AutoCrit is more than just an editing platform, as you can publish your book directly from it as well. You can also create specific themes to help you keep continuity for future books should you write a series. The best part is that the interface isn’t overly difficult to manage.
It takes a bit more input and time as opposed to other writing apps. However, the process is easy and can help you export an ePub or PDF file to use for various publishing services.
The most difficult part of using AutoCrit to publish your book is marketing it after the fact.
Publish a Book from AutoCrit
I’m going to assume that you have a manuscript saved and edited in AutoCrit and that you’re ready to publish the book. Also, keep in mind that I’m doing this tutorial from the viewpoint of the paid version of the tool.
Start by opening your manuscript from the AutoCrit dashboard.
Step 1: Access the Publishing Feature
From the manuscript, click the “Publishing” option from the toolbar.
Two options will appear under the main toolbar: Book Details and Style / Theme.
Step 2: Adjust the Book Details
First, we’ll make changes to the Book Details portion. This is where you’ll enter the fine details of the book, such as the book cover, title, publisher information, and more.
Click the “Book Details” button.
A new window will expand from the right of the screen.
Adding the Details
The general details of your book currently include:
- Book cover image
- Book Title
- Subtitle
- Author
- Description of the book
- Subjects (if any)
- Publisher name (if any)
- Publisher image
- Print ISBN
- eBook ISBN
- Google Books number
- Amazon number
For those who are using the free AISN from Amazon, you’d put it in the “Amazon” field. This is important because Amazon has a habit of flagging errors if the number is not in the correct location when exporting.
The only required field in the Details section of AutoCrit is the title of your book. Everything else is optional, but it’s best if you can fill in as much as you can that is relevant to the manuscript.
Title Page
The Title page is essentially the title of your book. It’s common practice for this page to be one of the first by the reader, and is often the page that authors autograph.
By default, AutoCrit will generate this page for you when you’re ready to publish and export the files. However, you can customize the page by using the provided field and typography tools.
The Copyright Page
AutoCrit provides a default copyright page that will input the year and author information when exported. In a lot of cases, this may be the only information you need to display for copyright protections.
However, you can edit the page to display anything else that is relevant, such as moral rights, edition, and disclaimers. It may be a good idea to research what you’ll need in you’re particular case, depending on the manuscript and genre.
The Table of Contents
The Table of Contents in AutoCrit only has one function: to enable or disable the page. By clicking the checkbox, you can decide whether you want to show the ToC.
I’m not sure why anyone would want to disable this page, but I’m sure there are books out there without one.
In any case, AutoCrit will automatically assign the chapters and page numbers during the export process. However, the ToC will not show all of the chapters in the preview window that I’ll go over in the next section.
What About Extra Pages for Front and Back Matter?
There are quite a few pages that can go into a book. Most center around the genre, type, and publisher preference. For instance, not everyone will need glossary, index, or acknowledgment pages.
AutoCrit only includes the most basic of pages when exporting the book. However, you can add more by using the “Add a new page” tool in the Book Details section.
To add a new page, click the round “+” icon to the right of the ToC. Once the page appears, click into it.
This new page will come with a text field and the typography tools as seen in the other sections of AutoCrit. From here, you can create the page title, put it into an H1 heading, and then enter your text.
The problem with creating pages this way is that you don’t have control over where they appear. When exporting, new pages will come right after the ToC. This is problematic if you’re adding pages that traditionally go into the back, such as indexes, glossaries, or epilogues.
To avoid this issue, it’s best to create the pages as chapters in the manuscript itself. That way, you have complete control of what pages appear where in the book.
In my case, I had the Prologue and Epilogue pages at the front and back, respectively.
Step 3: Edit the Style / Theme Settings
The Style and Theme section is where you’ll make adjustments for the appearance of the book in general. This includes things like drop caps, chapter heading alignment, the header and footer of PDF pages (for print), paper trim, and more.
Click on the “Style / Theme” button.
By default, AutoCrit will open the Active Settings window on the right-hand side. However, there is a tab for Templates. I’ll go over templates in a moment, but they are perfect if you want to maintain the same style and visual nuance for every book you publish in AutoCrit.
