Self Publishing Show Live 2026

How to Work
With an (AI) Agent

...and why you probably want to.

Michael Stewart, Sudowrite

Full disclosure

I built this deck with my AI agent.

The ideas are mine. The words are mine. The HTML is his. The workflow was collaborative.

But first

Unpacking "Author"
(Your Actual Job Description)

Maker

IdeasPremiseGenre researchTropesComp titlesOutlining DraftingPacingCharacter arcsWorldbuildingResearchVoice DialogueScene structureRevisionSelf-editingDevelopmental editsLine edits CopyeditsProofreadingContinuitySeries bibleSensitivity readsBeta feedback Critique notesManuscript formattingAudiobook script prepCreative confidenceBurnout management

Marketer

PositioningReader promiseBook descriptionHookTaglineMetadata KeywordsCategoriesCover briefA/B testingNewsletterWelcome sequence Reader magnetARC teamLaunch teamSocial postsBookTok hooksAds Amazon AdsMeta AdsBookBub AdsPromo stackingNewsletter swapsGoodreads ReviewsWebsiteSEODirect sales copyKickstarter pageReader community Backlist promosBrand voicePress kit

Manager

Publishing scheduleProduction calendarISBNsImprint setupKDPIngramSpark Draft2DigitalKoboApple BooksGoogle PlayACX and audio platformsFiles and versions Contractor hiringCover designer briefEditor managementNarrator managementBudgetingRoyalties BookkeepingTaxesLLC or DBARights trackingContractsCopyright AI disclosureAccessibilityAlt textEPUB compliancePrint specsDistribution choices KU vs. wideDirect sales stackShopify or PayhipBookFunnelCustomer supportBacklist audits Platform changesContinuing education

But why?

It's not a question of talent.

Context switching Craft brain to ad brain to spreadsheet brain.
Decision fatigue Every unfinished decision stays open in the background.
Operational load The invisible work that makes the visible work shippable.

No one can do it all.

Not perfectly, at least. And not without help. But you will have to make decisions about these things, even when the decision is "This is not the best use of my time."

Consider

What can you hand off?

Keep

Work only you can own

Your creative decision making. Things like taste, voice, canon, ethics, emotional truth, reader promise, and final approval. But also, things that are precious to you.

Pass

Work you don't need to drive

The things that inform your process or get you unstuck. Research, summaries, checklists, comparisons, edits, cleanup passes, asset drafts, calendar math. Anything you might pay someone else to do.

Exercise

Make your own list.

Circle what must stay yours. Mark what a trusted assistant could reasonably do. That second list is where agents get interesting.

Basically

What would you be willing to hand off to a human assistant?

Important caveat

"Agent" is a squishy term.
(But then, so is AI.)

Every product you use right now is adding an "agent" of its own, but some of these are really just chatbots.

The important question is not what the company calls it. The important question is:

Can it do the things you need fairly autonomously?

A Very Brief History

From autocomplete to agents

01

Autocomplete

Suggests the next word.

02

Chatbot

Responds to what you ask.

03

Assistant

Helps complete a task.

04

Agent

Understands a goal, plans steps, uses context, and helps move work forward.

Right now

The combined tool landscape

Maker

Writing and publishing tools

Tools built to support the creative process in particular. Fiction-aware workflows, manuscript context, story bibles, drafting, revision, and writing-adjacent support.

Marketer

General AI assistants

Your chatbots are great for research and planning. Brainstorming, summarizing, drafting copy, analyzing text, making plans, and working with uploaded files.

Manager

Automation tools

Repetitive admin, notifications, publishing operations, and moving data between the tools you already use.

Multidisciplinary

Agent frameworks

Also known as "harnesses," these multi-tools are super capable AI-powered blank slates, intended to be personalized. They work across Maker, Marketer, and Manager domains. They may or may not have an interface, and can typically even use the tools mentioned above.

Right now

The combined tool landscape

Maker

Writing and publishing tools

Tools built to support the creative process in particular. Fiction-aware workflows, manuscript context, story bibles, drafting, revision, and writing-adjacent support.

Sudowrite NovelCrafter ProWritingAid
Marketer

General AI assistants

Your chatbots are great for research and planning. Brainstorming, summarizing, drafting copy, analyzing text, making plans, and working with uploaded files.

ChatGPT Claude Gemini Perplexity
Manager

Automation tools

Repetitive admin, notifications, publishing operations, and moving data between the tools you already use.

Zapier n8n Make Airtable
Multidisciplinary

Agent frameworks

Also known as "harnesses," these multi-tools are super capable AI-powered blank slates, intended to be personalized. They work across Maker, Marketer, and Manager domains. They may or may not have an interface, and can typically even use the tools mentioned above.

Hermes Open Claw Claude Code Codex

Useful differentiators

What makes an agent different?

✓Creates memories
✓ Improves from feedback
✓ Uses tools or files
✓ Uses custom skills
✓ Can interface with the world
(via browser, CLI, or otherwise)
✓Carries context across tasks
✓Synchronous or asynchronous
✓ Interface options (text, voice, etc.)

Chatbots wait for instructions.
Agents don't. They can work while you sleep.

Durable workflows

Custom skills turn instructions into muscle memory.

