Twenty tools, and what each one replaces

A book does not need nineteen things done to it at once. It needs them in order, and the order is what most authors never see — which is why so much money gets spent on the wrong pass at the wrong time.

So the tools are grouped by stage rather than by type. Capture, before there is a draft. Create, getting words down. Shape, deciding what the book is. Improve, making it work. Prepare, getting it out.

You will not use all of them. Most authors use five or six, and the point of the list is knowing which five.

On each tool page you will find the service it replaces and what that service costs in Britain — sourced to CIEP suggested minimum rates, Reedsy's published averages, Books.by and The Ghostwriters Agency, dated and flagged as sourced, derived or estimated.

This is deliberate. An author who does not know that a developmental edit costs £1,500–£4,800 cannot judge whether any of this is worth anything.

It also sets the honest expectation: the full editorial sequence with freelancers runs £2,500–£6,000, which is why most finished manuscripts stay in folders. That number is the reason this exists.

Every tool page has a field called when a human is better, and it is filled in honestly.

Real beta readers tell you whether they would have bought it. A publicist has relationships. A cover designer who knows your shelf will outsell a generated cover, and that gap is widest in romance, thriller and fantasy. A developmental editor who has sold books in your genre carries market judgement no rubric holds.

We would rather you knew that here than found it out after publishing.