Writing software for novelists

You write. Bergotte reads the whole book.

A calm editor, and a reader who knows your novel by heart: it finds every detail, keeps your characters up to date and shows you what contradicts itself, pages in hand.

Try it freeNo credit card, no time limit

I have a manuscriptImport your .docx or .epub
I’m starting outWrite from the first page

Notebook✦Bergotte

Chapter 15

The Envelope

The six o’clock ferry was in. Soizic had put the envelope on the kitchen table, between the bread and the keys, the way you put down a thing you don’t want to see.

“It was in Dad’s papers. It’s for you.”

Antoine lowered his brown eyesBIU✦ Bergotte Another wordAsk BergotteIs this consistent? to the envelope, without opening it.

✦ Is this consistent?

One point to look at.

Eye colour · Antoine

Grey in chapter 2, brown here.

Here« Antoine lowered his brown eyes to the envelope, without opening it. »

Chapter 2« He had his father’s grey eyes, and Soizic had never forgiven him for it. »

A “To revisit” in the Notebook.

What Bergotte does for your book

Your whole novel, at hand.

Five moments of a novelist’s work, and what changes when someone has read everything.

IWrite
A calm editor that keeps everything.
Twenty minutes stolen in the evening. You write, you note what still needs checking, you cut a scene without losing it.
- Focus: the screen keeps only your text
- Notes and “To revisit” pinned to your words, gathered in the Notebook
- Automatic saving, earlier versions, .docx and .epub export
FocusNotebook✦Bergotte
Chapter 9
The Slipway Café
Anselme had been wiping the same glass for ten minutes. Outside, the lighthouse wasn’t lit yet.
“Your father reread them in winter,” he said, and added nothing.NoteDid Anselme know about the letters as early as ch. 4?
Antoine counted the boats on the slipway, twice, so as not to answer.
Notebook
This chapterThe whole book
AllNotesTo revisitSet aside
Chapter 9 · NoteDid Anselme know about the letters as early as ch. 4?
Chapter 9 · To revisitThe dialogue drags, cut the end
Chapter 7 · Set asideThe ferry scene, long version
IIFind
A question, and the page that answers it.
Who knows what, and since when? Instead of rereading a hundred pages, you ask.
- Answers drawn from the whole book, with the chapters to open
- A word and every place it appears, chapter by chapter
- When your book says nothing, Bergotte tells you so
✦ BergotteThe whole book
Who knows what Lucie’s letters say?
Nobody, in what you’ve written so far. Antoine puts the box away without opening it. Anselme only hints that he knows them: “Your father reread them in winter.”
ch. 4ch. 9“Your father reread them in winter,” said Anselme, and added nothing.
Where was Soizic on the night of the storm?
Your story hasn’t answered that yet.
23 times « letters »
4 in this chapter · 19 elsewhere in the book
Ch. 1Ch. 19
IIIOrganise
Your characters, without a spreadsheet.
A name keeps coming back; it matters. You select it: “Add as… › A character”, then “Create the page”.
- A page written from your pages, each sentence with its chapter
- What you know, added apart and marked “You”
- Your places, the same way
Your characters
AAntoineIn 18 chapters of 19.
SSoizicIn 13 chapters of 19.
MMaëlleIn 9 chapters of 19.
AAnselmeIn 6 chapters of 19.Added by you
Character✦ Talk about Anselme with Bergotte
Anselme
6 chapters of 19
The owner of the café by the slipway, Hervé’s friend since childhood. ch. 6 He gives Antoine a key without saying what it opens. ch. 9
What we know
- He has run the café by the slipway since his wife died.ch. 6
- Hervé told him what he never told his children.ch. 12
- YouHe has read Lucie’s letters, and won’t say so until the end.
IVCheck
Contradictions, before your readers.
A first name that changes, an eye colour that drifts. Bergotte rereads the chapters you change and flags it in the margin.
- Both passages side by side
- “It’s intended” or “I’ll fix it”: you decide
- “Is this consistent?” on any passage, on request
✦1 inconsistency✦Bergotte
Chapter 12
On the envelope, in her big slanting hand: Lucienne.✦
Inconsistencies
Two passages of your manuscript don’t agree. Questions, not verdicts: what is intended is yours to say.
First name · Lucie
Lucie in chapter 2, Lucienne in chapter 12.
Chapter 2Nobody had seen Lucie again since the winter of the wreck.
Chapter 12On the envelope, in her big slanting hand: Lucienne.
See the passageIt’s intended
VPrepare
Your manuscript, seen whole.
Before a rewrite or a submission: where does the story stand, chapter by chapter, and how long is it beside its genre?
- Each chapter summed up in one sentence
- Its length beside the genre’s usual range
- Narration, first chapter, chapter endings
How long for your genre? Work it out
Story
What the Sea Brings Back
Facing publishersGeneral fiction · First novel
Within the usual range457,900 signs · 76,312 words
The length general fiction publishers ask for most often.
NarrationThird person. Closest to Antoine (12 ch. of 19).
First chapter4,100 words. Often around 2,600 in recent novels.
Chapter by chapter
17Under the Bed 2,610 wordsMaëlle hides the box of letters under her bed, so nobody throws it away.
18The Notary 4,480 wordsAntoine signs the sale without rereading; Lucie’s first letter stays sealed.

