Along with staying relevant with the newest book marketing and writing, we also enjoy checking out the newest tools that can help authors throughout the entire writing process. This is our full review on the Hemingway editor.
I’ve heard a lot of authors speaking about using Hemingway in their own writing.
But you may be wondering what it is, and how it may be able to help you in your writing journey?
Unlike other writing tutors like ProWritingAid, Hemingway is not a comprehensive writing tutor. This is because it instead focuses on securing words and making them more impactful and concise.
We decided to check out Hemingway Editor and compare it to other writing tools. So, you can make a more informed decision. Let’s get started.
In this well thought out review you will learn:
An outline of Hemingway Editor and how to best use it
The cost associated with Hemingway
How hemingway compares to other related solutions
WHAT IS HEMINGWAY?
Hemingway is named after a well known master of literacy, Ernest Hemmingway. The tool aims to “make your writing bold and clear.” But that being said it isn’t a comprehensive writing coach or grammar checker, like ProWritingAid and Grammarly.
Instead, it’s a powerful and minimalist device to better the method of your writing.
But you may be wondering how? It can be done by either pasting your work into Hemingway editor or writing straight into the editor, it then highlights your writing with different colours. Each colour is associated with a different Hemingway improvement.
So these are the suggestions that are made by Hemingway:
Yellow Sentences: Hemingway identifies these sentences as structurally complex or lengthy. So the tool gives a suggestion to simplify or split the yellow highlighted sentences.
Red Sentences: Hemingway identifies these sentences as sentences that could confuse readers. Best thing to do here is reword the sentences until the red highlight disappears.
Purple Words: Hemingway feels these sentences have a more simpler and suitable replacement. To see Hemingways suggestention hover over the words.
Blue Words: These words are adverbs or hesitant and weak language. Hemingway suggests omitting these words.
Green Phrases: These phrases indicate that passive voice has been applied. This can be appropriate under some contexts, but active voice is usually preferred.
HOW TO USE HEMINGWAY EDITOR – HEMINGWAY APP AND ONLINE
The Hemingway Editor tool can be applied in two ways:
The Online Hemingway Editor, free
The Hemingway App, in app purchase
Paid vs Free Hemingway Editor
You can find the Hemingway Editor online for free. Also the good news is that the creators have released they want to keep it this way.
But the Hemingway App is only available for a one-time purchase of $19.99. This price is consistent with the Windows and Mac version of the Hemingway app. Purchasing the software also qualifies you to free upgrades.
This is how the online Hemingway Editor differs from the paid app.
Since we have compared the Hemingway App to the Hemingway Editor, let's compare alike writing tools, like ProWritingAid and Grammarly.
HEMINGWAY VS PROWRITINGAID VS GRAMMARLY
For this case, there isn’t a clear winner. Hemingway is able to do certain things while ProWritingAid and Grammarly are able to do other things.
But, overall, I believe Hemingway is an affordable and amazing option for writers. It will secure the style of almost any writer out there. The best way to know if Hemingway is a good fit for you is to the free version, the full app version is a great value for only a one time payment of $19.99.
Important Notes: ProWritingAid typically has better grammar, but I feel Grammarly has better control on commas and where they belong.
From above one can note, ProWritingAid has the most features. But, if you don’t require all the features that come with ProWritingAid or are on a budget, Hemingway Editor is more worthy of your time and attention.
HEMINGWAY EDITOR ONLINE AND HOW TO USE IT:
You would see a screen similar to the one below when accessing the Hemingway Online Version.
This version of the Hemingway Editor offers two modes: Edit and Write
The ‘Write’ mode is utilized for free of distraction writing in a minimalistic setting. When using the Hemingway’s ‘write’ mode, the screen would appear like this, once you delete the pre written work Hemingway has written :
While you can create a short piece using the Hemingway ‘write’ settinging, it is not something I would recommend.
