bookmoth 3.0:
why we made ink

I used to be fairly stubborn about subscriptions.

I wanted you to buy bookmoth, own your writing tools and get on with your book. I still want that. It is why Lifetime is still here.

But there was another kind of friction I needed to take seriously. Getting started with AI could involve choosing a provider, creating an account, working out API billing and finding a key. Perfectly manageable if you like that sort of thing. Quite a lot of homework if you came here to write a novel.

That is the thinking behind bookmoth ink, and why 3.0 feels like such an important step. I am properly proud of it.

We made ink to make getting started easier

The ambition for bookmoth has always been big: a place for the whole book, with AI help that starts with your writing. Your manuscript, your plan, your characters and your slightly unreasonable attachment to that sentence everyone else wants you to cut.

I want it to feel welcoming whether you are halfway through your fifth novel or still wondering whether the idea in your notes app could become your first.

Ink lets us handle the AI connection. You activate bookmoth, choose ink in Settings and start working. There is no separate AI account or API key to set up.

You can ask for help with a scene, talk through a problem with the editor, analyse your writing or work on a draft. bookmoth brings your Writing Profile and the relevant parts of your project into that work. You still read the result and decide what belongs in your book.

That last part matters to me. A suggestion is useful when it gives you something worth considering. Sometimes you will keep it. Sometimes it will help you see the better answer you wanted to write yourself.

So, yes, we added a subscription

I can see the raised eyebrow. I had one too.

AI costs money each time it does work. Handling the connection makes the experience simpler, but those ongoing costs still have to be paid. Plus gives writers a way to get the complete app and an included ink allowance in one subscription.

We kept Lifetime because the original idea still means something to me. You can own the app outright and decide how to pay for AI, or use a local model if that suits you. Adding an easier starting point should give you another useful choice.

Here is the offer, in plain English. These prices are in US dollars, as at 1 November 2026.

Both give you the same writing workspace: manuscript, Writing Profile, editor, planning and Codex. You are choosing how to pay and how to connect to AI.

What I mean by a fair deal

I believe we are building one of the fairest offers in AI writing. That belief needs something more useful behind it than a nice line on a website.

For me, fairness means giving you a real choice, showing you what you are paying for and being clear about the limits. It also means making an app that is worth opening when you want to write your own words.

Writing and editing by hand, reading your manuscript and saving your work use no ink. AI drafting, analysis, planning and editor conversations do use it. Your balance and recent usage are visible in Settings.

Ink is a measure of AI use, so I cannot honestly promise a fixed number of finished chapters. A long manuscript takes more AI reading than a short brief. The model, task and amount of context all affect usage. We explain the choices in the ink guide, so you can judge them against how you actually write.

If you need more, the current packs are 7,500 ink for $10 or 20,000 ink for $25. Purchased ink never expires. With Plus, using it still requires an active subscription; buying a pack does not extend app access.

The included Plus allowance refreshes on the first of each calendar month at 00:00 UTC and does not roll over. Your first payment brings you up to that month's 6,000-ink total, counting any trial ink already used in the same month. The trial itself receives one allowance, even if its seven days cross into a new month.

Those details belong in the conversation about fairness too. I would much rather you understood the offer before choosing it.

If we have got it wrong, tell me

Different writers need different things. Someone who writes every day, someone revising a book over a year, and someone who wants the occasional second opinion can have very different ideas of good value.

If another offer would serve you better, or a part of ours feels confusing or unfair, tell me. Tell me what you are trying to do and what gets in the way. That is a conversation I want to have.

I want bookmoth to become the place writers reach for: for a first attempt, an ambitious rewrite, fiction, non-fiction, the book you have been quietly carrying around for years.

3.0 is a step towards that. Ink makes the connection easier. Plus gives us a way to include it. Lifetime keeps the option to own your tools. And the work continues, because there is a lot I want bookmoth to become.

For now, I am proud of what we have made. I hope it helps you make something you are proud of too.

Stu
Founder, bookmoth