IWrite

FocusNotebook✦Bergotte

Chapter 9

The Slipway Café

Anselme had been wiping the same glass for ten minutes. Outside, the lighthouse wasn’t lit yet.

“Your father reread them in winter,” he said, and added nothing.NoteDid Anselme know about the letters as early as ch. 4?

Antoine counted the boats on the slipway, twice, so as not to answer.

✦ BergotteThe whole book

Who knows what Lucie’s letters say?

Nobody, in what you’ve written so far. Antoine puts the box away without opening it. Anselme only hints that he knows them: “Your father reread them in winter.”

ch. 4ch. 9“Your father reread them in winter,” said Anselme, and added nothing.

Where was Soizic on the night of the storm?

Your story hasn’t answered that yet.

23 times « letters »

4 in this chapter · 19 elsewhere in the book

Ch. 1Ch. 19

Character✦ Talk about Anselme with Bergotte

Anselme

6 chapters of 19

The owner of the café by the slipway, Hervé’s friend since childhood. ch. 6 He gives Antoine a key without saying what it opens. ch. 9

What we know

He has run the café by the slipway since his wife died.ch. 6
Hervé told him what he never told his children.ch. 12
YouHe has read Lucie’s letters, and won’t say so until the end.

✦1 inconsistency✦Bergotte

Chapter 12

On the envelope, in her big slanting hand: Lucienne.✦

Story

What the Sea Brings Back

Facing publishersGeneral fiction · First novel

Within the usual range457,900 signs · 76,312 words

The length general fiction publishers ask for most often.

NarrationThird person. Closest to Antoine (12 ch. of 19).

First chapter4,100 words. Often around 2,600 in recent novels.

Chapter by chapter

17Under the Bed 2,610 wordsMaëlle hides the box of letters under her bed, so nobody throws it away.

18The Notary 4,480 wordsAntoine signs the sale without rereading; Lucie’s first letter stays sealed.

Getting started

A manuscript in a drawer, or a blank page.

Bergotte is with you either way, from today.

I already have a manuscript

Your book, read while you write.

1Drop your fileA .docx or an .epub, up to 25 MB.
2Check your chaptersBergotte finds them and shows them to you before the import. If it finds none, it suggests where to cut.
3Get its emailBergotte reads the whole book while you write, and lets you know when it’s done.

As soon as the reading is done

Your Story, chapter by chapter
Your questions
Your character pages
Consistency
Facing publishers

Import my manuscript

I’m starting my novel

Bergotte grows with your book.

