---
title: "Who Galley is for, and who it isn’t"
description: "An honest sorting page: the novelists Galley fits, the writers it doesn’t, and where I’d point you instead. Read this before you pay me."
source: https://usegalley.com/galley-for-you
---
# Is Galley for *you*?

Most software pages are written to convince you. I'd rather
sort you. Galley has enough opinions baked in that it's either a really good fit for you
or a poor one.

## Galley is for you if…

- **You're writing a novel.** Fiction, book-length, meant to be
read on paper and on e-readers. That is the entire audience, and every screen
in the app assumes it.
- **You want the finished book to look typeset, not exported.**
Six named trim sizes, thirty-five book typefaces, mirrored margins, running heads,
a justified and hyphenated print PDF. The conventions of book interiors,
handled correctly by default, and visible while you write rather than after an
import.
- **You publish yourself, submit to agents, or both.** One
manuscript exports a KDP-ready print interior, store-tuned EPUBs, and a
Times-double-spaced submission package, without reformatting anything in
between.
- **You keep a story bible.** Characters, places, timeline,
glossary, a style sheet, all beside the manuscript, in the same tabs, exported
with it. Not a wiki in a second app you stopped updating last March.
- **You sit down at more than one machine.** Galley runs in
the browser and therefore works on Mac, Windows, Linux, and any other OS with a browser. The same app, always current. Nothing to install, nothing to
keep in sync.
- **You'd rather pay once.** A novel doesn't arrive on a
monthly schedule, so I don't bill on one.
- **You write slowly, and don't want software commenting on it.**
There are no sprint timers and no confetti. Goals exist if you set them.

## Galley is not for you if…

- **You're writing anything that isn't a novel.** Screenplays,
dissertations, blogs, cookbooks, picture books. Other tools serve those well.
I deliberately don't.
- **Your plotting happens on a corkboard.** Index cards, beat
sheets, coloured string. [Scrivener](https://usegalley.com/compare/scrivener) and Plottr
take that seriously. Galley gives you a timeline, per-chapter synopses and
stages, and stops there. If visual plotting is the centre of how you work,
you'll be happier with them, and it isn't close.
- **You want a writing-sprint timer.** [Atticus](https://usegalley.com/compare/atticus) has one. I think a novel can't be rushed,
and built the software that way.
- **You want AI drafting your sentences.** Much of the market
is racing to add exactly that. I've committed to not. If a co-writing model
is the appeal, this is the wrong shop.
- **You draft on your phone.** There is no mobile app, and
there won't be one. You can always import content in from your notes app, however Galley itself is only available on screens larger than a phone.
- **You want themed interiors.** [Vellum's](https://usegalley.com/compare/vellum) decorative themes are the benchmark here. Galley sets classic book conventions instead of shipping
a theme library. If the themes are what you're buying, buy them.
- **You write with someone else in the document.** Real-time
co-writing, shared cursors, live edits, is [Google Docs](https://usegalley.com/compare/word-google-docs) and [Reedsy Studio](https://usegalley.com/compare/reedsy-studio) territory, not mine. I'm considering working on some form of collaboration for translations, contributions, and editing, but it isn't towards the goal of multi-author publishing.
- **You want a Markdown app that syncs across Apple devices.** [Ulysses](https://usegalley.com/compare/ulysses) is lovely at exactly that, and if iCloud
and plain text are how you think, it will suit you better than I will.
- **You want goals, streaks and a friendly monthly plan.** [Dabble](https://usegalley.com/compare/dabble) is built around momentum and does it well.
I charge once and stay quiet while you write, which is the opposite trade.
- **You need to work fully offline, everywhere, today.**
Scrivener is the gold standard there and has been for twenty years. Galley
writes offline too, but it's Beta. The honest
status is on the [offline writing](https://usegalley.com/docs/offline-writing) page.

## Which half of publishing you're in

The two routes out of a finished draft need different things from the same
book, so there's a page for each: [if you're publishing it yourself](https://usegalley.com/for/self-publishing-authors), and [if you're querying agents](https://usegalley.com/for/traditional-publishing). Plenty of people read both, in that order or the other one.

## If you're between the two lists

The [comparison pages](https://usegalley.com/compare) go tool by tool, facts first,
including the places rivals beat me. And the sandbox settles what a page can't:
the full app, a seeded book, thirty minutes, no signup. Half an hour of actual
writing will tell you more than I can.

The one bit of sorting I can't do for you: sit down and write in it.

[Launch Galley](https://app.usegalley.com)