What is Bookshaper?
Bookshaper is a desktop writing application built for novels and long-form manuscripts. You write in a scene-based editor, organize your story with Outline and Beat Cards, track characters and locations, style your book with built-in typography tools, and export to EPUB or PDF—all in one app.
Do I need to be an experienced writer to use it?
Not at all. Bookshaper is designed for authors at every stage—from first-time novelists to experienced published writers. The writing tools are straightforward, and the analysis features help you see your story the way an editor would, whether you’re learning the craft or refining it.
Can I start writing directly in Bookshaper, or do I need to import something?
Both. You can create a new project and start writing from scratch, or import an existing manuscript from DOCX, EPUB, HTML, or Markdown files, or from an unzipped EPUB or Kindle package folder. Either way, your work is organized into chapters and scenes from the start.
Is Bookshaper a desktop app or a web app?
It’s a desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Your manuscripts are stored locally on your device and optionally synced to the cloud — encrypted on your device before upload, and staying encrypted on our cloud storage.
What types of writing does Bookshaper support?
Bookshaper is designed for book-length manuscripts—novels, memoirs, essay collections, narrative nonfiction, and similar works. The writing, organization, styling, and export tools work equally well for fiction and nonfiction. Short-form projects like short stories and novellas fit naturally too.
Is there a tutorial or tour?
Yes—each area of the app (Write, Structure, Notebook, Analyze, Lume, Format, Package, and Market) offers its own short walkthrough the first time you visit it. It’s a dismissible card, so it never blocks you from writing, and you can reopen any area’s tour later from that area or from Guide.
How is Bookshaper different from Scrivener or Google Docs?
Scrivener is great for organizing a manuscript, and Google Docs is great for writing prose. Bookshaper combines a focused writing environment, structural organization tools (Outline, Beat Cards, drag-and-drop), character and location tracking, and publication-ready export—all in a single app.
What is Lume?
Lume is Bookshaper’s in-app assistant, a conversational panel you can open alongside any view. It does two jobs. You can ask your manuscript questions — what is canon, who is this person, when was that established — and Lume answers out of your own text: an index of your scenes is built on your machine, and each question pulls the handful of passages closest to it, so the answer draws on what you actually wrote. It may quote your text, but isn’t guaranteed to, so check anything important against the manuscript. You can also think out loud with it — brainstorm where a chapter could go, or why a scene isn’t landing — with the ideas still yours; Lume is a surface to reason against, not the place your story comes from. Each conversation is saved with your project so you can pick up where you left off. Each message spends AI credits, or none when you use your own API key (you pay the provider at their rates).
How do I outline my manuscript? What’s the difference between Outline, Beat Cards, and Beat Gaps?
There are two ways to outline under Structure. The Outline view is one editable tree — parts, chapters, scenes, and beats — that you build and rearrange top-down (great for plotters). Beat Cards is the bottom-up companion: capture loose beats and spin them up into scenes (great for pantsers). Beat Gaps is separate, under Analyze: it lists the beats your analysis detected in your scenes that aren't yet in your structure, and you add each one — or a chapter's worth at once — as your own. Each chapter's own summary is shown on the chapter in Outline once analysis has written it. In short: you build your structure in Outline or Beat Cards, and the analysis offers what it found as Beat Gaps.
Does the AI write or generate text for me?
Bookshaper offers targeted editing tools: Revise, Line Edit, Expand, and Dialogue. Every proposed change appears in a diff view so you can review, accept, or reject it individually. The marketing blurb generator creates back-cover copy and taglines, and Cover Studio lets you design front covers, back covers, and spines—starting from AI-generated concepts or your own artwork. Nothing is ever applied without your explicit approval.
What are the Refine and Dialogue tools?
Refine is one panel holding three scene-level passage tools. Expand develops thin passages along your established beats. Revise reshapes your prose across six dimensions (voice, tone, diction, syntax, figurative language, structural style) while preserving meaning. Line Edit offers sentence-level clarity and rhythm improvements, accepted or rejected one edit at a time. Dialogue is separate, and works at the chapter level: it reads dialogue across a whole chapter to keep character voices consistent, grouping its suggestions by character. Every change is shown in a side-by-side diff view with full undo/redo history.
What are style profiles?
A style profile (ESP) captures your writing’s voice signature—its characteristic patterns of diction, syntax, and tone. The first time you run a style-conditioned operation, Bookshaper extracts one from your manuscript and uses it to condition Revise, Line Edit, Expand, Dialogue, and the proofread style pass, so suggestions follow your established voice instead of generic editorial defaults. There is nothing to set up and no profile to manage. Each new result carries a note saying whether it was styled to your voice or produced generically—and, when generic, why.
Can I customize how my book looks when I export it?
Yes. The Formatting editor gives you control over typography, spacing, margins, running headers, ornamental decorations, hyperlink appearance, and more—across dozens of style targets. You can preview in real time for both print and ebook formats before exporting to EPUB, PDF, or DOCX.
How do I sign in to Bookshaper?
You can sign in with email and password or use any of the supported social logins: Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, LinkedIn, or X. Social login uses your existing account with that provider—no extra password to remember.
Are my manuscripts used to train AI models?
We don't authorize AI providers to train on your manuscripts, and because these features run on third-party AI platforms, this relies on each provider honoring its API terms. Your creative work is yours alone.
Do I keep creative control?
