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I've been using Scrivener for many years now to draft books. Cut a long story short, changes to my work practices have me using Google Docs a lot more. I'm really liking cloud based apps and am thinking about ditching Scrivener altogether, because it doesn't allow me to work across multiple devices. Working on multiple devices is a huge plus.

What does everyone use? Is there a gem for writers that I'm missing? Has anyone composed a book in an app like Google Docs and what are the pros and cons you've discovered?

I'm not a fan of online anything. It's always a privacy and security risk. Plus, if the connection goes down, you can't sync that device you were about to use. Because you expected to have a connection, you don't have a thumb drive with the work on it.

Scrivener always looked interesting because it could link in character bios, outlines, digital index cards, etc, but I kind of like doing that creative stuff away from the computer. I stick with a local word processor and local spreadsheet. Except for the digital index cards, I don't know that Scrivener has anything you can't emulate by careful file naming, some form of text doc, and a spreadsheet. Or if you're really wedded to Scrivener but want to use multiple devices with it, can you set up a remote desktop connection?

I write in a word processer (Libre Office Writer), create covers and other graphics in Paint Shop Pro 5 (still excellent, and far easier to use than Photoshop), and publish using Jutoh. However, the recent formatting changes on Amazon may cause me to update my approach. Like Kathy, I'm not comfortable depending on cloud access, certainly not in South Africa. Multiple devices... not for me.
But hey, considering my productivity, maybe I'm not the best example to follow!

I write in Microsoft Word and store it on the Cloud. Every time I finish drafting a chapter or editing a chapter, I email a copy of the book to myself as backup, which is also helpful to have all those old versions if I need to go mine an earlier version of a scene later on if it turns out I changed something in edits I later don't care for.

I have a desktop at home and work off a tablet when I'm out doing interviews and the like. So, the two device thing is essential for me.

As are backups. Years ago, I lost two chapters of a book because I hadn't backed up the file to a floppy disc. Remember those?

I think the appeal of Google Docs for me is the instant backup to the cloud. You can also work offline and it syncs changes once your internet connection is restored.

To date, the only advantage Scrivener has had is the functionality to organise long books. I have to do a manual backup, finding the file and shipping it to cloud storage.

And yes, Kindle Create is the way to go for titles published on Amazon. They've given us virtually no choice in that matter anymore. It's not too bad though.

Michael wrote: "I have a desktop at home and work off a tablet when I'm out doing interviews and the like. So, the two device thing is essential for me.

As are backups. Years ago, I lost two chapters of a book be..."

Backups. Yes! I had a hard drive crash about five years ago and had no backup at the time. Fortunately, after shelling out over R5,000 (over $300 US) a technician was able to recover everything that mattered. Since that scary lesson I have become fanatical about backing up!
I always have at least one backup copy, made automatically on a daily basis. DropBox, now that I can afford enough data, and to a local external hard drive.

Do you still version, Mike? Like Kat, I prefer to keep previous versions around in case that brilliant new idea didn't work so well and I need to go back to where I branched off. Does Google Docs give you the ability to back up to a previous version, or are you overwriting everything with whatever went up last?

Not much anymore. I've got to the point that I like to have the whole story worked out before I write it, so I don't tend to make substantial revisions which require dialling back to an earlier draft.

Google Docs does keep versions. It saves your work from each day. You can see all the versions in your version history. Each version is displayed like the track changes feature in MS Word, so you can see what you changed, added, deleted and so forth.

It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Word or Libre Office and the like, but it has everything you need to write a book. I've decided to work on my latest project in Google Docs. So far, it's working really well. And no more manual backups. Hallelujah.

I use LibreOffice for drafting. Finalize the files in InDesign (Older on-computer version, not the cloud offering). If I intend to spend some writing time away, I bring a thumb drive along with a copy of my working materials. I do have several backups of the working directories.

I have no suggestions for tablet use. I have trouble with the form factor and can't compose on them.

Once upon a time, I thought about using Google's offerings, but I read their terms of service, and it sounded an awful lot like they could do whatever they wanted with your materials so I haven't touched them to this day.