Write your book the way a ghostwriter would.
Incipit runs the whole ghostwriting process, from interviews and sources to a finished manuscript, edited and checked against its sources, in your own voice, with you signing off at every stage. Other tools generate words; Incipit builds a book you can stand behind, and your files never leave your machine.
A desktop app for Mac and Windows. Your files never leave your computer.
My mother kept the letters in a biscuit tin on top of the wardrobe, and she never once mentioned them while she was alive.
Built by elite ghostwriters who believe AI needs a human at every gate.
The machine drafts, you decide, and the book stays yours.See the workspace.
Your manuscript on the left, the writing in the centre, and the stages across the top, each opened only when you sign off the one before.
My mother kept the letters in a biscuit tin on top of the wardrobe, and she never once mentioned them while she was alive.
When I opened it, the rubber band had perished and left a brown line across the top envelope, like a watermark, or a tide.
A guided workspace where the book stays a folder of your own files.
A human at every gate.
People are going to use AI to write their books. Incipit was built by elite ghostwriters who would rather that was done well than badly, so a person stays in charge at every stage. The machine drafts, you decide, and the book stays yours. Used this way, with a human at every gate, it gets the best from both the tool and the writer.
The method inside Incipit is the one we use on client books.
Writing a book is a long, structured job.
Most AI writing tools are built for short pieces and quick output. A book runs to tens of thousands of words held together over months, in one voice, with a structure that holds and facts you can stand behind.
Incipit is built for that work. It keeps your material in order and moves through the stages in sequence, with the decisions left to you.
Eight stages, each with your sign-off.
Incipit runs your book through a set sequence. A stage opens the next only once you have reviewed the work and signed it off, so the book moves forward on your judgement.
Genre
Set the kind of book you are writing, so every later stage has the right frame.
Voice
Choose the voice the book will be written in, by ear or by naming an author you want it to follow.
Structure
Lay out the shape of the book, its parts and its chapters.
Sources
Gather your transcripts and documents, sweep them into an inventory, and map the material to the chapters before anything is drafted.
Draft
Write chapter by chapter, with the assistant reading your open sheet for context.
Edit
Incipit reads the draft back like an editor, a developmental pass on structure and pace, then a line edit of the prose, marking what to fix while you keep the pen.
Whole book
Read the manuscript as one piece and check it holds together.
Final
Prepare the finished manuscript for export.
The gateway is the human checkpoint. You tick the review and record the sign-off, the stage is stamped with the date, and the next stage unlocks. Close the app and reopen the folder, and it resumes where you left off.
Built around how books actually get written.
Your files stay on your machine
Incipit opens a folder of plain text files on your disk (markdown, if you know it) and writes every change straight back to it. No upload, and no copy held in the cloud.
A checkpoint at every stage
Nothing advances without your sign-off, recorded and dated in the project.
Write in a voice you choose
Pick a voice by ear, or name an author to follow, and Incipit calibrates it on a real chapter. It can also learn the subject's own voice from their interview transcripts, so the book sounds like them. Every line it drafts is yours to accept or change.
Your own Claude key
The assistant runs on your own Anthropic key, so you hold the model choice and the cost.
Export to your house format
Send the finished work to a Word document in your own layout.
Pick up where you left off
Your progress, your word target and your current stage are saved with the project, ready when you reopen it.
Runs on your desktop
A desktop app for Mac and Windows. It works offline, and your key sits in the system keychain.
Your editor, built in
When the draft is down, Incipit reads it back like an editor: a developmental pass on structure, pace and what is missing, then a line edit of the prose. It shows you what to fix, and you make the calls.
A version timeline
Every sheet keeps its history, so you can see what changed and step back to an earlier draft whenever you want.
Built for true stories, with the sources to back them.
The research craft of a ghostwritten book, from the first interview to a cited bibliography. Working from archives, records and newspapers rather than living subjects, the same map holds, with every claim tied to a document.
Interview guides
From the gaps in your source map, Incipit writes the guide for your next interview: the areas to cover, the questions, and prompts to draw out scene and detail.
Debrief into story notes
After each interview, capture it while it is fresh, and Incipit shapes your rough notes into story notes, kept as the subject's account rather than fact.
A living source map
Bring in transcripts, letters and documents. Incipit reads and sorts them, and maps them to your structure, so nothing gets drafted before the sources are in place.
