Every plan has every feature. They differ in credits.
PenWriter runs on credits each month, and nothing in it is held back by plan. These are the owner’s planned launch prices. There is no checkout yet, so nothing can be bought, and you will be told before anything is charged.
Choose a size. Every feature is in all of them.
Switch to yearly to see what a year saves.
Free
A free start
Starter credits
The amount is not decided yet. Nothing is promised until it is.
To see whether PenWriter suits the way you write, before you choose a size.
Start writing free$0
Planned launch price
Light
1,500
credits a month
About 85,000 words of drafting a month.
A short book, a few chapters now and then, or a writer who mostly writes by hand and asks for an edit.
Start writing on Light; checkout is not open yet$12 a month
Planned launch price
Standard
Where a new author starts
5,000
credits a month
About 282,500 words of drafting a month.
A novel a month at a steady pace, with an editor's read and a rewrite where one is needed.
Start writing on Standard; checkout is not open yet$29 a month
Planned launch price
Heavy
20,000
credits a month
About 1,135,000 words of drafting a month.
Several books going at once, a series, or narration and pictures on top of the writing.
Start writing on Heavy; checkout is not open yet$99 a month
Planned launch price
Pricing is planned
These are planned launch prices, set by the owner and not worked out from anything. There is no checkout, no card form and no invoice yet, so nothing can be bought, and you will be told before anything is charged. They may change before checkout opens. The credit sizes are the ones the product ships with. Questions about plans.A plan has no limit on books and no tiers of features, because nothing else is enforced and PenWriter does not advertise what nothing keeps. The only free start is the starter credits above: the product grants none at sign-up today, and while there is no checkout a new author is on the Standard allowance.
Credit packs, when a month is not enough
One-time, valid for 12 months, and usable on any plan. Planned, and not built: today credits can only be given by an administrator.
1,000
credits, one time
$12
Planned launch price
4,000
credits, one time
$39
Planned launch price
How many credits will my book cost?
Move the sliders. The calculator uses the cost the backend puts on each kind of work: a rate for the words read and a dearer one for the words written, and the typical size of one call. A chapter of 1,000 words, for example, comes to 24 credits.
This book, in credits, about
2,217
24 chapters of 2,500 words. Writing the same book by hand would cost nothing.
Idea, shape, cast and outline
125
4 calls, one ordinary call of each
Drafting the chapters
1,056
24 calls, one call a chapter
The editor reads every chapter
504
24 calls, one reading a chapter for each pass
Line edits
504
24 calls, one call a chapter
Store description, categories and keywords
28
2 calls, one call each
Against each plan
Light (1,500 a month)
2 months of credits
Standard (5,000 a month)
44% of a month
A month of Standard covers about 2.2 books like this one.
Heavy (20,000 a month)
11% of a month
A month of Heavy covers about 9 books like this one.
An estimate for planning, never a quote. Each drafted chapter is priced from a brief of about 4,000 tokens (the outline, the cast and notes on earlier chapters) and the words it writes; the editor, the line edits and the rest from the usual size of one call of each kind, scaled to your chapter length. Narration counts 6 characters a word. Real chapters vary, and a call that fails before the model says anything is refunded.
A rule of thumb to check it against. A 60,000-word novel is roughly 1,100 credits to write and around 2,000 with an editor’s read and a pass of line edits, so Standard covers between 2 and 3 such novels a month. Start from what a book should cost you, then check the bill.
From the usage notes in the backend’s documentation (docs/USAGE.md, “Sizing a plan”). The calculator’s first setting is a novel of that length.
What each plan holds
Everything in PenWriter is in every plan. They differ in one number, the credits, and so in how much model work a month can hold.
