As a writer, editor, or both, you always need the best writing and editing apps. These tools help you to produce quality content in a reduced time. Also, such writing-aid apps help you focus on the content while they take care of minor errors. The market is flooding with such tools as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) becoming affordable. The million-dollar question here is which app is appropriate? Which app offers distraction-free writing, convenient editing, and publishing online. The answer is the Hemingway Editor. Find below a clear and concise review of the features and functionalities.
What Is the Hemingway Editor?
The Hemingway App is a desktop and cloud app that can enhance your writing style and polish the text content by catching up with five bafiveic writing problems that we all face:
Unrestricted use of passive voiceAdverb misuseComplex phrasesComplicated wordsInconsequential and long sentences
It is a free-to-use web app that anyone can use online. Most writers use the app to edit content written on other word processors like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. However, if you write your prose on it, you shall develop the skill of bold and clear writing that an average native speaker understands effortlessly.
Functions
The app color codes problem sentences, phrases, words, and passive voice as you copy-paste any content. Alternatively, you can just write on the app and then go to Editor mode to find some real suggestions. Primarily, the app highlights the problem. It rarely shows suggestions to fix the issues. However, when it does, you can just click on the suggestions to put those in place. Furthermore, there are text formatting tools above the writing and editing interface that you can use to produce HTML publish-ready content. Other than writing and editing, the web version has limited features. On the flip side, the desktop app has powerful features explained in the ‘Exclusive Functionalities’ section.
User Interface
Its writing and editing interface is completely clean, easy to understand, and distraction-less. Since the app offers a few features, you can actually focus on writing than trying out unnecessary functionalities. The writing workspace is clean and white so that you can get a better view of what you are writing. And not to mention, its font type also looks easy on the eyes.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Hemingway Editor comes with some cool hotkeys so that you can rely less on the mouse and type faster. Here are the shortcuts that you will need regularly:
Cmd or Ctrl + J toggles between the writing and editing interfaceCmd or Ctrl + L hides and shows the right-side navigation paneCmd or Ctrl + K lets you insert hyperlinksCmd or Ctrl + [ enables you to outdent a bulleted paragraphCmd or Ctrl + ] lets you indent a bulleted paragraph
Popular Issues that you Might Face as a Writer/Blogger
Writing Distractions
Checking email, liking Facebook comments, watching favorite YouTube channels, etc., are the top distractions you might face as a writer.
Content Formatting
Formatting your written article according to Medium, WordPress, or other websites is really a pain point for all writers.
Content Publishing
Publishing content on several websites or blogs could also be challenging since it involves many manual steps.
Content Volume
Keeping track of your content is economically important if you are writing professionally
Readability
Many writers are not well versed in English grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary to improve their content readability overnight. This is a vital challenge as well.
Writing Style
The writing style is an essential component of any written article. You might lose readership if it is incompatible with the target audience.
Expert Suggestions
It is hard to do a Google search for every doubt while writing. Plus, this is a distraction.
Hemingway Editor as a Solution
The Hemingway Editor app is a one-stop solution to all the above issues for writers or bloggers. Though its web app is free, the features are limited. You might want the desktop app for a better focus on writing and producing a high volume of content for commercial purposes.
Best Features of the Hemingway Editor
The followings are the features for which it is worthy of trying out the web app of Hemingway Editor.
The Writing Mode
This mode lets you write your prose. There are no functionalities other than text editing. You also do not get to see the content volume. Hence, it is the right app for you if you are habituated to writing long-form content. Also, if you used to write short-form content and want to improve content volume, do try this app. For the best experience on the web app, switch the web browser to full-screen mode. You will get more eye-soothing white space.
The Editing Mode
Just beside the Write button, you get the Edit button. The Edit button activates the Edit mode of Hemingway Editor. Edit mode is the place where all magic happens. It displays various content metrics like readability, word count, color-coded problem highlights, and more. You can also format, export, and publish your content from this app mode.
HTML-Friendly Formatting
Hemingway Editor also comes with a minimalistic toolbar with standard text editing tools. These are particularly helpful when you write content for websites or blogs with organic ranking and search engine optimization in your mind. Google’s website crawler quickly scans your content when it consists of formatting elements like paragraph tag (P), header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.), quotes, bullets, links, numbered lists, etc. You get all these necessary formatting tools on this app.
Adverb Spotter
The app comes with an algorithm to spot standard adverbs. Also, it searches the content with ‘ly’ to spot possible adverbs and cross-checks with its adverb library. The objective is to show you all the adverbs you have used in your prose. Some adverbs negatively affect adjectives and weak verbs. These are known as bad adverbs. If you use too many of these (more than 15), your content’s tone will not be natural. Your native readership will find the prose hard to follow. Therefore, use the Adverb Spotter (highlights the word in blue) to reduce redundant adverbs.
