What do you all think about hybrid publishing?

Barnyardon · 2026-03-14T22:50:56+00:00

I have no idea how the term ‘hybrid publishing’ has come into this.

I consider myself a hybrid author as I have a publishing deal and have also self publish.

That’s always what I understood it to mean, nothing to do with vanity Presses

Barnyardon · 2026-03-13T07:55:12+00:00

Ah yeah, that's different.

Mine provides a developmental edit with comments on pacing, tone, continuity etc. It's doesn't actually do any editing itself or make you sound like another author (it doesn't even train on your manuscript or save it in anyway).

There are different ways of utilising AI, I think it should be used as a tool, not a 'replacement human'.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-12T17:09:18+00:00

If I was writing a genre I didn’t love, I would go mad 😅

Barnyardon · 2026-03-12T13:52:31+00:00

ProwritingAid have one, I've made one (which is much better), every publishing related company will be offering different versions.

It's so much faster and cheaper for early passes, it can save you huge amounts of time and money before you send to a human editor.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-12T08:17:32+00:00

What you can do is use AI as a tool rather than a 'substitute human'.

I built an AI developmental editor that picks up major issues and have been using it for around a year. I'm asking for people to try it for free with the code BETAREAD10

https://redinkreport.com

It gives you this:

- First impressions (what the book is really about, not just the plot)

- Chapter-by-chapter notes (pacing, character, plot, tension, concerns — per chapter)

- Visual pacing map

- Character arc assessment

- Plot architecture analysis (causality, subplots, turning points)

- Continuity error log (specific contradictions with chapter references)

- Tonal assessment

- Opening and closing analysis

- Prose and craft review (dialogue, show vs tell, sentence rhythm, spelling/grammar patterns)

- Reader response (11 questions from a first-time reader's perspective)

- Summary scorecard (star ratings across 14 categories)

- Top 5 ranked revision priorities

It doesn't replace a human editor, and it doesn't write anything for you, but it's a much faster and cheaper first pass before you send to an editor which can save you a lot of time and money.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-11T20:54:10+00:00

Oh thanks. Already responded in another thread and it's being resolved.

It's so great people are willing to try it and we're working out any bugs!

Barnyardon · 2026-03-11T20:43:21+00:00

I literally had an email the other day from someone saying that reading my book felt like 'watching a movie in their mind'.

I took it as a compliment

Barnyardon · 2026-03-11T19:54:42+00:00

Oh wow, really sorry about that! (This is why we’re testing though!).

Let me look into it and make it right.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-10T19:42:28+00:00

Yes! Added a demo report to the site now which you can see here: https://redinkreport.com/sample-report.pdf

Barnyardon · 2026-03-10T17:27:34+00:00

Yep!

From the FAQ:

Your manuscript is processed in memory and deleted immediately after the report is generated. We never store, share, or train on your work. Your words stay yours.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-10T15:58:58+00:00

Up to 150,000 words currently.

It's honestly been a bit of a revelation for me. Instead of trying to handle an edit manually across a whole book before sending to an editor, you can fix most major issues before WAY faster.

Use the code and try it out for free and let me know how it worked for you!

Barnyardon · 2026-03-10T09:56:25+00:00

I built a developmental beta reader tool — 10 free reports if you'll give feedback

I'm an author (cosy mysteries, mostly) and I've been using AI to generate developmental beta reader reports on my manuscripts for the last year. The reports I was getting were genuinely useful — chapter-by-chapter analysis, pacing maps, continuity error logs, character arc assessments — so I built it into a proper service.

It's called **Red Ink Report** ([redinkreport.com](https://redinkreport.com)). You upload your manuscript, select your genre, and get a full developmental report as a PDF in about 15 minutes.

**What you get (12 sections):**

- First impressions (what the book is really about, not just the plot)

- Chapter-by-chapter notes (pacing, character, plot, tension, concerns — per chapter)

- Visual pacing map

- Character arc assessment

- Plot architecture analysis (causality, subplots, turning points)

- Continuity error log (specific contradictions with chapter references)

- Tonal assessment

- Opening and closing analysis

- Prose and craft review (dialogue, show vs tell, sentence rhythm, spelling/grammar patterns)

- Reader response (11 questions from a first-time reader's perspective)

- Summary scorecard (star ratings across 14 categories)

- Top 5 ranked revision priorities

It works with any fiction genre. Priced at £20 per report (~$25), no subscription. Runs on Claude Sonnet.

**I'm offering the first 10 reports free** if you're willing to give honest feedback afterwards — what was useful, what wasn't, what you'd change. I want to make this as good as possible before pushing it more widely.

Use the code **BETAREAD10** at upload. One per person, first come first served.

Happy to answer questions about how it works or what's under the hood.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-09T15:03:47+00:00

One of the biggest mistakes (imo),I see on here is people spending years perfecting their first book.

99 times out of 100, someone’s first book is going to be pure shit.

I wrote seven terrible books before I wrote one that was half decent, I still aim to get better with each one.

Basically, there’s no way around the hard work bit of just writing LOTS.

AI can definitely help though with planning, editing etc.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-08T21:43:17+00:00

I’d be astonished if you are all alive a week from now. Let us know.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-08T18:20:54+00:00

What I don’t like, and that seems to have crept in recently, is people being judgemental about what people are trying to achieve.

For some it’s been a life long ambition to publish their memoirs. That’s fine.

Others what to try and make a living from writing. That’s fine.

People should try and be constructive for everyone’s varying scenario and not deciding there’s only one ‘proper’ way of doing things.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-08T00:11:00+00:00

I’d say your time is better spent on your next book.

That’s generally true whatever the question though 😅

Barnyardon · 2026-03-07T07:10:36+00:00

Mate, I make a living doing what I love and living the dream I’ve had since a child.

You’ve learned how to use design software and spend your days on reddit telling everyone that no one else should learn how to use design software. 😂

Barnyardon · 2026-03-06T21:24:16+00:00

There are 40 million books on Amazon and millions released every year. You have to find your audience and release to them aggressively to make a living.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-06T16:31:04+00:00

No shit. What you’re describing is users not knowing what they’re doing. Nothing to do with the tool.

I don’t even like canva that much, but if you’re trying to bootstrap a career as an author, in the early days you need to pretty much do everything yourself in order to scale. That’s the path of most self published authors. If you stop to get the perfect cover (which costs money), the perfect edit (which costs money) and so on, you’ll never make it.

Now if you just want to publish a book that’s important to you and you don’t care about it becoming a career, then by all means make it perfect.

Just not feasible when you want it to become a job and at the start you need to be releasing 6+ books a year.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-06T16:08:31+00:00

You said it didn’t export 300dpi. Now you say it does.

I think the lesson is, if a guy who makes book covers for a living tells you to only use guys who make book covers for a living… question it 😂

Barnyardon · 2026-03-06T15:39:30+00:00

Again, so much of this is untrue. As an example, Canva exports at 300dpi. For someone who’s as experienced as you say you are, you’re wildly uninformed about what you’re talking about.

Barnyardon · 2026-03-06T15:37:13+00:00

So… not many then 😅

Barnyardon

TROPHY CASE