Mac Format - UK (2020-04)

96 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2020

APPLE CHOICE App round-up

E

veryone has a book in them!

We just don’t all know how

to get it out. Well, a handy

dedicated writing app will help. Note

that we didn’t say everyone has a novel

in them... We’re talking about all kinds

of books here: recipe journals, a personal

account of your family history, obscure-

but-crucial methodology for a job, kids’

stories... and, yes, also novels. You don’t

have to get into making books in the

hope of being the next JK Rowling, just

like you don’t have to expect to be this

century’s Picasso just because you like

painting. It can simply be a way to relax.

Most of us know stuff that could be

useful or fascinating to other people if we

wrote it down, so why not get started?

Image credits (left to right): Apple, Tools for Schools, Evernote Corp

6 apps

to help you

write a book

Get creative before spring hits

and unleash the book within you

The most versatile app for
laying out almost any kind of
book is free with your iPad. You
can use Pages just for writing text or to
style text and add images in advanced
layouts, and add elements such as
footnotes and tables of contents. You can
export in various formats, including
EPUB, with support for stuff like a
reflowing layout or live hyperlinks.

A stalwart of iOS productivity,

this is one of the best ways to

keep multimedia notes. You

can take down quick thoughts, scan

in written notes and convert them to

copiable text, capture photos or images

and attach them to ideas, dictate

thoughts and have them transcribed to

text. With Evernote it’s easy to organise

your thoughts and find them again.

Pages
Free NEEDS iOS 12 or later

Evernote

Free (IAPs) NEEDS iOS 11 or later

This app is designed around

building interactive ebooks and

filling them with text, images,

video, audio files, and more. It’s closer to

using Keynote than Pages, and is great

for visually focused ideas. Kids’ books,

interactive guides and technical manuals

can be built and exported to ebooks. The

App Store describes it as an educational

app, but it’s great for everyone.

Book Creator for iPad

£4.99 NEEDS iOS 11.4 or later

Reviewed by MATT BOLTON