We believe every writer deserves a platform that respects their work.
The web was supposed to give creators independence. Instead, writers are scattered across platforms that don't understand serialized fiction — fighting algorithms, losing readers to feed noise, giving away their data.
Novelist is our answer: a platform built by fiction lovers, for fiction writers. Where your stories live on your branded site. Where analytics help you understand your audience and write better — not chase algorithms.
Why We're Building This
Serialized fiction is one of the oldest storytelling formats in the world. Dickens serialized his novels. Manga has thrived on weekly chapters for decades. Web fiction communities have proven the demand is real — millions of readers follow ongoing stories chapter by chapter, year after year.
But the tools haven't caught up. Writers juggle Google Docs, social media posts, tip jars, and Patreon tabs. Readers lose track of stories across five different sites. There's no single place that gets it right.
Novelist is that place.
What We've Built
Phase 1 is live today:
- Your storefront, your brand. Custom subdomain, 8 themes, your colors, your identity. Your readers see your world — not ours.
- Write. Publish. Schedule. Rich chapter editor, content ratings, cover images. Set a release schedule and chapters drip automatically.
- An immersive reading experience. Zen mode, font customization, auto-bookmarks every 30 seconds. Distraction-free reading that keeps readers coming back.
- Understand your readers. Views, completion rates, reader loyalty. Know which chapters perform and which lose people.
- Monetize with tiers. Free and premium chapters. Patreon sync to verify memberships automatically.
- Readers find you. 14 tag types, advanced filters, NSFW-safe content ratings, global search.
Who We Are
Novelist is led by an engineer with more than a decade of experience building apps and cloud platforms. In a time where everything is becoming shallow, he decided to invest in something deeper and transformative. He's building in the open, and starting a team to take this project wherever Novelist should be.
We're in early access. The platform is live. Every feature request from early authors gets heard — some get built the same week.
An Invitation
Novelist isn't just a tool — it's a movement. Mine, yours, ours. And you deserve to be part of it from the beginning.
If you write serialized fiction and want a home for your work, join us on Discord or sign up now. This blog will track our journey — product updates, engineering deep dives, and the occasional behind-the-scenes look at building a platform from scratch.
Your stories deserve their own home.
— Novelist Lead Engineer