To all youbooks “investors” out there.

Thank you for your trust. Your LTD is a brick in the foundations that youbooks is built on, so wherever this goes, it is thanks to you.

We wouldn’t mind a review either! That’d be more of a pillar than a brick! ;-) drop your pillar here

https://appsumo.com/products/youbooks/reviews/new/

It was not without drama. Youbooks seems to be dividing Sumo-lings between yb-lovers and yb-haters. It’s either 5 tacos or 1-taco and that’s it.  A true battlefield! Choose a side and do what you must do :-O

We’ve rolled out (as per user requests)…

• TOC editing and approval (in Beta)
• Project deletion
• Not changing the title when explicitly specified
• Small bug fixes on the client and workflows

…and that’s only in 2 short weeks, full of support requests and general crazy-ness.

Our GPUs have been burning hot, and Gemini and OpenAI are selling us tokens by the truckload. Keep it coming!

Now, on to a quick Q&A that will save you from reading through all the questions….

Q: What is a credit and how are they used?
A: For paid projects: ~1 credit ≈ 1 delivered word + a 9,000-credit flat fee per project. Human Model: +20%. Advanced models: 4× credits. Over-delivery is free; under-delivery credits are refunded.

Q: What costs apply to sources and Human Models?
A: Source upload: ~1 credit/word (one-time; reuse is free).
Human Model training: 1 credit/10 words of samples (one-time); using it in a project adds +20%.

Q: What does the BYOK discount mean?
A: On book projects only, you pay 20% (Tier 3) or 10% (Tier 4) of the usual credits; AI calls bill your OpenAI/Gemini/Anthropic accounts. No discount on sources or Human Model training.

Q: Which models are used? Can I choose?
A: With BYOK you can pick provider (OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic) and level per task (brainstorming, writing, editing).

Q: I’m seeing BYOK errors. Why?
A: Usually your API key hit rate limits, was deactivated, or lacks quota. Youbooks retries for up to 1 week, then cancels if not fixed. These are provider-side errors.

Q: Best language for quality?
A: LLMs have a slight edge in English, but you should generate directly in your target language. Translations are worse and KDP disallows AI translations.

Q: Does Youbooks repurpose my transcripts/draft into a book?
A: Not yet. Sources are used as knowledge, not rearranged verbatim. It won’t finish/reshape a WIP, interleave personal stories, or turn classes into a book one-to-one.

Q: Short books and fiction?
A: Recommended above 20K words; sweet spot 70–100K. No fiction or short stories.

Q: What genres work best?
A: General non-fiction without heavy tables/images/XML. Sensitive topics may be blocked by provider safety filters (you’ll be refunded if a project can’t complete).

Q: Can I write a series?
A: Yes—pre-plan similar TOCs, use TOC Approval, and a Human Model for consistent voice.

Q: Can I control how much comes from my sources vs web?
A: No. With web research enabled, anything relevant may be used; sources inform the text but aren’t forced in.

Q: How does TOC Approval (beta) work?
A: The run starts, then pauses ~5 minutes in. You’ll see “TOC approval requested” on the book; edit/submit the TOC. The workflow resumes (typically within about an hour).

Q: Citations and references?
A: No in-text (e.g., Harvard) citations. A per-section URL export is planned; not for academic papers.

Q: Images and covers?
A: Not generated. Add them externally.

Q: Can Youbooks edit/extend my book later?
A: No in-app editor/extension. Export and edit in your tool of choice.

Q: I have an old LTD—can I stack AppSumo?
A: Create a new account with a different email, then email master@youbooks.com to merge benefits into your original account.

Q: Commercial (paid) books—who owns the rights?
A: You do. “Premium Quality” (paid) books are private; Youbooks claims no rights.

Quick Practical Tips

• If exact word count matters, expect variance and plan to trim.
• You can use one source per project today (combine files if needed); raising to multiple is planned.
• Always train a Human Model in the same language as your target book.
• Hit issues? Use the support widget (bottom right) with the exact error message.

That’s all for now and thank you for that review!

Ioannis

Hey Sumo-lings! I’m Ioannis — founder of youbooks. 👋
My mission: every niche deserves a high-quality non-fiction book. 📚

What is youbooks?

youbooks helps you create high-quality non-fiction books with AI — up to 300,000 words — optionally using your sources and your writing style.