Always. Bookshaper shows you analysis results and suggestions. Every creative decision—what to change, what to keep, what to ignore—is entirely yours. No changes are ever made to your manuscript without your explicit action.
Do I need a strong internet connection to use the AI features?
The AI features and cloud sync need a working connection—but the rest of Bookshaper does not. Writing, editing, organizing your story, styling your book, and exporting to EPUB, PDF, or DOCX all work fully offline. If your connection is unavailable, Bookshaper reports the problem instead of completing the AI request. You’re never charged credits for work that didn’t complete.
Can I use Bookshaper without any AI?
Yes. Settings › AI Configuration › AI features has a Writing only switch that turns every AI tool off at once, plus a switch per tool if you’d rather turn just one back on. With AI off, Analyze, Lume, and the editor’s AI tools leave the app entirely—Structure, Format, and Market stay fully usable, and Package still assembles the Pitch One-Sheet and Story Bible PDF (the Submission Kit needs AI, since its query letter and synopsis are generated). Nothing in your manuscript or your record changes either way, and switching AI back on any time picks up right where you left off.
Why did my analysis come back nearly empty?
Almost always because the manuscript is not divided yet. Analysis reads structure, not word count, and the two units unlock different things: the passes that read across your book, such as act structure, need more than one chapter to compare between, and the scene-level craft findings need scenes to attach to. A manuscript sitting in the app as one undivided chapter has nothing for either to work on. In a measured example, the same 9,939 words returned several times more findings once split into 8 chapters and 20 scenes than it did as a single undivided chapter. The prose was identical. A quiet report on an undivided draft is a fact about the structure, not a verdict on the writing. If you are importing, a line containing only ---, ***, * * *, # # #, or ~~~ becomes a scene break automatically, and DOCX or EPUB files are split on paragraphs styled Scene Break, Separator, or Section Break. For most manuscripts that is a two-minute edit before importing.
Can I use my own API key instead of credits?
Yes. Bookshaper supports Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) mode for Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), Google (Gemini), Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter, and Together.ai. OpenRouter and Together.ai also let you choose from hundreds of open-source and frontier models — including Llama, DeepSeek, Qwen, and Mixtral — with a single API key. In BYOK mode, analysis requests go directly to the provider using your API key, and you pay the provider at their rates. No Bookshaper credits are used. BYOK also covers cover art: standard cover generation runs on your own OpenAI (GPT Image) or bfl.ai (FLUX) key, and AI covers with your title and author rendered right into the artwork run on your own Ideogram key. You can switch between platform and BYOK mode at any time in Settings.
Am I charged credits if an analysis fails?
No. Credits are only consumed when an analysis completes successfully. If something goes wrong — a timeout, a network issue, or an unexpected response — no credits are deducted.
Where is my manuscript stored?
Locally on your device as plain Markdown and JSON files. When cloud sync is enabled, an encrypted copy is also stored in the cloud. That synced copy is encrypted on your device before upload using AES-256 encryption, so the server stores only the encrypted copy, and it stays encrypted in the cloud.
What is cloud sync?
Cloud sync automatically backs up your project to the cloud after each save. Your manuscript is encrypted on your device before it leaves—the server stores only the encrypted copy, and it stays encrypted in the cloud. If your computer is lost, damaged, or replaced, sign in on a new device and your projects are waiting for you. Cloud sync can be turned on or off per project in Project Settings.
How do I restore my project if my computer is lost or damaged?
You have two recovery options. From the cloud: open Bookshaper on any device, sign in, and go to File > Cloud Projects… (or Cloud Projects in the app bar) to download your synced projects. From a local backup: use File > Restore from Archive to open a ZIP backup from your backup folder. Both methods restore the full project including chapters, characters, locations, notebook entries, and settings.
Does Bookshaper automatically back up my work?
Yes, in two ways. Auto-backup creates timestamped ZIP archives of your project every 30 minutes by default to a local folder. Set the folder, schedule and number kept under Preferences › App › Backups; turn it on or off per project in Project Settings. Cloud sync uploads an encrypted copy after each save. Both are enabled by default so your work is protected from the moment you start writing.
Does Bookshaper share my data with third parties?
Manuscript content is never sold, and is never shared for advertising, model training, or any other third-party purpose. The one exception is delivering the features you ask for: on Bookshaper’s platform, manuscript text is sent to Anthropic (editorial features) and OpenAI (editorial features and scene narration), under their commercial API agreements — see the AI Disclosure section of our Privacy Policy. Cloud-synced archives are encrypted on your device before upload, and they stay encrypted on our cloud storage. Billing is handled by Stripe. Anonymized usage telemetry may be collected to improve the product, subject to your consent.
Can I delete my data?
Yes. Your manuscripts live on your device, so you control them directly. Cloud-synced archives can be deleted from File > Cloud Projects… with Delete cloud copy. Deleting your Bookshaper account removes your account data and any cloud archives from our servers. Your local manuscript files are unaffected.
How do I get help?
Email support@bookshaper.com or use the support link inside the application. We aim to respond within 24–48 hours for standard issues and faster for account or access problems.
Where can I report a bug?
The quickest way is from inside the app: open Help → Send Feedback… to file a report without leaving Bookshaper. The form automatically attaches your operating system and app version and accepts up to 50,000 characters, so you can paste logs or detailed steps. You can also email support@bookshaper.com with a description of what happened and what you expected—including your operating system and app version helps us track it down faster.
Still have questions?
Check the docs or reach out directly.