The free version of AutoCrit is extremely limited, so paying for it seemed like a logical choice. That was a year ago, and I recently had to re-up my account. At a rate of $180 for the year, is AutoCrit worth the money for me?
Although I haven’t had a chance to explore the courses much, the tool itself has been an eye-opener on many levels. For one thing, it’s shown me just how often I repeat words too closely together. I am also pretty bad when it comes to redundancies and overuse of certain phrases.
So, am I paying for yet another year of AutoCrit? Yes.
Why I Think AutoCrit is Worth Paying For
When it comes to forking over money for tools, I am quite stingy. Because I live paycheck-to-paycheck, I need to make sure what I’m spending money on is worth the expense. After a year of using AutoCrit, I feel that it’s worth paying for another year.
Especially since I didn’t give it a proper shakedown. Sure, I’ve edited quite a bit of my next book in AutoCrit. But I also had to take several months off at a time to deal with random life occurrences.
In other words, I like to give something a thorough testing before canceling memberships and whatnot.
Editing My Books
As I said before, AutoCrit has pointed out all kinds of things in my writing that needed improvement. And the built-in report system works well in finding problematic writing.
Of course, you don’t want to blindly follow every automated system for editing books. No program is going to be absolutely perfect, especially since they don’t take into consideration things like nuance or repetition used to accentuate a scene.
Automated, AI-driven systems like AutoCrit are only going to point out proper inconsistencies based on writing samples and the work of others. That means you don’t want to change everything any of these systems flag is “incorrect.”
Besides, doing so would make your writing feel robotic and less emotional. The point is to engage your audience on a level that touches them in some way.
Think about it like this, how often do you find yourself getting emotional over an IKEA manual? Well, outside of frustration and anger.
Showing Others What to Expect
When I review a product, I want to provide as much pertinent information as I can so others can decide for themselves if something is worth the money. And most of the time, I do so without having an affiliate link or being sponsored in some way.
It’s in my nature to be helpful and honest. It’s not just because I want to have authority and expertise in the eyes of Google. I truly enjoy helping people figure out their path.
As I didn’t have a lot of time to dump into using AutoCrit in 2024, I figured paying for it again would give me time to explore everything it can offer so you have a better idea of what you’re considering.
That is as long as my world doesn’t get turned inside out again. I would love it if 2025 was uneventful.
The Free Courses – Eventually
Every once in a while, I’ll take a look at the available courses. There are currently quite a few that are free to take, and many of them pique my interest. The only reason why I haven’t tried one out yet is because of time.
I have a lot going on at the moment, especially since I’ve been dumping a lot of time into finishing Shadows of Atlantic City.
As soon as some of the dust settles in my world, though, I wouldn’t mind giving the courses a try. It’ll give me a chance to expand my horizons while giving me a chance to create a few reviews for the blog and YouTube channel.
Content Ideas for Generating Revenue
Although I primarily create reviews, tutorials, and lists to help people, I would also like to pay a few bills. Paying for AutoCrit for another year gives me a chance to make some more content that might help pay for itself.
For example, the AutoCrit videos on YouTube have made me $8.50 over the past two months. All the videos would need to generate is about fifty cents per day to pay for the tool throughout the year.
If I dial it up a bit, the videos alone could recuperate what I spent on AutoCrit, and that’s not including the few bucks I’ve made on the blog.
Unfortunately, AutoCrit doesn’t seem to have an active affiliate program. They have the Terms of Service for one, but no way to sign up. Either you have to email them directly, or the ToS page was left over from an active program that may have been shut down.
In any case, the AutoCrit content has made me a bit of money thus far and I wouldn’t mind seeing what I could generate this year by doubling down on some video ideas and blog posts.
How Long Will I Keep Paying for AutoCrit?
For the most part, I’m paying for AutoCrit because I don’t have the thousands of dollars for a professional editor. And instead of waiting to save up to hire one, the program will help me polish up the manuscript and publish much sooner.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want to hire a human editor. Not only do I have greater faith in humans over AI, but it would give me a chance to review someone’s services for the blog and YouTube channel.
Since some editors can charge up to $4000 for a book the size of Shadows of Atlantic City, that’s a good chunk of change to save. To put it into perspective, that’s more than 22 times what AutoCrit costs per year.
Any editing is better than none at all, and AutoCrit is impressive with how well it highlights things that need fixing from a structural standpoint. As for whether or not the story is any good, you’ll still have to rely on beta readers or book reviewers.
Anyway, until I can afford to save large chunks of cash at a time for editing services, I am going to make do with what I can afford.
Some of My Future Content Ideas for AutoCrit
Content is what makes the world go ’round. And AutoCrit gives me a lot of ideas for future videos and blog posts. With any luck, some of them might actually drive a bit of traffic and make some ad revenue.
A few of the ideas I have for the app off the top of my head include:
Publishing Directly From AutoCrit
Sometime in 2024, AutoCrit included a formatting and exporting option. Now, you can use AutoCrit to convert your manuscript to use directly in Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble Press, or any other eBook distributor.
I haven’t had a chance to try this feature out as of yet, but plan on making a video on it in the very near future. I was thinking about making a reaction video to using the function for the first time.
Of course, the blog version will be more of a direct tutorial for exporting from AutoCrit.
90-Day Publishing Challenge
Sometime in 2025, I’d like to challenge myself to write, edit, and publish a decent book in 90 days. I mostly just want to see if I can do it despite having so much going on.
A big part of that process will involve AutoCrit. I doubt I would get a book back from a human editor in time to publish after three months.
Theoretically, it should be possible considering I can write more than 2,000 words per day on any given story. It’ll be the editing and cover art that will slow me down some.
Anyway, AutoCrit is going to be involved and I’m thinking about documenting the process.
AutoCrit eBook
The Blog-to-Book content strategy has served me quite well recently, and I plan on setting up another using AutoCrit and its tools. By the time I’m done, it should be a free eBook that covers the many facets of AutoCrit and how to get the most out of it.
So, obviously, I’m going to need to keep paying for AutoCrit if I want to finish that block of content. It’s kind of hard to write about functions if they’re locked behind a paywall.
As I’ve been working on these “books,” I’m kind of kicking myself in the ass for not writing one regarding Textbroker when I was in my prime. I probably would have made quite a few sales.
How Much Would You Pay for an Editing Tool?
Damn near everything is under the label of software-as-a-service. It’s more profitable to charge someone a subscription fee than to deliver a solid, complete project. And AutoCrit is one of the apps that I’m paying the most to utilize.
As long as you’re paying a year in advance, it’s comparable to Grammarly and ProWritingAid. If not, it’ll run you twice as much as the competitors. It’s the reporting and error highlighting that do it for me, though.
As long as you’re finding value in the product, that’s all that really matters.
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