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Editing Tools: should I upgrade to the premium version of prowritingaid or stick with the freebie?

edited May 2015 in Writing
Hi All,

I've been using the free version of prowritingaid for the last 6 weeks and have found it really helpful with my first major edit. I'm tempted to upgrade to the Premium version so that I can use the word add-in but I don't want to spend the $35 if it's not worth it.

Has anyone else upgraded? Is it worth the money? Are the additional reports helpful? Or is there another free program that I should be using instead?

Advice and experience would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
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Comments

  • Sorry I can't offer any advice.

    Welcome to TB!
  • Thanks! I've been lurking for ages but this is my first post.
  • Hello coffeewriter. Never heard of it, I'm afraid. I guess it depends on how much you want the add words feature.

    If it's a one off payment, it's £22.32 in pounds, it's not a huge amount.

    BUT if it's in dollars, will it for instance give you American spellings, and will it have an English vocabulary?
  • edited May 2015
    Hi.

    I've never used that or anything similar, so can't help.
  • Hello coffeewriter.

    Sorry not heard of it, so can't offer any advice.
  • Hi there!
    Can't say I'm familiar with it either, but presumably it will just pick up textual errors. Maybe human eyes would be more useful for further editing in terms of picking up inconsistencies, unrealistic voice, etc.
  • edited May 2015
    Hi Coffee writer, welcome :-h Yes I have upgraded and do use the Pro version. The benefit is that it can be added to word or office, and it will process 5000 words at a time. I think the free version you have to post your writing on their website. The pay version you don't; you can do it direct within your word document. it gives you a choice of writing styles like creative writing or business. and up to 19 reports which for me has helped improve my writing. It does however, not proof read or edit your writing, that is something that needs to be done by a professional. Hope this helps?
  • Hi All,

    Thanks for the replies. I agree that a computer definitely can not replace an actual human editor!

    Like happy_author, though, I find that running it through the prowritingaid app first helps get rid of all the passive voice, adverbs, redundancies, etc. so that when I do give it to a human editor, they don't get distracted by all those annoying technical things that are easy for the programme to catch.

    I like the idea of using it directly within word. Copying it into the website is a bit of a chore. Maybe I'll try it. Liz is right that £22 isn't much of a risk.
  • Hello, CW, lovely to meet you. I can't answer - I edit my own work; but if you're happy with the freebie, I suspect you'll be happy with the upgrade. I'd definitely prefer doing it on my own computer, not uploading my work to somewhere over which I had no control.
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