The Assignment
Living Book Map
FLOW
DISCERNMENT
RESEARCH
READER
EDITOR
Reflection Stream
Write your book in your voice β by talking or typing. Start a free 14-day trial.
Author OS doesn't write your book for you β it helps you think it into being, in your own voice. Here's every tool and how to get the most from each.
+ New (top-left) creates a project; the dropdown switches between them β keep several going at once. Each keeps its own Book Map, conversations, manuscript, and timer.
When you create a project you pick what you're writing β Book/Chapter, Speech, Sermon, Personal Essay, or Term Paper. The genre changes everything downstream: the Book Map's node names, the dictation question arc, and how your words are shaped. Speeches and sermons are shaped for the ear β delivery rhythm, second person, room to breathe β and their timings are real speaking time.
Duplicate clones the current project β intent, Book Map, and section content β so you can rework a speech or sermon for a new occasion or audience without starting over. It even prompts you for the new audience on the way in.
Anchor the whole project to what it's for β these shape every tool (questions, dictation arc, and shaping):
Best practice: set The Assignment and Audience first β everything NORM does will serve them, and your Objectives suggestions get sharper.
Best practice: don't pre-plan the whole book. Add map nodes as ideas land and reorder later β the structure should follow the thinking, not precede it.
FLOW example: "I want to open with the night my parents stopped speaking, but I keep abstracting it." β NORM asks what you actually saw and heard in that moment.
DISCERNMENT example: "My claim: every rupture can be repaired if both people want it." β NORM probes the edge cases until the claim holds.
Best practice: generate in FLOW, sharpen in DISCERNMENT. Enter sends, Shift+Enter makes a new line. Tap π€ to talk instead of type.
Outline your sections β NORM builds a question arc tuned to your genre (a book's arc differs from a speech's or a sermon's) β you record yourself answering β it transcribes (Whisper) and shapes your words into prose in your genre's voice β you review β approve β publish. Nothing publishes without your approval.
Best practice: speak naturally and tell stories β don't "perform." Record one section at a time. The shaped draft keeps your voice; you stay the editor.
Two panes: your sections and a prose editor. Create a section (optionally linked to a Book Map chapter) and write. Every Save is a new immutable version β open History to view or restore any earlier draft, so you can never lose work. Run Check originality before you finalize. π Read plays a section aloud in a voice you choose β reading by ear catches what the eye misses.
The conversation develops your thinking and won't ghostwrite β but when you explicitly want line help, select a passage in Write and pick an op: soften, sharpen, clarify, simplify, deepen, enliven, tighten, lengthen/shorten, Β½/β /2Γ/3Γ length, summarize, assemble, synchronize, compartmentalize, or analyze it (extract, identify, word-swap, critical review). It uses your Audience so word choices land. Suggestions are yours to Accept or dismiss β nothing changes until you say so.
Already have copy? Paste it and NORM breaks it into cards and sorts them toward the right chapters (it never rewrites your words). Drag cards between the Unsorted tray and your Book Map columns, accept its suggestions, then Expand a card β or several β into a section. It's a third way in alongside typing and dictating. On a multi-monitor setup, hit β§ Pop out to open the board in its own window; use β to carry a card to a column in another window (everything stays in sync live).
Turn a finished piece into a speaker's recall deck β a card per movement with cue phrases (great for speeches and sermons). Print index cards or a sheet (Save as PDF), export Markdown, or hit βΆ Rehearse for full-screen Performance mode: flip cards with β / β / Space (or a clicker), with per-card timing and pace. Switch Practice (timers + targets) to Perform (clean cards) for the real thing.
When the draft's ready, make it a book. Format: pick a trim size, body font, and margins; add front/back matter (copyright, dedication, auto Table of Contents); see a live page-count estimate vs your target (and which Editorial Assist length op to use to hit it); Typeset PDF renders a print-grade, paginated, trim-sized PDF with page numbers on the server (no print dialog); Quick PDF uses your browser's Save-as-PDF; or export DOCX (book or manuscript-submission format) and EPUB. Cover: compose a front cover (title/subtitle/author over a color or image), or β¨ generate AI cover art and an β¨ AI back-cover blurb; download the front (eBook) or a full print wrap (front + spine + back, spine sized to your page count, barcode placed). ISBN: add an ISBN per format β it's validated and converted (10β13), with a scannable EAN-13 barcode.
Find sources, quotes, stats, and examples for the current project. Quotes are verified at the source before they're shown β no fabricated citations.
Example prompt: "research on how rupture-and-repair builds secure attachment."
Checks a dictation draft or a manuscript section against the web β CLEAN or FLAGGED with the matched sources β plus an AI rephrase to make a flagged passage fully your own.
Take the short reflection (right panel, or Profile) to discover your writer archetype. NORM uses it to tune its pacing, prompts, and question emphasis to how you think. See the Writer Tips tab for what each type means. In Profile you can also have NORM read your actual writing and compare how you write with how you process β when they diverge, that's a useful thing to notice, not a problem to fix.
Profile holds your demographics (which improve how your assessment is normed) and your data controls β withdraw and delete your assessment data anytime.
The β± in the header counts your active writing time and pauses (βΈ) after 10 minutes idle β an honest measure of real work.
The header shows your trial days / plan and AI exchanges left; Upgrade anytime. After the assessment, "See your full personalized report" opens your complete report in NORM Rhythm β individual results, a Change Readiness report, and the option to invite your partner.
Your writer archetype comes from your NRSI processing signature β your speed and your self-regulation. NORM adapts pacing, prompts, and structure to fit you; here's how to play to each type's strengths yourself.
You are: fast and self-aware β ideas arrive quickly and you connect them into a whole.
Watch for: over-abstracting; skipping the concrete.
Do this: draft fast and resist over-thinking; pour out the connections, then anchor each one to a specific scene or example. Lean on Research to feed your synthesis.
NORM tunes for you: faster pacing, fewer prompts, light structure β and deepens the Story and Insight beats.
You are: hot and instinctive β big bursts of momentum, shape later.
Watch for: losing the reader; accidental overlap with sources.
Do this: protect the burst β write the whole sprint before you edit. Then take one reader-pass (who is this for, what do they feel?). Run originality after fast drafts.
NORM tunes for you: high flow-protection (it won't interrupt the sprint) β and deepens the Insight and Reader-Turn beats.
You are: careful and precise β structure and quality lead, output is high-finish.
Watch for: the blank-page stall; polishing too early.
Do this: start with a low-stakes warm-up; allow a deliberately messy first pass before refining; make it concrete and usable. Let the timer show your momentum.
NORM tunes for you: low interruption, minimal prompts β and deepens the Warmup and Application beats.
You are: associative and exploratory β meaning surfaces sideways, through wandering.
Watch for: scatter; no clear through-line.
Do this: wander freely first, then use the Book Map and DISCERNMENT to find the spine; define your key terms early. Welcome NORM's frequent prompts as rails.
NORM tunes for you: strong structure scaffolding and frequent prompts β and deepens the Bridge and Define beats.
Adaptation tunes your experience β pacing, prompts, organization β and is never a verdict on you. It also nudges from your signals: lower emotional-regulation β it protects your storytelling and defers critique; attachment style β reassurance-first vs. autonomy-respecting; high meaning/spiritual β more meaning-centered prompts. Archetype adaptation activates on a paid plan.