Hope this helps.
I love what you said about AI content, I've recently started writing and found that AI has been great for tossing ideas around similar to when I talk to a friend about a thought. Using it to write content makes the story read very oddly as it takes a lot of liberties with how it expresses things.
I will use AI for some things, but never to write text or create covers. To me, it takes away from the personality and style of the individual. If I wanted to read something from a bot, I'd read an Ikea manual. :)
@@WriterSanctuary This is a great point, I've also learned to turn off tools like Grammarly. While I appreciate it giving me ideas for rewarding, many of these tools add a machine vibe that take away the feeling that may let a reader connect with your writing. Thanks again for this great video and insights.
@@LTTheReal I turned off Grammarly as well. I'd be riffing on my rough draft and it kept interrupting me with suggestions. Very frustrating. I now let word hum along in the background underlining in blue or red for the severity of a grammar infraction. No intrusive suggestions that make me crazy. That's how I like it.
Can you import a "traceable" layer? I'm trying to update an older jpeg of a map made on the global add-on of Campaign Cartographer 3+ which I worked on for years. The CC3 software started crashing on multiple devices but my poor art skills can't recreate it on adobe so I've been searching high and low for a software that supports imports - even as a traceable layer. Thanks for the video!
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can import files into Inkarnate. At least, no options that I can see. I plan on reviewing quite a few map makers so I can finish my book, so perhaps I'll come across one that will work. But if you find one, I'd love to hear about it. Feel free to let me know if there is one out there that works for importing.
@@edgarramores1456 I'm not sure, to be honest. There are quite a few platforms out there to try. You might have to dig around in Google to find one that supports your location. Sorry I'm not much help on this one.
I agree about not using the AI part of Grammarly. It takes sentences out of context and will say part of a sentence is wrong when it was a word missing earlier in the sentence. And if it can't work the problem it says add the word 'and' to the sentence. I ignore it.
No automated platform is absolutely perfect. In fact, I've seen a lot of professional editors butcher things because they think it's correct. At the end of the day, the only thing that truly matters is how you connect the story with the reader. As long as they're enjoying it and can see what you're trying to convey, then I'd call that a win. 😁
Great tips. I try to avoid perfection. Although there are moments when I’m blocking the flow. And causes me to change direction then sticking to my outline. Any thoughts?
Sometimes, I'll write out of order. In fact, I don't think there's a single book that I haven't jumped around a bit. If I feel a bit stuck on a scene, I'll write something that I want to happen later to help kickstart the idea. Of course, I often have to tweak and change those parts depending on what happens throughout the book. But it helps me see where the story is going while processing how to get there. I hope that helps. 🙂
I'm currently trying to get a book published via the traditional route. And so I've been collecting my share of rejections from Literary Agents. That said, some of those Agents have been very encouraging even whilst they reject. They say something like: "Your new novel isn't quite right for me at this time; nevertheless, I strongly encourage you to apply to other Literary Agents." Quite nice, really. There are thousands of Literary Agents out there, (and some will even accept RE-submissions at a later date because their acceptance criteria may have changed at that later date).
I agree with the other comments about the music. Re-upload without the music, pretty please! It's driving me crazy. LOOOVE your voice and content, though. Very informative and thoughtful.
@@meggiebeth_writes The new videos are without music, but I don't think I can re-upload this one without losing the time and views from it. I'd take a massive hit, unfortunately. I'll do some digging and see what I can do, though.
Yes. But it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. For instance, it doesn't work well for something like an image collage unless you make it in Photoshop first and upload the entire image. So, Atticus wouldn't work all that great for a magazine-type layout. However, you can easily upload images to Atticus from the navigation bar at the top. I hope this helps.
@@RockyMountainCritters Unfortunately, Atticus doesn't have book cover capability. It only helps with writing and formatting the book. You'll have to use other apps such as Canva, Photoshop, Gimp, Book Brush, or any other graphic design program. If you're publishing through Amazon, you can use the free "Cover Creator," but it is a bit of a pain to use.
I heard about this program and was interested in checking it out. Seems very expensive for something, that as you say, one of the big features seems broken. You would think, it would be relatively simple to have an ignore list of words and that would fix it picking up on character names. I have a lot of subscription based services as it is, I just don't see me using this enough to justify the cost. Thanks for the information.
@@joetuktyyuktuk8635 You're welcome. Though, a lot of people seem to like the social sections and forums. But unless you plan on cranking out a lot of books, it is a bit costly.
I believe they have fixed that issue. One of the nice things about AutoCrit, is that if you bring something up to them, they address it. Very responsive team. I am happy there as a writer.
@@toniking7756 I'm looking forward to feeding my next book through it soon. I hope they fixed that one part, but it still has quite a bit that I like even if they didn't. But, we'll see. :)
I ditched it after three years. It kept developing glitches. Some functions worked on Chrome, others on Safari. When it developed yet another issue and they told me it would take two weeks to fix, I told them to cancel my auto renew. It’s unstable and unreliable. I swapped to ProWritingAid Aid and have had no issues.
We just subscribed to your channel. We are writing our second book using Reedsy and I appreciate your tutorial. You have helped us out in so many ways. 🤩
@@codringtonherbs glad I could help. I've been using it to write my next two books. If there is anything you're curious about, feel free to ask. 😁 Good luck with your book.
Interesting and introduced me to several bits I had no idea were there. However, there also seemed to be some faint but distracting music in the background which really affected hearing you. To start with I though perhaps I had something else playing accidentally in another tab, but couldn't find anything so decided it must be in the video. Happy to be told I'm wrong and you haven't got any distracting muzac!
Well, I stopped using the music a few videos ago. The data was finally inconclusive on whether it improved watch time or not. So, I just canned it for the time being. I'm glad I could show some bits you didn't know were there, though. :)
@@WriterSanctuary I'm glad you have! I'm sure there are some who like it but for anyone who is neurodiverse it can be really hard to cope with conflicting sounds. Possibly those with hearing impairment as well because hearing aids tend to amplify everything not just the bit you want to hear. So thanks again :-)
Does autocrit perform a plagiarism check? To see it you’ve used a previously used story line or if you’re too close to previously published material of any kind
@@WriterSanctuary I'm going to take another look, I can't remember if it was Word 365 or AutoCrit (or both) that has this function. I do know that Word does...Just looked. AutoCrit doesn't have that yet, but I just suggested it. There is a list. They keep churning out the improvements. Here is Katherine's response (Techie and teacher extraordinaire at AutoCrit); "Because AutoCrit does not generate any actual content, there are no plagiarism checkers built into our system, if that is what you're looking for. If it helps put your mind at ease where AutoCrit is concerned, the only way a book written in AutoCrit could have content 'straight out of something online' is if the writer using that content personally copied it from another source, or used a content-generating AI of some kind, as the writer has to personally input every word in our system. Given the career-level stakes and potentially legal stakes at play for included AI-generate or plagiarized content in book, a risk-check for that plagiarized content dips into a legal level of responsibility that AutoCrit does not intend to step into at this time. Profile image for Katherine If the writer is more concerned about 'accidental' plagiarism (like phrases that are commonly used, such as 'the hair stood up on her arms' or 'fear shoots through him'), my understanding is that retailers like Amazon have a plagiarism checker that allows for a certain percentage of incidental overlap. The amount permitted varies, but in college, in my editing courses, we were taught that on average a 100% human-powered piece (with no generative AI involved) rarely goes over 2% of identical word-for-word phrases in one book as anyone else, on average."