/grill-me

Pressure-test an idea

Challenge assumptions, ask sharper questions, and find weak spots before readers do.

/goal

Complete any task

Tell the agent to do something finite and it will keep at it till it's done.

/canon-check

Protect continuity

Compare a scene or plan against the story facts, series promises, and open threads.

/launch-pass

Reuse the playbook

Apply your preferred launch checklist, voice, constraints, and approval rules.

A skill is a reusable way to tell the agent how you like to work.

get the most from ai agents

No matter which agent you'd like to work with, in order to do its best work an agent needs context.

Telling the agent who you are, what you write, and how you work is key.

You need this

The Author Context File

A whole bunch of context you have in your brain (and on your hard drive) that can help the agent help you.

author-context.md
Identity
Creative preferences
Books and series
Business context
Agent rules

Context turns agentic AI systems into true collaborators.

Minimum viable memory

What goes inside?

Author identity

What you write, who you write for, genres, tropes, promises, and what your work should never feel like.

Creative preferences

Drafting style, feedback style, sacred boundaries, and what kind of help you usually reject.

Books and series

Pen names, current projects, character/world details, timelines, comp titles, and reader expectations.

Voice and brand

Sample newsletter, sample blurb, sample scene, tone preferences, words you use, words you hate.

Business context

KU or wide, publishing cadence, launch process, newsletter cadence, ad comfort, revenue goals.

Agent rules

What it may draft, what it must ask before doing, what it should never do, and what good looks like.

Then what

Here's what that lets you do.

The agent can be pretty helpful once it's primed with some vitals.

Maker support Examples

Need an assist on the creative admin?

Continuity & Series Memory

"I'm writing book four and am losing the thread. I need a better way to track the details."

  • Summarize prior books
  • Extract character and worldbuilding details
  • Audit your work and flag contradictions
  • Maintain a series bible
  • Create "remember before drafting" briefs

Beta Feedback Synthesis

"I got beta feedback, and I'm not sure how/whether to action it."

  • Analyze and group feedback by theme
  • Evaluate substance, separating taste from repeated issues
  • Identify high-priority revision areas
  • Turn messy notes into a revision plan
  • Generate scene-level tasks

Agent as a writing assistant, facilitating the creative process and surfacing possible issues for the author.

Marketer support Examples

Need help with the whole "write to market" thing?

Positioning & Blurb Assistant

"I know what my book is, but not how to explain it to readers."

  • Identify reader promise
  • Evaluate the existing market comps
  • Draft retailer description, newsletter pitch, ad hooks, and social captions
  • Adapt tone by target audience

Launch Campaign Assistant

"My book launches in six weeks and I am already behind."

  • Build launch calendar
  • Identify missing assets
  • Draft emails and ARC reminders
  • Repurpose copy across platforms
  • Flag missing decisions

Agent as a marketing assistant, using (simulated) domain expertise and doing vital research work.

Manager support examples

The worst part of being your own boss is the admin.

Publishing Operations Assistant

"I am terrified I will miss something."

  • Create production checklist
  • Track down platform requirements
  • Build a backward calendar
  • Turn vendor emails into tasks
  • Prepare handoff notes

Backlist Audit Work

"I have old books underperforming, and I do not know where to start."

  • Review metadata
  • Suggest refresh priorities
  • Create a maintenance calendar
  • Compare books by opportunity
  • Surface stale assets

Agent as an operator: handling (or automating) structured, repetitive, and easy to postpone tasks for you.

Audience moment

Agents are powerful. You don't have to choose. But it helps to have a /goal in mind.

1

Maker

"I am stuck in the work itself."

Drafting, revision, feedback, continuity, creative decisions.
2

Marketer

"I struggle to connect the work to readers."

Blurbs, ads, newsletter, launch, positioning, visibility.
3

Manager

"I am drowning in the business and logistics."

Deadlines, platforms, contractors, files, money, operations.

Your agent should not feel like "yet another" tool.
It should allow you to personally drive fewer tools yourself.

Demo

Creating a Story (or Series) Bible

1

Give context

Upload or paste series notes, prior summaries, and the new scene.

2

Ask for a brief

"Before drafting this scene, what should I remember?"

3

Evaluate the scene

Ask it to flag contradictions, unresolved threads, and canon questions.

Why this matters now

The tools will get easier.

Setup friction is dropping. Custom agents will become easier to install, connect, and personalize.
Context stays durable. Your author context, workflows, boundaries, and repeatable processes remain valuable across tools.
The winner may not be technical. The advantage belongs to authors who know what they want help with.

You do not have to predict which agent wins. Prepare your author business so any good agent can understand it.

When you get home

Run one small agent experiment.

  1. Pick an agent to experiment with.Choose the tool that best matches the bottleneck you named.
  2. Prime it with your author context.Give it your project, voice, goals, constraints, and rules.
  3. Pick one tedious task.Not "fix my career." Something specific enough to delegate.
  4. Evaluate the results.Judge usefulness, accuracy, voice fit, and whether it reduced effort.
  5. Close the loop.Tell it what worked, what missed, and how it should improve next time.

Closing thought

Don't set out to build the agent of your dreams.

Prime the pump, point it at a problem, and iterate.

Thanks!

Questions?