I say this because there is no way for you to save your work, like by logging in or cloud. So, if something happens and the browser crashes, you will lose everything you have been working on in the Hemingway ‘write’ setting.
By using the ‘Edit’ option, one is able to utilize the complete range of the Hemingway analysis.
This would include the three sections below:
Formatting options, found at the top of your screen
Also includes colored highlights of your writing, which indicates the types of improvements Hemingway believes you should make.
Also this really cool feature that summarizes all the findings Hemmingway was able to find, this is located on the right side of your screen
Let us look at these three sections closer.
THE FORMATTING OPTIONS WITH HEMINGWAY EDITOR
Hemingway offers the following formatting options for your text:
Bold
Quote
Link
H1
H2
H3
Numbers
Bullets
Link
Italic
These Formatting options are great for bloggers. This is because one can clean up their writing style in the Hemingway editor and then utilize the listed formatting options for your text to be prepared for publication.
COLORED HIGHLIGHTS IN THE HEMINGWAY EDITOR
Now Let us take a peek at the colored highlights being used.
Yellow Highlights
Yellow highlighted sentences indicate they are hard to read. Thus hemingway reccoments splitting it up or shortening it.
Red Highlights
Red highlighted sentences are very hard to read. These sentences are similar to yellow sentences, but a lot worse.
Purple Highlights
Purple highlighter words show complex words being used for which simpler substitutes exist.
The way to see the substitute words is to use your mouse to hover over the purple word. You can see an example of this below.
Blue Highlights
A blue highlighted word means Hemingway thinks it is weak.
Using your mouse to hover over the highlighted word, you would see the suggestions Hemingway makes to improve your writing.
Hemingway can give suggestions to improve an adverb, like this picture above.
Above, Hemingway is able to suggest how to make a qualifier stronger.
Green Highlights
Text that has been highlighted in green suggests that passive voice has been used.
SUMMARY OF HEMINGWAY EDITOR
Hemmingway gives a summary of your writing, which is located on the right hand side of your screen. Having this feature is great because it provides the following information.
Readability
Hemingway is able to analyse your writing to be able to assess the reading level it is written at.
As stated by the creators of Hemingway, the average American is able to read at a tenth-grade level. Making sure your writing is below or at this level will make it easy for the average american to access.
Enrest Hemingway's writing is said to be fifth-grade level. Proof that clear and concise language does not weaken the quality of one's writing.
Words
Hemingway is able to show a word count for your writing.
The following information would be displayed, By clicking on ‘Show More’
Number Of Adverbs
Hemingway is able to show us the number of adverbs in your writing and calculates if this is a tolerable number.
Use Of Passive Voice
Hemingway is also able to show us how often passive voice is used in your writing and then calculates if this is an acceptable number.
Complex Language
This characteristic exhibits the number of simpler words suggested in your writing.
Hard To Read Sentences
Hemingway is also able to identify the quantity of yellow sentences in your writing.
Very Hard To Read Sentences
This characteristic shows us the amount of times red sentences were found by Hemingway
With all the above info put together, Hemingway offers us a useful summary.
WHY WE LIKE PROWRITINGAID MORE THAN HEMINGWAY
Although Hemingway is very easy to use. Although, if I had to choose, I would choose ProWritingAid. I say this because:
Using ProWritingAid is like having a personalized tutor. The software provides an in-depth look into your areas of strength and weakness, no software does it like them.
No matter what your writing style is, the software can tailor to it
If you are just looking for something that fits your budget, then forsure have a look at Hemingway.
But, if you are looking for the best writing editor, ProWritingAid is the best one out there.
Conclusion
Now that you have a good understanding of how Hemingway Editor works you can use it to help yourself and even compare it to its rivals.
But here's a Reminder:
There is a free and paid version of the editor
It’s aim is to improve and tighten your writing
I still think ProWritingAid is the leading solution
Have you ever used the Hemingway Editor? Have you used any of the other writing solutions I have mentioned? Let me know in the comments below.
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