A Scrivener alternative built for a series
Storybook: Master Novelist is a native writing studio for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with the story bible, the world, and the timeline already inside the app. One purchase, and sync that arranges itself.
Scrivener is a genuinely powerful tool, and if it is working for you there is no reason to leave. But if you write a series and keep finding yourself building character sheets from blank templates, arranging Dropbox by hand, or buying a third license just to write on your phone, that friction is exactly what Storybook was built to remove.
Four honest reasons
Three licenses for three devices
Mac is $59.99, Windows is $59.99, and iOS is $23.99, bought separately. Covering all three comes to about $121.93.
Sync you set up yourself
Mobile syncing runs through Dropbox, arranged by hand, and a missed sync is how conflicted copies begin.
A learning curve reviewers keep naming
The tutorial alone can take hours. Plenty of novelists finish it and still feel they are writing around the app.
No story bible, no timeline
There is a research folder and a set of blank templates. The cast, the world, and the chronology are yours to invent and maintain.
Where Storybook picks up where Scrivener leaves off
Scrivener gives you a research folder and blank templates, so the cast, the world, and the chronology are yours to invent and maintain. In Storybook the story bible, the World Web, and the timeline are built in and connected to the prose from page one.
A story bible that is part of the app
Characters, places, cultures, groups, and items live in the codex and appear on the World Web, one connected canvas laid out as a clean spanning tree.
An in-world timeline
Draggable books, pinch zoom, and named era bands, so your chronology holds across the whole saga.
Nine story structures
Three-Act, Save the Cat, The Hero's Journey, The Story Circle, Seven-Point, Freytag's Pyramid, Kishotenketsu, a Custom sheet, or none. Swap per book without losing a note.
Automatic iCloud sync
Your own iCloud account, no third party service and no setup. Write on the Mac in the morning and the iPhone at lunch.
One purchase, three devices
$89.99 once covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac. No subscription, and no AI touching your words.
One purchase, not three licenses
Scrivener sells its licenses separately, $59.99 for Mac, $59.99 for Windows, and $23.99 for iOS, about $121.93 to cover all three. Storybook is $89.99 once for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with nothing to renew.
iCloud sync, not Dropbox
Scrivener's mobile syncing runs through Dropbox, arranged by hand and remembered before every device switch. Storybook syncs automatically through your own iCloud, with no setup and no third party account.
Bringing a Scrivener project in
Storybook does not open native .scriv projects. The path that works is short, and it keeps your formatting.
- 01
Compile in Scrivener
Inside Scrivener, compile your manuscript to RTF or Word.
- 02
Open it in Storybook
Use Open With, or drag the file onto Storybook on Mac, iPad, or iPhone.
- 03
Keep your formatting
Bold, italics, headings, and paragraph styles come across intact, and chapters split at your headings.
Scrivener and Storybook
Price
Scrivener
$59.99 Mac plus $59.99 Windows plus $23.99 iOS, separate licenses, about $121.93 for all three
Storybook
$89.99 once, all three devices
Platforms
Scrivener
Mac, Windows, iOS, each a separate purchase
Storybook
iPhone, iPad, and Mac, one purchase
Sync
Scrivener
Dropbox, set up by hand
Storybook
Automatic iCloud, on your own account
Story bible and character web
Scrivener
Not included, build your own from blank templates
Storybook
Built in, connected to your prose
In-world timeline
Scrivener
Not included
Storybook
Built in, era based
Getting started
Scrivener
Many reviewers cite a steep learning curve, the tutorial alone can take hours
Storybook
Minutes, built for a series from page one
Answered plainly
$89.99 once, for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Buy it once and it is yours, on all three devices, with your story bible, world, and timeline already in the room with the prose.
See the full breakdown against Scrivener and Ulysses. More on importing lives in the FAQ.