Self Publishing Show Live 2026
...and why you probably want to.
Michael Stewart, Sudowrite
Full disclosure
The ideas are mine. The words are mine. The HTML is his. The workflow was collaborative.
But first
But why?
No one can do it all.
Not perfectly, at least. And not without help. But you will have to make decisions about all of these things, even when the decision is "This is not the best use of my time."
Consider
Your creative decision making. Things like taste, voice, canon, ethics, emotional truth, reader promise, and final approval. But also, anything you want to do—things that are precious to you!
Research, summaries, checklists, comparisons, edits, cleanup passes, asset drafts, calendar math. SEO? Marketing? Admin tasks (or anything you'd consider paying someone else to do).
You're doing everything on this list already, so start from a place of assuming it's all yours. Circle the things you'd be willing to hand off to a trusted assistant.
Basically
Important caveat
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?
Let's explain.
A Very Brief History
Suggests the next word or words in a string of words.
Trained to respond probabilistically to what was said to it.
Trained to make decisions that help it complete tasks.
Understands a goal, plans steps, uses context, and helps move work forward.
Useful differentiators
An assistant responds to requests.
An agent proactively pursues goals.
Six Things
One or more large language models doing the actual thinking. This is the engine.
A prompt framework that tells the agent who it is, how it works, and what matters.
Your notes, files, prior conversations, and anything you've told it to remember.
What you've said it's allowed to use—apps, services, the web, up to and including your whole computer.
Could be terminal, a browser page, a dedicated application, or even a text message. Your call.
The server hosting the agent—might be your laptop, but if you want it always-on 24/7, you should consider a $5/mo VPS, or a Mac Mini/NAS in your attic.
An agent lives and works somewhere, even while you sleep.
Right now
Tools built to support the creative process in particular. Fiction-aware workflows, manuscript context, story bibles, drafting, revision, and writing-adjacent support.
Your chatbots are great for research and planning. Brainstorming, summarizing, drafting copy, analyzing text, making plans, and working with uploaded files.
Repetitive admin, notifications, publishing operations, and moving data between the tools you already use.
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, but can typically even use the tools mentioned above on their own.
Right now
Tools built to support the creative process in particular. Fiction-aware workflows, manuscript context, story bibles, drafting, revision, and writing-adjacent support.
Your chatbots are great for research and planning. Brainstorming, summarizing, drafting copy, analyzing text, making plans, and working with uploaded files.
Repetitive admin, notifications, publishing operations, and moving data between the tools you already use.
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, but can typically even use the tools mentioned above on their own.
Durable workflows
Tell the agent to do something finite and it will keep at it till it's done.
Re-run a task on a cadence — a daily review, polling until something's ready, or repeating a workflow without re-asking each time.
Challenge assumptions, ask sharper questions, and find weak spots before readers do.
Compare a scene or plan against the story facts, series promises, and open threads.
A skill is a reusable way to tell the agent how you like to work.
get the most from ai agents
Telling the agent who you are, what you write, and how you work is key.
You need this
A whole bunch of context you have in your brain (and on your hard drive) that can help the agent help you.
Context turns agents into informed & capable collaborators.
Minimum viable memory
What you write, who you write for, genres, tropes, promises, and what your work should never feel like.
Drafting style, feedback style, sacred boundaries, and what kind of help you usually reject.
Pen names, current projects, character/world details, timelines, comp titles, and reader expectations.
Sample newsletter, sample blurb, sample scene, tone preferences, words you use, words you hate.
KU or wide, publishing cadence, launch process, newsletter cadence, ad comfort, revenue goals.
What it may draft, what it must ask before doing, what it should never do, and what good looks like.
Then what
The agent can be pretty helpful once it's primed with some vitals.
Maker support Examples
"I'm writing book four and am losing the thread. I need a better way to track the details."
"I got some conflicting beta reader feedback, and I'm not sure how/whether to action it."
Agent as a writing assistant, facilitating the creative process and surfacing possible issues for the author.
Marketer support Examples
"I know what my book is, but not how to explain it to readers... at least, in a way that'll make them buy it."
"My book launches in six weeks and I am already behind."
Agent as a marketing assistant, using (simulated) domain expertise and doing vital research work.
Manager support examples
"I have no idea what I'm doing with this."
"I have old books underperforming, and I do not know where to start."
Agent as an operator: handling (or automating) structured, repetitive, and easy to postpone tasks for you.
Audience moment
"I am stuck in the work itself."
Drafting, revision, feedback, continuity, creative decisions."I struggle to connect the work to readers."
Blurbs, ads, newsletter, launch, positioning, visibility."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.
Why this matters now
Worst case you're preparing your author business so that any good human assistant could understand it and help!
The messy middle
Increasingly powerful models, robust harnesses… but a web that wasn't built for them.
Demo
Upload or paste series notes, prior summaries, and the new scene.
"Before drafting this scene, what should I remember?"
Ask it to flag contradictions, unresolved threads, and canon questions.
Working with agents
When you get home
Practical advice
Always-on assistants are powerful—but complex to configure. Don't go it alone.
First
Tools like Codex and Claude Code can already handle the project work. Start there, and if you still want an always-on assistant, get help from one of these to set that up. (They can run your computer's terminal, edit files, and use managed services' CLI tools to set things up, so you don't have to.)
Then
Systems like Hermes or OpenClaw run continuously and manage tasks on your behalf—but configuring and even maintaining one can be a serious project. Let a coding agent do all the heavy lifting.
The easiest way to get an agent set up is to ask an agent to do it.
Closing thought
Prime the pump, point it at a problem, and iterate.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Scan to grab the slides, notes, and links from this talk.
