There's a number of editing software out there...from Grammarly to Hemingway Editor to Autocrit.
Anybody use them? How much stock do you put into them? Normally I use them as the beginning phase of my line editing...just to check the simple mistakes and typos.
Recently, I jumped on Autocrit for their $1 trial just to check it out. It seems pretty in depth but also kind of useless at the same time because some of the things it flags doesn't make sense. Out of curiosity, I decided to run a test. I ran the first 2300-2400 words of several recent(ish) successful fantasy novels by some good writers (cutting out the prologues and extra texts like chapter beginning quotes). Then I ran the first 2300 words of my unedited WIP rough draft. Here's what it came up with for the overall score
Heir to Dusk (my unedited WIP) - 83.24
Gardens of the Moon (Erikson) - 85.48
Child of a Mad God (Salvatore) - 79.44
Oathbringer (Sanderson) - 82.94
The Emporer's Blade (Staveley) - 88.08
So, what should I take from this information? My unedited work is on par with these guys?
Of course, this just "measures" the writing and not the content, but I find it hard to believe my unedited writing is comparable to guys who have been writing for a long time and have a whole team of editors combing over their books before publishing.