The book bible
A reference of the people, places, dates and spellings, which Incipit drafts and checks against, so the book stays consistent from first page to last.
Verification, claim by claim
Incipit reads the manuscript against your sources and flags everything unverified, marking the subject's own account as theirs, so nothing is mistaken for fact.
References and bibliography
Enter each source once, choose a style such as Chicago, and the bibliography formats itself and saves into the manuscript.
| Source | Verbatim quote | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Letters_Ron_Petrie_ | “Dear Eileen, well I am here.” | Letter 1, postmark March 1968 |
| Interview_Joan_ | “Well. You found the tin, then.” | Joan Cassidy, 12 November 2024 |
| Document_St_Saviour_ | “Infant, female, born 14 September 1969.” | Discharge note, 9 January 1970 |
And here it is for real.
The workspace mid-book, running A Tin of Letters, a demonstration memoir built from interviews, letters and one document that changes everything. Click to look closely.
Version 0.1.5, unretouched. The people in the demonstration book are invented; the workflow is not.
For people writing a serious book.
Incipit suits authors working on one real book with intent, a memoir, a biography, a family history, or a business book, and the editors who help them get it right.
It expects a writer who wants to keep control of the work and see it finished in a consistent voice.
Your manuscript stays yours.
Incipit reads and writes the files on your own disk. Your book is not uploaded, and there is no cloud copy held by us. You can work on a copy of a project until you trust it, and you can take your files anywhere, because they were never anywhere else.
Pay once per book. No subscription.
You write your book, you pay for that book, and that is the end of it.
Free to try
Set the book up end to end and draft your first chapter free, before you pay anything or set up a key.
- The full setup, free
- Your files stay on your machine
- No card needed
One book
Everything in Incipit for one book, from an empty folder to a finished manuscript. Each additional book is US$149.
- The full method, all eight stages
- Interview guides and a living source map
- Voice calibration, and the subject's own voice
- Verification and a cited bibliography
- Desktop app, Mac and Windows
- Export to Word
A year of books
For professionals running client books, and anyone writing more than one in a year. Unlimited books while your year runs.
- Everything in One book
- Unlimited books for a year
- First to get new features
All prices in US dollars. Early access is free; the book price applies when you start drafting.
Questions, answered.
Do my files go to the cloud?
No. Incipit opens a folder on your machine and saves changes back to it. There is no upload and no cloud copy.
Do I need a Claude API key, and is it hard?
You use your own Claude key, and Incipit walks you through getting one, step by step. The model cost is billed to you by Anthropic, you can set a monthly spend limit so it never runs away, and a built-in meter shows the running cost as you write. A fully managed option, with no key to set up, is on the way.
Is there a subscription?
No. You pay once per book. Write your book, pay for that book, and you are done. If you are writing more than one book, a yearly plan covers unlimited books.
Do I need anything special to run it?
Incipit is a desktop app for Mac and Windows. It installs like any other app, works offline, and reads and writes the files in a folder on your own computer.
Does Incipit write the book for me?
No. It drafts and assists, and you review and sign off each stage, so the book stays yours.
Can I export to Word?
Yes. You can export to a Word document in your own house format.
Why not just use ChatGPT or Claude directly?
A chatbot gives you a blank box and general prose. Incipit gives you the method: it gathers your sources, shapes the structure, calibrates the voice, drafts chapter by chapter, checks each claim against your sources, and builds the bibliography, with your sign-off at every stage. You use your own Claude key inside it, so you get the model and the craft around it.
How long does a book take?
The months a book takes. Most writers work in sessions across half a year or more, and Incipit is built for that: it saves everything to your folder, holds the thread between sessions, and reopens exactly where you left off, so a missed fortnight costs nothing.
Who is behind Incipit?
Incipit is built by elite ghostwriters who accept that some people will use AI to write, and would rather it was done well, with a human in charge at every stage. We keep the team unnamed so the focus stays on your book.
Why "Incipit"
In an old manuscript, the incipit is the opening words, the line that announces a book has begun. The Latin means, simply, "it begins." It is the right name for a tool that helps you start a real book, and stays with you until it is finished.
Start your book with Incipit.
Join the early access list, and we will be in touch as places open.
Incipit, here begins.