While a good, professional (human) editor is invaluable to your book – the purchase of manuscript editing software can be another prudent investment. Manuscript editing software programs do much more than the built-in spelling and grammar checkers in your word processor. StyleWriter is the best editing and proofreading software on the market. Designed by professional proofreaders, editors and experts in plain English, StyleWriter brings together the techniques used by the best writers to help you write in a clear, concise and readable style.

Writers tend to make a very big deal of their tools, whether those tools are delicate pens or ancient typewriters. Increasingly, though, they'll talk about their software. Even the most genteel literary event can soon devolve into a fist-fight between fans of and (both of which cost around £27, US$40, AU$50). Microsoft Word is the default tool for many writers, but a subscription to Office 365 costs £59.99/US$69.99/AU$89 per year for one user – pretty steep if you only need the word processing element.

It runs on any 64bit Intel-based Mac. Devices and Mac OS X version VLC media player requires Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later.

There's often a better option for those of us starving in garrets: free software. Come with us as we discover the best free apps to turn your writing talent into something tangible. Auto-save function Available for Linux, Windows and macOS, is designed to eliminate distractions so you can actually get on with the job of writing. To that effect it enables you to hide other apps, customize the way your text appears on screen and keep track of your progress. If you're feeling particularly old-school you can even add typewriter sound effects.

FocusWriter isn't for everyone – it's not the right tool for going back through and editing your work – but it's a lovely little app with a very modest footprint that stops you keeping an eye on Twitter all day. Only works with TXT files We're big fans of Markdown, the text-editing language that enables you to format, annotate, classify and link as you type with the minimum of fuss, and the superb makes good use of it. This free program delivers an incredibly stripped-down user interface that's considerably more powerful than it looks. There's an excellent outliner, automatic syntax highlighting and file organisation, and although markdown takes a bit of getting used to, you'll be very glad you made the effort. Once you've mastered WriteMonkey, you can use it to create blog posts, print publications and anything else that needs words in it.

Cross-platform If your words' appearance is as important as their meaning, give a go: it's a free, highly-rated desktop publishing application for Linux, OS X and Windows that's suitable for producing entire magazines. It's been kicking around – and regularly updated – since 2001, and while it's a little tricky to use at first, it offers professional-grade publishing with layered, multi-page documents and good colour management support. If you've ever used Adobe InDesign, you'll find the similarity striking. If you can use one, you'll pick up the other in seconds. We wouldn't want to lay out a 400-page book in it (though that's quite possible), but for shorter works it's ideal. Looks a little old-fashioned Here's another app for writers that isn't strictly for putting your words on the screen: is all about mind mapping, and it enables you to record all the leaps and bounds your imagination makes whether you're plotting a potboiler or trying to organize complex threads of an investigation. Freemind isn't something we'd necessarily recommend for mind mapping beginners – it looks a bit like a desktop publishing app having some kind of breakdown – but if you're an experienced intellectual explorer it's a lot tidier than a wall full of index cards and sticky notes.

• • • We’ve uncovered the best you can buy on a writer’s budget. Microsoft office publisher for mac free trial.