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An honest novel editor for your whole book, in minutes, not weeks, at a fraction of the cost

Edith is software that reads your whole novel, tells you the truth kindly, and talks every note through with you until it’s settled your way. Never a word rewritten.

Read my first 10,000 words, freeSee how it worksRead a sample letter

Edith reads your first 10,000 words and writes you an editorial letter, no credit card needed. The whole book, with every point open to discuss, is $15. Never used to train anything, and yours to delete.

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A manuscript open beside a column of editorial review cards, each note marked accepted, rejected, or in discussion.

You finished the book. You still can’t tell if it works.

You’ve asked everyone who might know, and every answer is either kind, contradictory, flattering, or expensive.

What you needed was one honest read of the whole book, from something that stays in your corner, talks it through with you, and never rewrites a word. No upfront thousands, no one quietly reworking your story. That’s exactly what we built.

  1. Beta reader · Tue 9:41 PM

    Finished it!! I loved it 😊

  2. Writing group · Wed 7:12 AM

    Honestly? Cut the sister. Or make her the villain. One of the two.

  3. Chatbot · Wed 7:15 AM

    What a compelling, masterfully crafted chapter! Every sentence sings. Would you like me to rewrite it in a more polished voice?

  4. Editor · Thu 2:03 PM

    Thanks for reaching out. For 84,000 words a developmental edit is $2,400, and my next opening is in nine weeks.

An editor you can talk back to

Most tools hand you a report and leave. Edith hands you a note, and stays. Under every note is a discussion, and it’s about your book: not writing in general, this scene, this character, this chapter.

Chapter 9 gives away the reveal in chapter 12

In discussion

Chapter 9 · Structure

Tomas’s letter, postmarked three weeks after the funeral, tells the reader Naomi’s father is alive three chapters early, so the reveal confirms instead of surprises. Cut the letter, or hold it until after chapter 12. Keep the letter; lose the postmark.

Discussion

  1. You

    The letter has to be in chapter 9. It's what makes her take the northern road in chapter 10.

  2. Edith

    Then it stays. What gives the reveal away isn't the letter, it's the postmark. Keep the letter and lose the postmark: she still takes the road, but for a reason the reader can't yet name.

  3. You

    That I can do. The postmark goes.

  4. Edith

    Noted, and I've changed the note to say so. When your revision comes in I'll read chapter 12 against it.

A review card on the demo novel, with the discussion under it: the author pushes back on the note, Edith revises it, and the decision stays the author’s.
  • Ask why. Every note says what the reader loses. If that isn’t enough, ask, and she answers from the whole manuscript.
  • Push back. Tell her what the scene is for. When you’ve made the case, she changes her note to fit your book. When you haven’t, she says why.
  • Settle it your way. Accept it, set it aside, or record your own decision. After you revise, she reads the new draft against every note you settled.

The discussion opens with the $15 whole-book read and runs through every stage of the complete edit. See it in the walkthrough.

From a sample editorial letter

The truth about your book, kindly, on page one

Honest, specific, and about your story, not a score. This is how Edith opens on a made-up novel; on yours she reads the whole manuscript, and the letter runs much longer.

Read the full sample

Editorial letter · a sample

Dear author,

I've read The Salt Road twice now, once quickly and once slowly, and I want to be honest with you the way a good editor should: this is a real book, with a real writer behind it, and it is not yet the book it wants to be. Both of those things are true, and the second one is good news, because the gap between them is craft, and craft is fixable.

Here's what's working, and I mean working: your sentences trust the reader. You rarely over-explain, and when Mara stands at the harbour in chapter two and says nothing at all, I understood everything. That restraint is the spine of the book. Protect it.

Now the harder truth. For the first hundred pages I knew exactly what Mara wanted. Somewhere around the midpoint, I stopped knowing. The plot keeps moving, but her wanting goes quiet, and a novel can survive almost anything except a protagonist who stops wanting on the page. I don't think you lost the thread; I think you buried it under event. We'll dig it back out together.

The other thing, and it's related: your best scenes are the ones you seem most afraid of. The confrontation in chapter nine is two pages long and it should be ten. You rush the moments that cost your characters something, as if lingering would be indulgent. It isn't. That's the book.

