Finish and publish
Finishing your book
A four-step wizard from complete-enough manuscript to packaged book.
What it is
Finish Book is a four-step wizard that turns a manuscript into a packaged book. It checks readiness and shows you which chapters are still incomplete; runs a whole-book review covering pacing, arc resolution, open threads, character payoff and the strength of your opening and ending; collects front and back matter along with marketing copy and a cover; and then exports the assembled book. Finishing is reversible — you can reopen the book, keep writing, and finish again.
Where to find it: Smart Editor → Finish ▾ → Finish Book. Also the Finish Book button in the workspace header — once the book is finished that button turns green and reads Finished, and pressing it reopens the wizard. The Cover Designer on its own is reachable much earlier, from Project settings → Book cover, once you have a first chapter.
What this covers
- Readiness checklist with jump links
- Whole-book review, Quick or Deep
- Pacing curve across chapters
- Arc resolution and open threads
- Character payoff analysis
- Opening and ending scores
- Chapter-anchored improvements
- Front matter: copyright, dedication, epigraph
- Back matter: acknowledgments, about the author, AI disclosure
- AI-generated blurb, logline and synopsis
- Cover Designer for front and back covers
- Export in four formats
- Reopening a finished book
How to use it
- 1
Check readiness
The first step lists every chapter that is not yet complete, with a link to jump straight there. Nothing forces you to be ready — it just tells you honestly.
- 2
Run the whole-book review
Quick reduces over work already done — chapter summaries, digests, cached reviews and the Story Pulse. Deep adds a continuity sweep over chapters that changed. Both show live progress.
- 3
Read the structural verdict
You get a pacing curve across chapters, which arcs resolved and which threads are still open, whether each character got a payoff, and scores for your opening and ending.
- 4
Fill in the matter
Front matter (copyright, dedication, epigraph) and back matter (acknowledgments, about the author, AI disclosure) are edited side by side. All of it is optional.
- 5
Generate marketing copy
The details step can write a blurb, a logline and a synopsis from your actual manuscript. All three are editable, and they are stored with the book.
- 6
Design the covers
The Cover Designer generates front and back covers with your title, author name and tagline baked into the art, or takes your own uploaded images. Each side saves as soon as it is made. You do not have to wait for this wizard: the same designer sits in Project settings under Book cover from your first chapter onward.
- 7
Export the finished book
The last step assembles cover, front matter, contents, chapters and back matter, and downloads it as EPUB, Word, Markdown or print-ready HTML.
What it gives you
The review reads the book, not a chapter
Pacing across twenty chapters, a thread you opened in chapter three and never closed, a character who disappears after chapter nine — these are only visible from above.
Quick mode is genuinely quick
It reduces over analysis already paid for during writing rather than re-reading your whole manuscript, so a whole-book verdict does not cost a fortune.
The finished book looks like a book
Covers, a title page, a contents list, front and back matter, and page numbers are assembled into every export format, not just the fancy one.
Finishing is not a trapdoor
A finished book can be reopened, edited and finished again. The wizard tells you when the manuscript has changed since you last finished it.
Good to know
- Cover text is generated as part of the image, so spelling on covers can be imperfect. Check it, and regenerate or upload your own if it matters.
- Deep review costs meaningfully more than Quick because it re-scans changed chapters for continuity. Start with Quick.
- Structural labels in exports — "Contents", "Acknowledgments", "About the Author" — are currently in English even when the book is not.
- The whole-book review is cached. After significant edits it will tell you it is stale rather than pretend to be current.
- CharmWriter prepares a manuscript. It does not publish for you, and does not submit to any store.
Questions
Do all my chapters have to be complete?
No. The readiness step tells you what is unfinished and lets you proceed anyway. It is information, not a gate.
What is the difference between Quick and Deep review?
Quick reduces over analysis already done during writing and never re-reads your prose. Deep adds an incremental continuity scan over chapters that changed since the last sweep. Quick first, Deep when you want the continuity check.
Can I change my mind after finishing?
Yes. Reopen the book from the same wizard, carry on writing, and finish again whenever you like.
Can I design the cover before I finish the book?
Yes, once you have written a first chapter. Open the book settings — the book title in the workspace header, or Edit details on the dashboard — and choose Book cover. It is the same designer that appears here. Before the first chapter the panel is shown but locked, because a cover drawn from a title and a genre alone is a stock image.
Is the cover good enough to publish with?
For many personal and family books, yes. For a book you intend to sell competitively, treat it as a strong draft and consider a designer — the export accepts an uploaded cover of your own.
Start your first chapter
Every new account starts with two free credits, enough to talk a whole chapter through, have it drafted, and see how it reads.
Get started free