Logline: The online/offline cloud-based writing tool.
Description: Dabble is an easy-to-use online writing tool, packed with helpful features that allows beginning novelists and published authors to create amazing stories.
5.78/10
Main characteristics:
- Desktop / Web-based / Mobile App
- Business model
- Pricing
- Company credibility
- Customer Service Desk
- Perceived difficulty to use
Desktop / Web-based / Mobile app
The writing platform is accessible online and it has a desktop app.
I give more weight to online apps due to the fact that they are accessible from anywhere and always up-to-date.
Desktop - 2.5 / Web-based - 5 / Mobile app - 2.5.
7.5/10
Business model
Subscription and one time fee.
To choose a writing software is a long-term decision. You choose a business partner that needs to have resources for updates, maintenance, and customer support. This is better provided by the a regular cash flow of a subscription model.
Subscription - 7 One-time - 3.
10/10
Pricing
Basic – $5 month; Standard – $10/month; Premium – $15/month.
Annual subscription discount – 20%.
One time payment – $399
Price is an important factor in the decision to use or not a software. Furthermore, for a the company behind the software to be capable to continuously improve and offer you good customer service a steady cash-flow is a major component.
8/10
Company credibility
Founded in 2004. One man team presented on the website.
I check if the team is mentioned on the website and if they are identifiable by social media profiles. I also look if it's structured as a business or if it's a family or single owner enterprise.
Team - 10 Family/Single owner - 9 No information - 0.
8/10
Customer Service Desk
Chat, email support.
While communicating with your clients through different channels is good, having a dedicated Service Desk is important for the quality of the customer service provided.
5/10
Perceived difficulty of use
Tutorials.
I analyze the quality of internal tutorials as well as the perceived difficulty and need for courses or tutorials from outside sources.
7/10
Features:
- Research notes
- Planning and story structure
- World building
- Story elements – Characters, Locations, Settings
- Writing editor
- Analytics
- Export to Word, PDF, or eBook formats
- Collaborative writing
- Project management
- Backup and security
Research notes
Yes. Starting with 2nd tier pricing.
Research notes are an independent module used to gather information and keep your ideas in order.
8/10
Planning and story structure
Basic manuscript structure.
Planning includes Premise, Outline, Synopsis, Timeline as well as Manuscript Structure module.
5/10
World Building
No.
This is a feature that can be based on other modules, but there are a few book writing software that offer a specialized module including Wiki and Visual Maps.
0/10
Story elements - Characters, Locations, Settings
Yes.
Characters and Locations have a specific format and need to be identified as separate modules.
8/10
Writing editor
Yes.
The writing module is the core component of all solutions. I differentiate based on the enhancements offered by a specific editor software.
10/10
Analytics
Basic word count and similar.
Every solution has a report page with word count and a few other data outputs. I am looking also at features covering discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data.
5/10
Export to Word, PDF, or eBook formats
Export to Word.
Exporting to PDF or Word format is mostly default, but more and more solutions offer conversion to ePub or Mobi formats.
4/10
Collaborative writing
No.
Collaboration includes the possibility of writing with a partner as well as access for an editor, beta reader or translator to the manuscript.
0/10
Project management
No
Writing a book is a project. The project management components of a book writing software have an increased importance.
0/10
Backup and security
Cloud backup and save.
I take in consideration the software solution backup as well as integration with various online solutions like Dropbox, Google Docs or similar.
Parallel server or cloud backup - 7 Dropbox or similar integrations - 3.