Hemingway Editor Review – Is This Free Writing App Enough?

Writing the Hemingway Editor review reminded me of its namesake, the famous author Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway’s writing style is an inspiration to all writers. By using natural language and specific everyday words, he wrote with clarity and directness. He seldom used abstract nouns and adjectives or complex sentences; his prose was conventional, easy to read, and understand.

Fellow writers influenced Hemingway in a group called The Lost Generation, Ezra Pound in particular. Would the Hemingway editing app be like an Ezra Pound to writers? Only one way to find out-use the Hemingway editor app and write an in-depth Hemingway app review…and that is what I did.

Here is everything you need to know about the app. This Hemingway Editor review explores the writing evaluation application feature and how the app’s writing tools can improve your writing.

What Is The Hemingway Editor And What Does It Do?

The Hemingway Editor is a writing program that helps writers produce clear and concise content. The application gives writers perspective on their writing style; it helps them develop their writing abilities to produce better-sounding writing for their audience.

It is not a grammar checker like Grammarly and ProWritingAid; the Hemingway writing app highlights common errors to help you write better. Like its competitors, the Hemingway app isn’t a human editor either. However, using Hemingway editing tools could make you a better writer; making fewer mistakes can save a human editor time when proofreading the manuscript.  If you are looking for the best grammar checker reviews – we have you covered.

The Hemingway app may not be a human proofreader, but it does function like an editor. The editing program draws the writer’s attention to the usage of adverbs, passive voice, a wordy sentence, and too complex sentence or paragraphs. It is up to the writer to apply the advice to improve the sentence structure, deliver readable content, and not misuse adverbs and passive voice.

Easy To Use

Ease of use is as vital as using editing software to make your writing stronger. Compared to the alternatives, Hemingway Editor is possibly the easiest to use. The online version doesn’t even require you to log in. Go to the Hemingwayapp.com website page and start writing or copy and paste your piece of writing into the writing mode window.

Another easy-to-use feature is the desktop version that works offline. If you carry your laptop with you because you like to write at different places, you will appreciate the offline version.

Write and Edit Modes

By separating the writing and editing functions, the Hemingway app helps writers focus on their writing before editing. One of the greatest secrets of smarter writing processes is not to edit the first draft while writing it. Editing can limit the creative flow. First, get the story or ideas on paper before putting on the editor’s hat; there will be more than enough time for the red pen.

Both modes are fast, and a person can effortlessly toggle between the two methods.

Write Tool

Another secret is to write without interference. The Hemingway app disables editing in the Write mode, creating a distraction-free writing environment. When you’ve written the blog post, article, or chapter of your next book, you can switch to the editor mode.

The editor isn’t completely nonfunctional in Write mode; you will still find light yellow lines under obvious grammar and spelling errors, just enough to appease the “internal editor” so the writing voice is still prominent.

Copy and paste content from a word processor to the free version online or start writing on the web editor. There is no word limitations to write blog posts or a book writing project in the web editor. Something to keep in mind is that you cannot save your work in the online app; you need to copy and paste the next chapter of your book or the blog post to a word processor with save features.

Edit Tools

The online editor app works mainly with color highlights; the different colors make it easy to identify the type of error. Hover with the mouse over the light blue, green, and purple highlighted text to see the hints that identify the mistake types. The editing options allow you to delete the adverbs or replace your complex word with an alternative suggestion. Yellow or red highlights identify sentences the Hemingway Editor view as hard to read.

The suggestions are like hints, and it is up to the writer what they do with the advice. The Hemingway Editor app does not automatically edit the work. It is up to the writer to find the solution to shorten and rewrite these sentences.

• Light Blue Highlights. Usage of adverbs can be a writer’s downfall. The light blue highlights show weak words, typically adverbs. The Hemingway Editor highlights them in blue and suggests improvements for more robust, bolder writing without redundancy.
•  Green Highlights. The Hemingway app uses green highlights for the use of the passive voice. Active voice focuses the reader on the action; writing lively texts keeps readers engaged. However, sometimes fiction authors want to draw the reader to what happened to the recipient; then, the passive voice becomes appropriate.
• Purple Highlight. Complicated words and phrases may confuse or dissuade a reader; if they can’t understand the word, they lose the meaning of the text. Purple highlights help authors identify these words.
• Yellow Highlights. Rambling sentences and complex sentences are hard to read. The yellow highlights help writers find these hard-to-read sentences.
• Red Highlight. Complicated and wordy sentences influence the sentences’ and paragraphs’ readability. Highlighting in red is the severe version of highlighting in yellow; red shows very hard-to-read sentences.

What Else is In The Sidebar?

Readability Score

The Hemingway app scores the readability grade level of your work according to the Automated Readability Index. The algorithm works on the number of characters per word to calculate the readability level. The grade levels are based on US schools, showing the lowest educational level for that grade. The lower the grade level, the more people will read the text with understanding.

Fiction authors and bloggers may aim for Hemingway’s grade five-level, whereas academic writing will be higher.

If your work has a good readability score, you’ll notice “good” written below the score.

