An editing software helps writers create an easy-to-read, highly polished, and error-free content. However, not all text editing tools are created equal. Therefore, you must look for an editor that is more than just a spelling and grammar checker. An ideal editing tool should give you both stylistic and technical edit suggestions so that you can provide your readers with engaging yet quality content.
In this post, we’re going to review a popular proofreading and editing tool named Hemingway Editor. The editor is renowned for its exceptional features, affordable pricing, and user-friendliness. Over the years, Hemingway Editor has gained enough popularity in the market and is beloved by many writers. Let’s find out whether or not it’s worth it.
A Brief Overview of Hemingway Editor
Named after renowned famous American author Ernest Hemingway, this writing editor is quite minimalist yet powerful. It is available in both desktop and mobile app versions. Besides this, you can also access it online. The editor can recognize hard-to-read sentences, adverbs, passive voice, and complicated phrases in a text. The editor’s latest version also supports formatting features that allow writers to apply various font styles and headlines to a text and improve their writing style.
Suggestions Provided By Hemingway Editor
Hemingway has a unique way of highlighting issues in a text. It uses different color codes to highlight problems in your writing. Let’s find out what these color codes indicate.
Yellow Sentences
Yellow color indicates that the highlighted sentences are hard-to-read. In that case, you need to spit or shorten them.
Red Sentences
According to Hemingway, these sentences can confuse readers. You need to rework on these sentences until the red highlight disappears.
Green Phrases
Green phrases indicate the usage of passive speech. While passive voice is acceptable in various contexts, active speech is generally preferred.
Blue Words
These words are either weak or adverbs. Hemingway editor feels that these words should be skipped or replaced.
Purple Words
These highlights indicate that there are more suitable words or simpler alternatives for highlighted words. You can hover over them to see suggestions from Hemingway.
Hemingway Editor Features
Hemingway Editor is a feature-rich editing tool using which you can improve your writing to a great extent. Some of its prominent features include:
- Color-Coded Writing Problems
- Cut dead Weight from Writing
- Weakening Phrases
- Adverbs
- Common grammar errors
- Formatting Features
- Send Highlights to Colleagues
- Difficult to understand sentences
- Write with Power & Clarity
- Passive voice
- Readability Score
- Publish Directory to WordPress and Medium Platform
- User-friendly Formatting Features
- Easy Writing and Editing Modes
- Works without Internet Connection
Note: Most of these features are available with the paid version of the Hemmingway Editor.
Pros of Hemingway Editor
Detect Errors in an Easy Way
As we mentioned above, Hemingway Editor highlights issues in the text using various color coding. It makes it easy to see which parts need improvement. Color codes help you detect the level of error in your writing so that you can fix them quickly.
Improves Your Overall Writing Style
Hemingway Editor is designed to identify various issues in a text; therefore, it helps you make your writing free from common grammar mistakes and complex phrases. Using this editor, you can construct clear and concise sentences that will naturally improve your writing flow.
Eliminates the Need to Copy Paste Between Used Text Editors
Hemingway Editor enables you to import your text from one text editor to another without any need to copy and paste them. Furthermore, once you are done editing and revising, you can easily export your content as PDF or Word file.
User-Friendly
It is quite a user-friendly editor. All you have to do is copy and paste your text in the editor. You will get the analysis of your piece ready within a few seconds.
Supports Direct Publishing Option
The editor allows you to publish your writing to WordPress, Medium, and other Web pages right from the app. You can import your content as HTML and post it to any blogging platform.
Adverbs and Passive Voice
Hemingway Editor detects adverbs and passive voice in your text, which weaken your writing. The editor will suggest alternatives to help you make your writing powerful and vivid. Adverbs are highlighted in blue while the passive sentences in green.
No Word Limit
Unlike most writing software, Hemingway Editor has no word limit that means you can even edit your entire book without paying a lot.
Cons of Hemingway Editor
While there are no significant cons of Hemingway Editor, the following ones might be an important concern for you.
- The Hemingway Editor is suitable for blogs, essays, and other projects, but it might not be that useful for fiction writing. Your tone and style is often infrequent in fictional writing and the editor might not analyze it accurately.
- You can only contact their support staff via email.
- There is no option to undo the corrections you make based on suggestions.
Hemingway Editor Pricing
There are two plans offered by Hemingway Editor. The online version is completely free, while the desktop version and app costs a one-time charge of $19.99. In comparison to its competitor, Hemingway is quite an affordable option. The price for the Windows and Mac Version is the same.
Remember paid Hemingway software permits you to free upgrades whenever they are available.
Technical Details of Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor can be used on both Windows and Mac operating systems. Additionally, you can also use its web-based version that is absolutely free. The editor is a cloud-hosted and open API making it easy to access.
Is the Hemingway Editor Worth it?
Yes! The online version is great and free. The Hemingway Editor works well for most writers and is worth trying. Not only is it user-friendly and affordable, but it also supports tons of features that help you create an error-free, well-readable, bold, and explicit content. The best part is, you can analyze various issues in your content within a second.
Even the Hemingway Editor desktop version is affordable for most users, so you should give it a try. If you aren’t sure, you can always use their free version first, and only upgrade if you need to premium one.
How Does the Hemingway App Compare to Other Writing Tools?
Unlike other writing tools, like Grammarly and ProWritingAid which primarily focus on grammar and proofreading, the Hemingway App truly tries to improve your writing. Their goal is to make you a better writer, not just correct your current writing. In this way, the Hemingway App is complementary to other grammar checkers. In fact, the Grammarly Chrome plugin works with the Hemingway web app.
