As someone working on an alternative editor for novelists, I appreciate what the creator(s) are going for here. Creating ebooks is a pain in the butt for a non

As someone working on an alternative editor for novelists, I appreciate what the creator(s) are going for here. Creating ebooks is a pain in the butt for a non-technical user. But there's nothing to it if you've ever worked with HTML and CSS. Because the ebook formats are basically all variants of XML. I'm of the opinion that there really is a place on the market for editing software that is a) hyper-focused on the needs of novelists (allowing the design and features to be focused as well); and b) handles the technical aspects of ebooks for you. Most of the existing solutions require a certain amount of technical expertise, or are so bloated with features that managing the software becomes a project. But this is where NovelWriter falls short, in my opinion. It solves the ebook-creation process, but from the eyes of a developer. The thing is, developers don't have these problems, because we're comfortable with the tech. 5 minutes of Googling will solve the book writing problem for any developer. These problems persists for non-technical users. NovelWriter doesn't appear to solve them. The interface here looks like a code editor, which isn't going to be comforting to most writers. (Ever have someone walk up to your desk and declare the code editor on your screen to be immediately indecipherable? I think they're have the same gut reaction upon seeing this editor.) And Markdown is terrifying to non-coders. It looks like gobbledygook. We love it, but every time I've tried to show a non-developer what Markdown looked like, their eyes glazed over. So those are my critiques. But things that I think are awesome about this project: 1. Open-source. This should always be celebrated because it's not easy to just give away your hard work. (My own app will be SaaS.) 2. Word counts per chapter and for the book as a whole, viewable at all times. 3. Editor and preview at the same time. (Common feature for markdown editors, but still well done.) 4. Solution for outlining, character profiles, tracking locations, plot points, etc. The implementation for these appears to be quite simple, too. These are features that my own app may not have at launch, so hats off. 5. They actually delivered. I, for one, am excited about this project and will be following along.