| What | Free | Light | StandardNew authors start here | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned price, monthly | $0 | $12 a month | $29 a month | $99 a month |
| Planned price, yearlywhat a month comes to, and what a year saves | No yearly price | $10 a month$120 a year; saves $24 | $24 a month$290 a year; saves $58 | $82 a month$990 a year; saves $198 |
| Credits a month | Starter credits, amount not decided | 1,500 | 5,000 | 20,000 |
| Words of drafting a monthat 2,500 words a chapter | Not decided | about 85,000 | about 282,500 | about 1,135,000 |
| Books like the calculator’s first setting2,217 credits each | Not decided | 2 months for one | about 2.2 | about 9 |
| Planning: ideas, shape, cast and outline | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Drafting, one chapter or the whole book | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| The editor, with every kind of reading | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| The library of tools | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Research, with sources and footnotes | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Translation into a new, linked book | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Series and pen names | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Covers, mockups and social graphics | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Kindle and paperback files, with the checks | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Audiobook (where a narrator is connected) | Included in Free | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| A model of your own, at a flat 1 credit a call | Not decided | Included in Light | Included in Standard | Included in Heavy |
| Unused monthly credits roll over one month (planned) | Not decided | Planned | Planned | Planned |
| Credit packs, usable on any plan (planned) | Planned | Planned | Planned | Planned |
| Support | By email | By email | By email | By email |
Credit sizes are read from the plans built into the backend (usage/plans.py): 1,500, 5,000 and 20,000 credits a month. Prices are the owner’s planned launch prices (pricing.ts); words of drafting and the rows under them are worked out from the same rates as the calculator. Today the monthly allowance does not carry over: it starts again at the beginning of each month. Nothing here is an offer yet.
What each kind of work costs
| Work | One ordinary call |
|---|---|
| Book ideas | about 14 |
| Book shape | about 13 |
| Cast | about 33 |
| Outline | about 65 |
| A chapter drafted | about 35 |
| A chapter written again | about 37 |
| Line edits | about 21 |
| Store description | about 15 |
| Categories and keywords | about 13 |
| The editor, one chapter, one kind of reading | about 21 |
| Chapter chat | about 20 |
| Pictures | 40 a picture |
| Narration | 8 per thousand characters |
| Web research | 2 a search |
| Translation, one passage | about 15 |
A picture costs 40 credits each and a web search 2; narration is priced by the text spoken, 8 credits for each 1,000 characters. One ordinary call is the typical size the backend uses for the early credit check: a chapter draft reads about 4,000 tokens and writes what the chapter is long. A credit buys about 75 words of writing or 300 of reading.
What never spends a credit
These never ask the model, so there is nothing to charge for.
- Writing by hand, and every version of a chapter kept
- Building the Kindle and paperback files and running Amazon's rules over them
- Typesetting a cover, and the mockups made from it
- Drawing social cards, carousels and the press kit
- The editor's own checks: repeated words, filler, quotation marks, spacing
- Reading a file you add as a source
- The tools that run on PenWriter's own code
How credits behave
Does anything carry over?
Planned: unused monthly credits roll over for one month. Today the allowance starts again at the beginning of each month (UTC) and does not carry over, so that is what the product does until rollover is built.
Can I be given more?
Credits an administrator gives you do not expire, and are spent after the month's allowance. Credit packs, bought one time, are planned and not built.
Why do all plans have every feature?
Because nothing in the product is held back by plan. A plan is a name and a number of credits, and the product enforces nothing else. Work that asks a model spends credits; the rest is free on every plan.
What if a call fails?
A call that fails before the model says anything is refunded in full.
What if I run short?
If your credits cannot cover a piece of work, it is refused before it starts, in plain words, and nothing in your book changes. Writing by hand is never refused.
What about a model of my own?
Your provider bills you for what it reads and writes. PenWriter charges a flat 1 credit a call for being the way there.
Can I see what I spent?
Yes: Plan and credits, in the sidebar, shows your plan, what is left, this month's use by kind of work and by book, and the latest charges, and lets you download all of it as a spreadsheet.
Not decided yet
Listed here so none of it is taken for a promise.
- A money-back guarantee, or a period for one
- How quickly support replies: email is the way to reach it, and no reply time is promised
- How many credits a free start holds
- Whether the planned prices change before checkout opens
What will not be here
Decided, not postponed.
- Free credits for posting a review or sharing PenWriter. Credits are for work, not for publicity.
- Made-up discounts, countdown timers, or a “most popular” badge on a plan nobody has chosen yet.
- Testimonials, ratings or counts of authors, because PenWriter has not counted any and will not invent them.
Try it and watch the credits as you go.
Your plan, what is left and what you have used are on the Plan and credits page, in the sidebar. Questions about plans: support.