Wordsmith

Wordsmith is an AI developmental editor for finished manuscripts. Its editor, "Fred", reads the whole book before commenting, then returns a developmental letter and chapter-by-chapter suggestions you accept or reject. The same subscription covers typesetting, AI beta readers and AI cover art.

What You Get#

• Whole-manuscript read: Upload one file of up to about 150,000 words (.docx, .pdf, .epub, .md, .txt, 25MB max). Fred keeps a map of characters, threads and promises, so later chapters are checked against earlier ones.
• Developmental letter: A structural edit letter (PDF export) plus an editorial read covering genre and comps, characters and point of view, pacing, and consistency findings.
• Two levels of edit: Structural notes are comments only; Fred won't write a missing transition for you. Line-level passes do propose replacement wording as tracked changes, and a line that reads flatter than your prose is turned into a comment instead.
• Word export: Edits export as a .docx with real tracked changes and comments.
• Iris beta readers: Four AI reader personas read the book in order, react in the margins and give closing verdicts.
• Typesetting: Three interior styles (Romantic, Thriller, Editorial) produce a print-ready PDF at your trim size and an EPUB.
• Cover design: Fred drafts a brief from the manuscript and generates three art directions, then repaints your pick at print resolution (up to 20 generations a month). You set the title type yourself.

Who It's For#

• Authors revising a complete draft: Wordsmith pitches it as a structural pass to run on each revision before paying for a human edit.
• Memoir and argument-led nonfiction writers: Every craft pass also runs a nonfiction lens, and the published testimonials come mostly from memoir and nonfiction authors.
• Essayists and newsletter writers: A separate Essays plan covers pieces up to 15,000 words.

Pricing: Manuscripts costs $50/month, or $135 per quarter ($45/month, 10% off). It includes unlimited manuscripts, Iris, typesetting and cover design. Essays costs $10/month or $27 per quarter. The free Essays plan allows 3 pieces a month with 5 passes each. For books, the free option is a 7-day trial in which Fred marks up 7 chunks (about 10,000 words), with no card required. The developmental letter and full edit need the paid plan. Payments are non-refundable except where the law requires, though Wordsmith may refund at its discretion. After cancelling, manuscripts become read-only but stay exportable.

Strengths#

• Reads the whole book before editing: It can catch problems between chapters, like a promise made in chapter 3 and dropped by chapter 30, which chapter-by-chapter chatbot pasting misses.
• Built not to overwrite your voice: Nothing changes until you accept it. The terms state that manuscripts are never used to train AI.
• Honest scope: It says plainly that it isn't a proofreader or a substitute for a human developmental editor.

Limitations#

• Very early stage: The terms describe an open beta "operated by Euwyn Goh and Yash Wanvari, pending incorporation", so there is no company entity yet.
• No independent reviews yet: The only testimonials are on Wordsmith's own site, and the benchmark was run by the vendor.
• Desktop only: The editor doesn't support mobile devices.
• Publishing isn't live: Store distribution is marked "Coming soon"; you upload the exported files yourself.
• Prose only: No dedicated support for poetry or screenplays.
• Third-party AI models: Text is sent to Inception Labs (Mercury) and OpenAI.

Alternatives#

Fictionary ($14–$39/month) gives you a structural framework that you work through scene by scene, with AI as an add-on. ProWritingAid covers prose-level editing but charges extra credits for its manuscript critiques.