You're writing or revising. The work at this stage is craft — finishing chapters, tightening drafts, getting feedback. Tools matter less than discipline, but the right tools save real time.
Writing or revising the manuscript. Start with the craft questions (how to plan, how to keep writing daily, how to break block), then the toolkit decisions, then pre-pick where you'll format later. Curated from our library of 181 guides.
Outline-first vs discovery-led — the trade-offs and the hybrid approach that gets first-time authors to a finished draft.
Read the guide →Five structures that get you to the end — Three-Act, Save the Cat, Snowflake, Story Circle, Hero's Journey, and which fits which genre.
Read the guide →Realistic word-count targets, time blocks, accountability systems, and how to recover from missed days.
Read the guide →Seven diagnostic causes of block and the specific fix for each — diagnose, then act.
Read the guide →Which writing tool fits your project — feature, price, and workflow comparison.
Read the guide →How to use Scrivener for writing, organising, and compiling for KDP and Kindle.
Read the guide →How Reedsy's free online editor works and whether it's enough for your book.
Read the guide →A complete free-software toolkit — EPUB editors, layout, image, and admin tools.
Read the guide →Sudowrite, Claude, ChatGPT, ProWritingAid — what each is actually for, what KDP requires you to disclose, workflows that work.
Read the guide →Dragon vs Apple vs Google. 1,500-3,000 words/hour vs 500-1,000 typed. The learning curve, UK-accent performance, and the workflow that turns raw dictation into a usable draft.
Read the guide →Decide now where you'll format later — Vellum, Atticus, Reedsy, Scrivener, Kindle Create.
Read the guide →Paid-tool head-to-head — costs, workflows, and which suits the UK market.
Read the guide →Atticus deep dive — features, pricing, how it compares to Vellum and Scrivener.
Read the guide →Amazon's free formatter — is it good enough for your book, or do you need more?
Read the guide →Free vs paid formatting — practical comparison of output quality and value.
Read the guide →Once the manuscript is final, move to Stage 3 where we walk you through formatting it to KDP's exact spec.
500 words a day is the sustainable sweet spot for most authors with day jobs — produces a 90,000-word draft in six months. 1,000-2,000/day suits full-time writers. 5,000/day (NaNoWriMo pace) burns out most people inside three weeks.
For first-time authors: hybrid plotting. Spend 3-5 hours on a one-page beat sheet, then write. Pure pantsing (no outline) is responsible for most abandoned first novels. Pure plotting can kill momentum.
Scrivener (£47 one-off) for fiction with complex structure. Microsoft Word or Google Docs for simpler projects. Reedsy Book Editor (free, browser-based) for those who want clean output. Don't switch tools mid-book — pick one and commit.
Beta readers are unpaid genre fans who read your near-finished draft and give structured feedback before you spend on an editor. 3-5 betas is the sweet spot. Find them via your newsletter, /r/BetaReaders, StoryOrigin (free author-swap platform), or paid via BookSirens.
AI tools work well for brainstorming, outlining, structural feedback, and self-editing acceleration. AI as ghostwriter (publishing AI-generated prose) is detectable by readers and Google, and KDP requires disclosure. Best practice: human-written first draft + AI-assisted revision.