Is There An Essential Digital Toolkit For Writers?
A Minimal Set of Tools to Create, Edit, and Manage your Writing.
New reader? Check out previous articles, grouped by topic ]here]! You might also enjoy:
This recent note from
about the simple desire to just write got me thinking: If all some of us want to do is write, what’s the absolute minimum set of digital tools we actually need to get words out into the world?Create.
Sell.
Distribute.
Manage content as you grow.
Collect and share testimonials.
In this post, I focus on the tools you need to create and edit — I’ll cover tools for selling, and distributing in upcoming posts.
Tools To Create Text
Here’s a core set of tools for writers:
Word Processor: Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Pages, Notion, Scrivener (for long-form), or your publishing platform directly (Substack, Medium, Ghost, Tumblr, WordPress).
Distraction-Free Writing Tool: FocusWriter, IA Writer, or Typora.
Research/Note Capture: Obsidian, Notion, Apple Notes, Evernote.
Editing: Grammarly (basic polish), Hemingway (readability), or ProWritingAid (storytelling critiques).
GenAI Tools: ChatGPT, Claude (for proofing, tone checks, assessments).
Style Guide for Titles: CapitalizeMyTitle. I wrote this post on how to easily format your titles using this free tool.
Pro-tip: For true distraction-free writing, nothing beats the old-school method — turn off WiFi/Network access.
Other Style Guides1:
AP Stylebook Online – Great for journalists, bloggers, and anyone writing news-style content. Paid, but widely used in media.
Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) – Perfect for book writers, academic work, and formal writing. Also paid.
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White – Free full text. Classic, still useful if you want a timeless reference on clarity and conciseness.
What Else is Out There?
If you’re curious what tools most writers use, check out the ProWritingAid registration screen (screenshot below) — it gives a good overview, minus newsletter platforms.
Minimalist Recommendations: My 3-Tool Setup for Writers
If you want to minimize tools and simplify your workflow, here’s my personal shortlist:
Your publishing platform of choice — Substack, Medium, beehiiv or Ghost (with regular data backups, because platforms can change or glitch).
Notion — for research, content management, links, collaborations, and more.
chatGPT (or your preferred LLM) — for editorial assessments, research, and readability analysis.
Pro-tip: Notion can also double as a backup for your drafts. Even if you write directly in Substack, Medium, or your platform of choice, saving a copy in Notion (or Google Drive or a local folder) adds an extra layer of protection against platform glitches or accidental deletions.
Why These Three?
Your publishing platform handles versioning, drafts, and publishing directly to your audience via email.
Notion acts as your content hub — managing drafts, research notes, multimedia content, and serving as a backup.
A well-prompted GenAI tool can replace several traditional editing tools (like Hemingway or ProWritingAid), reducing tool clutter.
For book writing or highly structured projects, you might still prefer dedicated chapter-wise editing tools.
But for regular writing — newsletters, blog posts, or essays — this simple trio (platform + Notion + GenAI) handles most of what you need.
A quick reality check: Most online writing tools have quietly switched to using GenAI (usually GPT) under the hood.
The catch? Many now charge premium prices for this AI-powered customization — often billing by the credit instead of a flat fee. If you write daily, those costs add up fast.
There’s really no escaping GenAI anymore. 😉
GenAI: Your Personal Editor
Since GPT (and other GenAI tools) can now track context across tasks and projects, you can set up a dedicated project — say, ‘My Context’ — where you store your publication’s style guide, sample posts, writing preferences, audience profile, publication goals, and even key reader feedback.
You can also ask GPT to generate a personal style guide based on your existing work.
Once that’s in place, simply prompt GPT to follow your personal style guide every time you edit. This helps keep your voice and tone consistent across blog posts, essays, and newsletters.
Like to think aloud while editing?
Open-ended tools like GPT or Claude can work like a conversational editor — letting you talk through changes instead of just receiving cold, static feedback.
If you like a back-and-forth flow, this approach feels much more natural than rigid editing tools.
The Key?
Prompt the model to strictly follow your rules — and with a bit of training, you’ll get it to behave (more or less!).
Steps to Set Up Your Personal AI Editor
Select the right model: Choose the model2 that fits your needs. Defaults usually work well — for example, GPT-4 handles most editing sessions effectively. But if you want consistent feedback over time, it’s best to stick to the same platform and model. Each LLM — Claude, GPT, Gemini — has its own tone, quirks, and depth. Switching between them can lead to inconsistent style or conflicting advice.
(See the footnote table for a quick model comparison.)
Teach GPT your style: Share sample posts, a style guide, or even a public link to your archive.
Upload your draft as a file or simply paste text.
Prevent unwanted rewrites: Set the ground rules for the session upfront with a clear instruction like: ‘Do not rewrite. Just assess.’
Pro-tip: Short phrases work just fine with GPT — no need for long sentences. Experiment with your prompts!
Assign a role: Ask GPT to act as an editor or represent your typical reader. Examples: ‘Assess as an editor,’ ‘assess as a reader of [your publication name],’ or ‘assess this article as a TechCrunch editor.’
Refine based on feedback: Apply useful suggestions and discard anything that doesn’t fit your voice.
Sharpen the context if needed: If the feedback feels too generic or off-track, update GPT’s context — especially with examples that reflect your ideal reader profile — along with clearer prompts or additional style notes. If the responses still feel off, start a new session. It works like a reset button for the AI’s focus.
Prefer to Stay Anonymous?
If you want to avoid saving your content to a permanent chat history, check my tips for using temporary chat modes in GPT.
Pro-tip: Draft outside GenAI and use it for polishing — just like you would with Grammarly or a human editor.
Useful Caveats: What to Watch Out For
GenAI tools are powerful, but they come with quirks:
Hallucinations: AI can confidently insert facts or ideas that sound right — but aren’t. Always fact-check anything that feels off.
Over-rewrites: Left unchecked, some AI models tend to rewrite everything, even when you only wanted light edits. Be clear in your prompts about what’s off-limits. (Step 4)
Losing Your Voice: AI-generated text can drift toward a bland, corporate tone — especially if you keep switching tools. Training the AI on your past work helps, but human instincts are still key.
Think of GenAI as a helpful research assistant — great at spotting edits, offering tips, and catching typos, but not always able to grasp your unique voice and intent.
Up Next
Coming soon — tools for audio and video creation, plus smart ways to sell and distribute your work.
Was this useful? Got any personal favorites — especially off the beaten path, beyond Substack’s built-in tools (which are still evolving)? Drop them in the comments and I can add them to the list!
Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and similar tools offer settings (casual, formal) that act like a personal lightweight style guide.
Rule of thumb: For quick checks or brainstorming, choose a faster, cheaper model — like Claude 3 Haiku or GPT-4-turbo if available. For detailed editorial assessments or complex writing, go with the most advanced model — like Claude 3 Opus or GPT-4. See below table for reference.
I missed this installment of your work, and that you Jayshree for providing a set of tools. I’ll be honest, I’m unfamiliar with many. I use Pages and Grammarly for my writing. I have Chat GPT for helping me summarize my essays into 500 words for my radio show. I’m afraid to use it to write my essays because I don’t want to become dependent on it. I plan on using much of my own work to write my biography. My understanding is AI assistant writing isn’t allowed to sell on Amazon exceptions being ChatGPT, so I’m reluctant to heavily use it.
I’m going to explore your other suggested tools, which most I haven’t heard of until reading your essay. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this concise summary of useful tools and how to use them.