Who it’s for

Publishers, content creators/marketers, experts & course creators, and automation enthusiasts.

Top use cases

• ✍️ Write a niche book (any supported language) to sell on KDP.

• 🧲 Create lead-magnet ebooks for campaigns and funnels.

• 🔥 Capture a breaking trend with a timely authority book (even “yesterday’s” topic).

What makes it different

• 🧠 Long-form coherence: projects run for hours (or a day+ for 120k–300k words) with multi-agent debate, thousands of steps, and hundreds of editing cycles.

• 🧾 Use your sources or let the AI research hundreds of online sources for you.

• ✒️ Your writing style (Tier 2+): paste your own sample; we train a custom style so results feel uniquely “you.”

How it works (at a glance)

• Inputs: text files + copy/paste (including style samples).

• Outputs: DOCX, EPUB, Markdown (PDF not yet).

• Research: we don’t insert citations in-text, but you can download a list of all URLs used during research.

• Time to first full draft: usually several hours; 1–2 days for 120k–300k words.

• Scope: non-fiction only; very sensitive topics are filtered (we follow stricter Gemini-level safety).

• Languages: dozens supported; if frontier models support it, youbooks likely does too.

• Rights & privacy: you own your content; we do not train on your data.

Deal clarity (credits & tiers)

Credits reset monthly (no rollover). As a simple rule, ~1 credit ≈ 1 word for most projects (very short projects are less efficient).

• Tier 1 — 200k credits/mo.
  Internet research + Advanced model option + Custom writing styles (prompt based only)

• Tier 2 — 500k credits/mo.
  Adds Humanize via user-provided, sample-based style or factory styles. These styles use finetuned models and are much more convincing than Tier-1 prompt-based styles.

• Tier 3 — 600k credits/mo + BYOK + 80% credit discount.
  Bring your own API keys for Google Gemini, OpenAI, and Anthropic; choose which model handles reasoning/writing/editing. (OpenAI required for reasoning.)
  With BYOK, you pay providers directly and use ~1/5 the credits.

• Tier 4 — 700k credits/mo + BYOK + 90% credit discount.
  Even more efficient for high-volume publishing.
  If an API key fails mid-project, we’ll pause up to 1 week so you can update it.

Resources

• Samples & testimonials: youbooks.com — don't forget to check out the Is it for me tool

• I (Ioannis) will be here replying to your questions and feedback. 🙌

Let’s build something worth reading. 🚀

Ioannis

What are past projects, failures, or successes you’ve had in your career?

UMass grad here (Biochem + CS). I got rejected from a Bioinformatics MSc in Sydney—Bummer #1—so I went to India to build a game powered by dueling neural nets. It never shipped—Bummer #2. Fast-forward from 2005–2007: those nets run the world—Bummer #3. The upside? I learnt how to build like a *$%#*@# and only had to have a real job for 1/10 of my residence years on planet earth.

What 3rd party tools is your product critically dependent on?

We use the AI APIs of most frontier labs, and also rely on AWS and Temporal.

Where is your customer data stored?

USA, Ohio

What is your current monthly recurring revenue (MRR)?

$6K

How many customers do you have today?

2500+

What’s the origin of the idea for your product?

youbooks began as my personal automation stack for KDP: plan, research, draft, refine—without collapsing at long-form length. Eighteen months later, it’s a production tool any publisher can use. I care because it solves my own pain and makes book-level quality repeatable.

What problem is your product solving and how?

We close the quality gap in AI non-fiction writing. Instead of few-shot prompting, youbooks runs multi-agent workflows with hundreds of edits, and lets you feed your own sources and writing style. The result is depth and consistency at book length—not filler. If you want speed over substance, there are plenty of other tools.

What’s the #1 thing you’re looking to gain from the AppSumo campaign?

We’re here to prove AI-generated books aren’t “crap.” Hold us to a publishable standard—and if we earn it, tell your friends.

What are your plans with the customers, cash, and learnings from the AppSumo campaign?

I believe in simple products with very focused and refined features, so I would prioritize evals to increase quality and efficiency over bling bling. When I change my mind, you'll know it at youbooks.com/roadmap

Any details to clarify about the deal?

You will need a fresh account to redeem an Appsumo deal. If you have a Youbooks account already, you cannot use it. Feel free to create a new account though under a different email. Having multiple accounts is not against TOS.