How we think about AI.

Inscript gives you AI tools without telling you how to use them. Here's the philosophy behind that decision.

A tool for thinking, not a replacement for writing.

AI is genuinely useful for analysis. It can help you spot continuity errors across a series, tighten a manuscript, generate a back-cover blurb from sixty thousand words, or brief you on your own novel before a revision pass. These are tasks that used to take hours of re-reading and note-taking. AI handles them in seconds.

That's where Inscript uses it — and that's where I personally draw the line.

I don't use AI to write my books. The story, the voice, the word choices, the rhythm of a sentence — that's the work. That's what readers are paying for when they pick up a novel. If the words aren't mine, the book isn't mine. For me, the creative act is the point.

I recognise that not everyone sees it the same way. Some authors use AI for brainstorming, outlining, drafting, or overcoming blocks. Some use it as a collaborative partner. That's their choice, and I respect it. The craft of writing is evolving, and every author gets to decide where their own boundaries are.

Inscript doesn't make that decision for you. It gives you powerful tools and lets you decide how — and whether — to use them. Every AI feature is off by default and entirely optional.

What AI actually does in Inscript.

Every AI feature in Inscript is designed to work with what you've already written — not to write for you. These are analysis and augmentation tools.

Editing assistance

Line-level suggestions for clarity, pacing, and consistency. Your editor's eye, but tireless.

Manuscript briefings

Get a structured summary of your own book — characters, arcs, themes, timeline — before a revision pass. Useful after setting a manuscript aside for weeks.

Blurb generation

Generate back-cover copy from your full manuscript. A starting point, not a final draft — you'll always want to rewrite it in your voice.

Continuity checking

Powered by your story bible. Cross-references characters, locations, and timeline to flag inconsistencies across chapters or books.

Research tools

Ask questions about your own manuscript or research topics without leaving the editor. Context stays in the app, not in a browser tab you'll lose.

Business briefings

Ask AI to analyse your sales data, ad performance, and revenue trends. Get a narrative summary of where your author business stands — revenue growth, ad ROI, launch readiness — generated from your own data.

Why we ask you to bring your own key.

Most apps bundle AI into a subscription and charge you monthly for access you may not need. Inscript does it differently — and deliberately.

Privacy

Your manuscripts never touch our servers. When you use AI in Inscript, the request goes directly from your machine to your chosen provider. We never see your work, store your data, or act as a middleman. Inscript doesn't have a server. There's nothing to breach.

Cost transparency

You pay the AI provider directly at their published rates. No markup, no bundled subscription, no opaque "AI credits" that expire. A typical editing pass on a full manuscript costs a few cents. You can see exactly what you're spending and stop anytime.

Choice

Inscript works with any OpenAI-compatible API — Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, and others. Pick the provider you trust, the model you prefer, and switch whenever you want. Or run AI entirely offline through Ollama — no internet connection, no data leaving your machine, no cost per query. The decision is always yours.

A chat subscription is not the same as API access.

If you pay for Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus, or a similar plan, that covers the chat interface — the website or app where you type messages. It does not include API access, which is what Inscript uses. The API is a separate product with its own (very low) usage-based billing.

Getting a key takes about two minutes:

Anthropic (Claude)console.anthropic.com — create an account, add a payment method, generate a key.

OpenAI (GPT-4)platform.openai.com — sign in, add billing, create a key.

Google (Gemini)aistudio.google.com — sign in with Google, generate a key.

Ollama (free, offline)ollama.com — install the app, download a model. No account or key needed.

Most authors spend well under a dollar a month on API usage. An editing pass on a full-length manuscript typically costs a few cents.

What AI actually costs in Inscript.

No subscription. No credits. Just direct API usage at the provider's published rates.

~$0.02
Edit a chapter

Line-level editing suggestions on a 5,000-word chapter.

~$0.15
Brief a manuscript

Full character, arc, and theme summary of a 70,000-word novel.

~$0.05
Generate a blurb

Back-cover copy from your full manuscript text.

$0.00
Run locally with Ollama

Every feature, completely offline. No API key, no cost, no data leaving your machine.

Estimates based on Anthropic Claude Haiku pricing. Costs vary by provider and model.

The bottom line.

Your words. Your data. Your choice.
Inscript is the tool. You're the author.

Your words. Your data. Your choice.

Inscript Studio is in beta. Free access now, 50% off at launch for testers.

Apply for Beta Access

Mac, Windows & Linux. AI features included — bring your own key or run locally.