Active Settings
The Active Settings screen is where you’ll manage the formatting of your book in AutoCrit. This includes changing the font on export, adding drop caps to chapters and/or scene breaks, the paper trim sizes, and more.
They are all self-explanatory and are up to how you want the book to appear once it’s exported. You might have to do a bit of research for the trim size and margins for your specific book, though.
In my case, A Freelancer’s Tale was 5 x 8 inches while Kingmaker was 6 x 9 inches. I made A Freelancer’s Tale smaller because it was a very thin book.
Don’t be afraid of a bit of trial and error. Meaning, export the book using different settings to find the one that works best for your needs.
Creating Templates
As I mentioned earlier, AutoCrit lets you create formatting templates for your book. This works in much the same way as the Active Settings tab, only you’re able to save the template under a specific name. Then, you can use the templates in other books.
For instance, I could create a layout perfect for Kingmaker that I would like to use with the second book, Fury. I would name the template “Witcham” as it pertains to the series of books, The Witcham Chronicles.
How you save the template is up to you, but creating one helps you maintain formatting consistency across multiple titles.
Perhaps you have a specific font that you love using. Maybe you want to keep all of the formatting settings similar across all of your books, regardless of whether they are part of a series.
It’s all up to you and what you’d like to do with future manuscripts.
Step 4: Preview and Publish Your Book
AutoCrit has a function that will let you preview the book before you publish. You can see what the manuscript will look like on a standard tablet device and then select whether you want to download the ePub or PDF files.
AutoCrit will only show what the beginning of each chapter looks like. So, if you choose to add drop caps, you can see how they’ll appear onscreen.
Unfortunately, the platform doesn’t have an option to change the preview to a different screen size or resolution. Nonetheless, it is a function that is not commonly used in many writing apps.
At least it works better than my first experience with Kindle Create. Although Amazon fixed a lot of issues since then, it was a nightmare to format my first book.
When you’re sure about the formatting, click the “Download E-Pub” or “Download PDF” button below the preview. AutoCrit will then convert the manuscript into the chosen file type so you can publish it on your favorite book site.
What’s Next?
Writing and editing a book are the easiest parts of publishing. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is marketing. It’s one of the biggest complaints I’ve seen from authors of all kinds on social media.
If people don’t know your book exists, they’re not going to buy it. You have to get it in front of as many people as possible if you want to sell copies.
The hardest part about marketing is how fickle it is for different authors. What works for one may not work the same for another.
For example, in an interview during the Reedsy masterclass for How to Write a Novel, Andy Maslen said that he makes more sales by marketing on Facebook than on any other platform. Then, I’ve seen multiple authors attest how Facebook didn’t result in anything more than tapping their bank accounts.
Of course, this could be the difference of knowing how to run the ads properly with targeted marketing on Facebook. Nonetheless, my point is that not all methods are going to work the same for every author.
At the end of the day, you need to put forth a lot of effort and money into marketing your book well. This means going beyond just sharing the link on social media.
Is AutoCrit a Good Platform for Self-Publishing?
AutoCrit is a virtual all-in-one platform for writing, editing, and publishing your book. Its AI reporting system works extremely well to highlight problematic writing, but it doesn’t fix those points for you.
AutoCrit is not generative-AI in the regard of editing. You still have to decide whether the AI highlighted an actual problem for you to fix or if it was a false positive.
Because the platform does not create the story for you, I can support the tool. However, I do not like the writing aspect of AutoCrit. The marginless layout throws me off, and I’d rather have the writing functionality and goal tracking of something like Reedsy Studio.
I’m lucky in the sense that I can afford Reedsy and AutoCrit to produce my books. But it’s difficult to say which I like better as an overall tool. I love writing on Reedsy, but I love editing with AutoCrit.
This is one of those instances where it’s really up to the author. The best tool is the one that works best for your specific needs. And now that AutoCrit has added the functionality to publish from its platform, it’s even more of a powerhouse compared to other apps.
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