Writing in Scriblit

Draft the way you always have: type, select, format. The difference is that Scriblit understands the shape of a picture book. Spreads, word counts, and art notes all take center stage.

Spreads

A spread is the pair of facing pages a reader sees when a picture book lies open. In Scriblit, you divide your manuscript into spreads with spread dividers; horizontal rules labeled with the page range they represent, like [4–5] or [6–7].

Insert a spread divider at the cursor with Format → Add Spread at Cursor, the book icon in the icon bar, or Ctrl+Shift+Enter (⌘+Shift+Return on Mac).
Page-range labels are computed automatically from your first content page and total pages settings. Scriblit renumbers them for you as you add, move, or delete spreads.
The status bar shows how many spreads and pages you have used, and how many you have left, and warns you when the manuscript runs over.

Inserting a spread divider with Ctrl+Shift+Enter; the page-range labels renumber automatically — Insert a spread divider at the cursor and the page labels renumber automatically.

You can also move a spread divider after the fact. Drag a divider by its page-range label and drop it where you want the spread to end. The labels renumber as it moves.

Dragging a spread divider by its page-range label to a new position; the page labels renumber as it moves — Drag a divider by its label to move the spread; the page labels renumber to match.

New to spreads, page counts, or self-ended books? See Picture Book Basics for the publishing conventions behind these numbers.

Illustration notes

An illustration note (also called an art note or “illo note”) is a brief suggestion to the illustrator, used only when the visual carries meaning the text doesn’t. Scriblit styles illustration notes distinctly and brackets them on export, so agents and editors can immediately tell story text from art direction.

Toggle the current paragraph into an illustration note with Format → Illustration Note, the palette icon, or Ctrl+Shift+I.
Words inside illustration notes are excluded from your manuscript word count and reported separately.

Author notes

Author notes are private margin notes for yourself; reminders, questions, alternate lines that are anchored to a passage or paragraph. They live in the Notes panel, never appear in your manuscript text, and are saved with your .spb file.

Select text (or just place the cursor in a paragraph), open the Notes panel from the top-right of the editor, and choose Add note.
A colored marker appears in the margin next to the anchored block, you can click it (or the note card) to jump back to that spot.
If you rewrite the passage a note was anchored to, the note is kept and listed as detached so you can re-attach it to new text.

Selecting a line of text, opening the Notes panel, and adding an author note — Select a passage, then Add note. The note anchors to that text.

On desktop, the Notes panel docks to the left or right side of the editor, with the dock side configurable in Preferences → Editor under SIDE PANELS. When both the Notes and Cover Letter panels dock to the same side, they share a combined view with switchable tabs, letting you access both without taking up extra width.

Cover letter

In addition to author notes for yourself, Scriblit also holds a cover letter—the query or submission letter you send alongside your manuscript. See Cover Letter for how to write, store, and export it.

Formatting

Bold (Ctrl+B), italic (Ctrl+I), underline (Ctrl+U), and strikethrough are available from the Format menu and icon bar. Picture book manuscripts are intentionally plain, Scriblit keeps the options minimal so your export always looks professional.

Focus Mode

Focus Mode (the eye icon, or File → Focus Mode) hides spread dividers so you can read your story straight through. Choose between two views under File → Focus Mode: Story text only also hides illustration notes, while Story + art notes keeps them visible. The eye icon toggles between off and whichever view you used last.

Focus Mode views & focus export

While Focus Mode is on, any Share export (TXT, PDF, DOCX, or Google Doc) asks whether to export the focus copy, what you see on screen, with the title, byline, and contact header intact but no spread labels and no author-note comments; or the full manuscript. Focus copies get a (Focus) suffix on the filename or Drive title so they never overwrite a full-manuscript export.

Toggling Focus Mode to hide spread dividers and illustration notes, then toggling back — Focus Mode removes the spread dividers so you see only the story.

Typewriter Mode

Typewriter Mode is a distraction-free writing environment designed to reduce visual noise and focus on your words. When enabled, the current line stays pinned to a fixed writing line as you type (the manuscript scrolls beneath your cursor), and you can optionally enable a Courier Prime monospace font and typing sound effects to evoke the experience of writing on a typewriter.

Toggle Typewriter Mode from Preferences → Editor, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+T (⌘+Option+T on Mac).
Adjust the writing line to your preference: High, Middle, or Low to change where the caret is pinned vertically.
Enable the Typewriter font and optional typing sounds in the Preferences Editor tab.

Enabling Typewriter Mode from the File menu and typing a line while the caret stays pinned — Typewriter Mode keeps the caret on a fixed writing line as you type.

Word and page counts

The word count in the toolbar shows your live manuscript word count (illustration notes excluded). You can enable a warning threshold in Preferences; useful for staying under the typical 500 to 600 words of a modern picture book.
The status bar shows pages used (e.g. 28 / 32 pages) and spreads used (e.g. 13 / 15 spreads).
Select any passage to see a word count for just that selection.

Preferences

Open Preferences from the toolbar button on a computer, or from the Document sheet on a phone or tablet. It gathers your settings into five tabs: Document layout, the Editor writing surface, Export formatting, Author Info, and Offline & Storage.

See Preferences for a tab-by-tab walkthrough of every setting, including the newer paper shade, spread divider color, pitch, backmatter, page-count header, and recovery options.