Passive Voice Spotter
Passive voice makes your content lazy. Also, it decreases the readability score. In commercial and creative writing for websites, expert writers and editors suggest that less passive voice usage is good. Hemingway Editor’s passive voice finder highlights its target in a green shade. The readability algorithm will reduce the content score if you use more than 16 passive voices in your prose. Therefore, replace passive voices with their active counterparts to improve the readability score of your text.
Synonym Spotter
Another vital function of the Hemingway Editor’s algorithm is to find unpopular, tough, and pompous words. Once detected, the app highlights these phrases or words in purple. Such words make your content wordy. When you use too many of these, your readership may simply close your content out of frustration. Because every time they encounter such words, they need to look up the dictionary for the meaning. As a marketing, business, and commercial content writer, your task is to use easy language that anyone can understand without the help of a dictionary. Whenever you see a suggestion by the Synonym Spotter, put the suggestion in place by hovering over the purple highlighted word and selecting the alternatives.
Hard to Read Sentence Spotter
This tool paints sentences in yellow to indicate that the text in that section is moderately hard to read. However, the tool does not show any suggestions to improve the situation. You need to go through the trial and error method to rectify the problem. Your content will have a better readability score if you remove those hard-to-read sentences.
Very Hard to Read Sentence Spotter
The writing and editing experts consider complex and lengthy sentences as very hard-to-read text. Hemingway Editor has a dedicated program in its backend to identify such complex sentences. If you see the app highlighting some of your sentences in red, that means these are complex sentences. Break lengthy sentences into two or more to increase the flow of expression. Also, replace complex sentences with short sentences of one primary or independent clause. Doing so will greatly improve content readability.
Readability Score
Content Readability is the research that tries to understand which U.S. education grade you need to understand prose. In the Hemingway Editor, the lower the readability grade, the better. This writing and editing app uses the Automated Readability Index to judge your text. This Automated Readability Index algorithm is highly reliable and popular. According to this app, the readability score of 10 0r 9 is good because extensive studies have revealed that an average US reader is comfortable with the 10th-grade level content.
Content Highlights
The Hemingway Writer is also helpful in finding out content metrics like the followings:
Reading timeLettersCharactersWordsSentencesParagraphs
Exclusive Functionalities of the Hemingway Editor PC App
Additional features that you get when you purchase the desktop app are:
Offline Editing
The standalone app works on Windows or macOS computers without any internet connection. If you are traveling long distances and want to work on your article, you can do that using this feature.
Instant Publishing to WordPress or Medium
You can publish your content directly on Medium or WordPress with one click. No need to copy the content to these platforms and then format it from the beginning.
Publish-Ready Content for Other Websites
Hemingway Editor desktop app also lets you export Markdown or HTML text for publishing on blogs and websites.
Hemingway Editor Pricing
The standard Hemingway Editor app is free. It is accessible via web browsers since this is a cloud app. Therefore, you will always need the internet to work on the app. Furthermore, you can not save anything on the web app so copy-paste your work elsewhere before closing the Hemingway Editor. If you want to invest a few dollars towards functionality, convenience, and productivity, you may buy the Hemingway Editor 3 desktop app for $19.99. It is a one-time purchase.
Pros and Cons of the App
Pros
Distraction-less writing of long-form contentSuggested for marketing copies and articlesAdvanced content readability analysis according to the Automated Readability IndexHighlights bad adverbs, passive voice, complex sentences, uncommon words, etc.The web version is free.Web-version offers all the vital features of the Hemingway EditorThe desktop app is lightweight and works on an average computerMinimalistic UI for maximum focus on work
Cons
Advanced features are behind the paywall and only available in the desktop app.No grammatical errors, punctuation, and spelling mistakes highlightsNot suggested for non-commercial content like textbooks, novels, etc.
Alternatives to Hemingway Editor
If you want to compare this tool with some popular alternatives and then decide whether you want to get it or not, here are some options for you:
Grammarly
Grammarly is a globally recognized writing tool for content creation, editing, proofreading, plagiarism checking, etc. It has a robust AI in its backend that constantly scans your content for basic and advanced suggestions. The free version only offers basic corrections like spelling mistakes, punctuation, etc.
ProWritingAid
English grammar and sentence styles could be highly complicated for both native and non-native writers. ProWritingAid assists you in polishing your English text by offering AI-based suggestions like consistency, style, grammar, spelling, clarity, and more.
QuillBot
QuillBot is popular as a paraphrasing app. However, it also offers other standard writing tool features like Grammar Checker, Plagiarism Checker, Word Counter, Summarizer, and Citation Generator. A value-added feature is Co-Writer for collaborative content creation.
Final Words
So far, you have gone through a 360° review of the Hemingway Editor. It is the choice of writing and editing tool for expert bloggers and website content writers. Depending on your writing, editing, and publishing style, you can use some or all the writing aids the app offers. Moreover, you can get the paid app to become more productive, publish content faster, and ultimately engage with your audience effortlessly. Since you are a writer or editor, you need these journaling apps to capture thoughts effortlessly. Additionally, these article summarizers and paraphrasing tools will definitely help your content team produce quality texts.