None of this is fatal. The fact that the quiet scenes land as hard as they do tells me you already know how to write the loud ones. Here's where I'd start.

Edith

A complete edit, first read to final proofread

Your book moves through the same six stages a professional editor works through. Try the Editorial Review for $15, then continue through the rest with a package, at your own pace.

  1. Editorial letter

    Dear author,

    This is a real book, and it is not yet the book it wants to be. Both are true. Here’s where I’d start.

    Edith

    Stage 1

    Editorial Review

  2. Naomi’s grief is mentioned but never inhabited

    Accepted

    Chapter 1 · Character

    The empty chair at breakfast is a good image. Keep the grief under the surface, but let her touch it once: a held object, no explanation, so the reader is inside the loss before the journey begins.

    Your decision · Her mother’s reading glasses, in the drawer she opens for the map. Nothing said about them.

    Stages 2 to 4

    Developmental Editing · Structural Editing · Stylistic Editing

  3. Tracked changes

    She had began had begun to count the days by the colour color of the light.

    Edith · Style sheet: US spelling throughout, per your first chapter. Accept or reject each change in Word.

    Stages 5 and 6

    Copyediting · Proofreading

Inside every stage the loop is the same: a note tied to the exact spot, a conversation about it, your decision, and a re-check after you revise. See the detailed walkthrough.

Read my first 10,000 words, freeSee pricing

Edith reads your first 10,000 words and writes you an editorial letter, no credit card needed. The whole book, with every point open to discuss, is $15. Never used to train anything, and yours to delete.

Take the whole edit back into your manuscript

You don’t just read the feedback on screen. Download your book as a Word file with the edit marked up inside it, and work in the tool you already use.

Story and style edits, as margin comments

In the developmental, structural, and stylistic stages, every note you accept comes back as a comment in the margin, exactly like a human editor querying your draft. You make each change yourself, in your own words.

Copyediting and proofreading, as tracked changes

In the final stages, line fixes come back as tracked changes you accept or reject one at a time, with comments wherever the choice is yours.

Chapter Nine

Naomi said nothing. She turned back to the water and the conversation was over.

EEdith· Stage 2

This is the scene the whole chapter is for, and it ends in one line. Stay with her here. What does she see on the water?

The road north was very pale as a scar against the hills.

WordGoogle Docs

Open it in Word or Google Docs. Nothing is ever rewritten for you, and every word in the finished book stays your own.

Read my first 10,000 words, free

Edith reads your first 10,000 words and writes you an editorial letter, no credit card needed. The whole book, with every point open to discuss, is $15. Never used to train anything, and yours to delete.

Private, and never used to train AI

Your manuscript is the work of your life. We treat it that way. Three promises, and none of them bend:

  • Private to your account. Your manuscript is locked to your account. It is never shared, sold, or shown to anyone else.
  • Never used to train AI. We read your manuscript only to give you feedback. It is never used to train any AI model.
  • We never write for you. Notes and suggestions only, exactly like a human editor in the margins. No word of ours ever ends up in your book.

Read about security & privacy

Who built Edith

Edith started with one author, my wife. She self-publishes, and a human editor was too expensive to hire for every book, so we built the editor she was missing: one that reads the whole manuscript and never touches her words.

Kris

Founder of Edith·Read the story

How Edith compares

Beside a human editor, ChatGPT, or the writing tools you already use: every comparison on one page, drawn from public information, so you can see the difference before you spend anything.

See the full comparison

Frequently asked questions

No. Edith only gives you notes, comments, and suggestions, exactly like a human editor leaving margin notes. Every change is yours to make. Your voice, your style, and your words stay completely your own.

See where your story stands

You finished the book. That was the hard part. The only thing left is finding out if it’s ready, and the first 10,000 words cost nothing.

  • An honest read of your whole novel

  • Notes you settle, one at a time

  • Line edits you accept or reject

  • Back in your file, every word yours

Read my first 10,000 words, free

Edith reads your first 10,000 words and writes you an editorial letter, no credit card needed. The whole book, with every point open to discuss, is $15. Never used to train anything, and yours to delete.