Hemingway Editor Counter

Below the readability score is the word count features all writers find helpful. Whether you are writing a blog post or a book chapter, the word count matters. The number of characters becomes important when writing social media posts and emails.

At a glance, you can see the number of words written. The drop-down arrow reveals more counting data. The counter includes the average time to read the text and the number of letters, characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs the texts contain.

Editing Tool Index

At the bottom of the sidebar, you will find the editing tool index. The five colors describe briefly what writing issues it points to, and each color gives a score of the number of issues in that category. The goal is to decrease the score. The score helps identify common mistakes you make; omitting these mistakes makes your writing better.

Writing App Tool-belt

The Hemingway app formatting toolbar offers bold, italic, H1, H2, H3, quote, bullets, numbers, and links.

A small, insignificant thing can frustrate or make a writer’s life better. The writing tool-belt at the top of the page with its text formatting options is one of those little things that make writing easier, especially for bloggers and article writers.

• The formatting options include selecting the word and phrase to format in bold or italics.
• With the mouse on the sentence line, select bullets, numbers, headings, or quotes to format sentences or paragraphs. No need to highlight the entire sentence or paragraph.
• The link feature is convenient for blog posts and articles.

Who Should Use The Hemingway App Editor?

From a book to a blog post to a few sentences, any writing piece should be clear and understandable to the target audience. Who should use the Hemingway App?

• Writers who want to improve their writing style by identifying common writing errors.
• A freelancer who wants no interference while completing a focused writing project within a deadline.
• An academic or technical writer requires smoothness of writing to make complicated terms readable and understandable to their clients or audience.
•  An author uses book writing software to catch writing errors, overuse adverbs, and poor sentence construction.
• Authors who find inspiration in any place will find the offline feature of the desktop app convenient; they need no internet connection.
• People who like the Hemingway app interface’s simplicity; it’s about getting the work done productively.

Hemingway App Free Version Vs. ProWritingAid Free Vs. Grammarly Free—What’s The Difference?

The Hemingway App is a powerful tool for concise and quality writing; it is not editing software like Grammarly or ProWritingAid that checks for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. If writing bold and clear text is essential to you, you can use the Hemingway app’s free version to edit your work according to standard writing rules.

Grammarly and ProWritingAid free versions offer free extensions for the most popular web browsers and a web editor app. People who use the Hemingway App open the app directly on the website; no need for a browser extension, the app itself is the write and edit software.

The desktop app’s full version and the free version of the Hemingway app have no restrictions regarding the number of words authors can check and edit.

Is Hemingway Editor 3 Worth Paying For?

For as little as $19.99, a one-time purchase, you have lifetime access to the Hemingway Editor 3 desktop version.

You don’t have to spend any money to use the Hemingway App; the online version is free and sufficient for most people working online. However, people who work offline will find the desktop version useful, and with additional features, it is money well spent.

Hemingway Editor 3 Features

• The desktop version includes all the tools the free online version offers.
• Use the offline desktop app anywhere, even places without Wi-Fi.
• Bloggers can write their blog posts with the Hemingway app and publish a draft or live post directly to Medium or WordPress.com.
• The HTML and Markdown export features allow you to write webpages and export them to the CMS or blogging platform.
• The Hemingway App supports exporting content to MS Word and other editors in Word, text, or pdf formats.
• If you are editing someone else’s work or you want to keep the editing highlights for reference, the Hemingway Editor 3 exports the highlights too.

How I Use Hemingway App For Daily Writing

Writing the Hemingway App Editor review made me realize how essential writing software is, whether you are writing books or posts and articles for clients. Writings apps have unique features, each designed with a specific goal. It is up to you to decide which app will help improve your writing.

What I Love About The Hemingway App Editor

• I love the separate modes for writing and editing. I’m one of those writers who want to edit while I write and find it challenging to separate the two processes. The Hemingway app automatically separates the two functions.
• I love the idea that the suggestions are just suggestions and not auto-corrections. It forces me to pay attention to common mistakes I make—for example, paying attention to long sentences and how I can break them up into shorter sentences or get the point across in concise ways.
• The reading time score tells me how long it takes to read the content; it’s another way to explore reader engagement.
• I like the option to write and edit in the Hemingway desktop app and then export it directly as a draft to WordPress.
• The app’s simplistic approach appeals to me; the fewer gadgets, the fewer distractions.
• I love the offline editor. My laptop is always with me for those stolen moments when I can write a few phrases.

What I’d Change

The free version is impressive, with no word restrictions and the features available. It would be nice if it also had a save-option like the desktop version.

The Hemingway app is not a grammar and spell checker, and it doesn’t claim it is. So, I think it is unfair to expect it to function like Grammarly and other grammar-checking proofreading alternatives. However, if it had those features, too, it would be an incredible piece of software.

FAQ

Does The Hemingway App Work For Mac Users?

The free online version works for anyone with an internet connection. The Hemingway Editor 3 desktop version supports Mac OSx for Mac users.

Does The Hemingway Editor Work Offline?

Yes, the Hemingway App works offline. Most writing software apps require an internet connection; the Hemingway Editor 3 doesn’t.

Did we cover everything in this Hemingway app review, or is there something we missed?