From the first pageA place to write
- Chapters, Focus, automatic saving
- Notes, “To revisit” and loose threads in the Notebook
- Your characters and places, added in one gesture
After a few chaptersA first reader
- Bergotte reads each chapter as you write
- Your Story starts to take shape
- Your first questions about the book
When the book takes shapeThe whole picture
- Character pages that grow with every chapter
- Consistency from one chapter to the next
- Facing publishers

Every tool grows as you write: Bergotte only reads what exists.

Start my novel

Compare

Today, your novel lives in four windows.

Each does one thing well. None has read the whole book.

Manuscript_v7.docxWriting, correcting, counting wordsKnows nothing of your story
Characters.xlsxA bible kept by handOut of date at the first rewrite
NotesIdeas, things to checkFar from the sentences they concern
AI assistantAnswers about what you pasteOne chapter at a time, every conversation

Bergotte

IWrite
IIFind
IIIOrganise
IVCheck
VPrepare

With Bergotte, one window has read everything.

What each family of tools does without special setup.
	Word processor	Writing software	General AI assistant	Bergotte
Writing, saving, exporting				Chapters, Focus, versions, .docx and .epub
Notes and passages to revisit, pinned to the text	Comments			Gathered in the Notebook
Finding a detail anywhere in the book	Search by word	Search by word	On the pasted text	A question, the passages quoted
Up-to-date character pages		Filled in yourself	Asked for again	Written from your pages
The book summed up chapter by chapter		Written yourself	Pasted chapter by chapter	Kept up to date
Spotting contradictions between chapters			In what it sees	In the whole book, both passages shown
Placing the length beside publishers	The word count	The word count		Beside the genre’s usual range

Made for itPossible, by hand or in piecesNot made for it

AI, in its place

It holds the thread. You hold the pen.

Bergotte uses artificial intelligence to read your novel and answer you. It drafts no scene, no chapter, no sequel to your story.

Your text

Bergotte’s margin

It quotes its sourcesEvery remark points to the passage behind it. One click, and you read it.
It suggests, you chooseAnother word, a rephrasing: only when you ask, and nothing goes in without your gesture.
It keeps your secretYour manuscript is never sold, never published, never used to train an AI.

Your text stays exactly as you wrote it.

Pricing

Try Bergotte on your novel.

To begin

Free trial

No credit card and no time limit. You subscribe only if Bergotte suits you.

Enough to have a novel of about 80,000 words read, its character pages composed and your first questions asked.

Try it free

Then, three plans

The same Bergotte in all three. Only the amount of reading changes, each month.

Plume
To write at your own pace
US$9.99a month
or US$99.90 a year, two months free
One novel read a month, with its character pages and your questions.
Roman
Recommended
To work your book closely
US$29.99a month
or US$299.90 a year, two months free
Three novels read a month, or yours followed closely, with far more questions.
Atelier
For several manuscripts at once
US$59.99a month
or US$599.90 a year, two months free
Six novels read a month, or yours reworked in depth, with a great many questions.

Orders of magnitude, for novels of about 80,000 words. Prices include taxes; in the app, they show in your currency.

In every plan, all of Bergotte

WriteThe editor, Focus, the Notebook, export
FindYour questions, answered with passages
OrganiseYour character pages and your Story
CheckConsistency, chapter after chapter
PrepareFacing publishers

Free trial, no card
Cancel any time
Payment secured by Stripe

Questions

Before you hand it your novel

Does Bergotte write for me?

No. Bergotte uses artificial intelligence to read your manuscript and talk to you about it. It drafts no scene, no chapter, no sequel to your story. If you ask for another word or a rephrasing, it suggests, and you choose.

Is my manuscript used to train an AI?

No. Your manuscript is never sold, never published, never used to train an artificial intelligence. To read it, Bergotte sends passages to two services based in the United States: Anthropic (the Claude models) to read and answer, Voyage AI to search your text. Their terms, for our account, exclude training on your data. The details are in the privacy policy.

I only have a few pages. Is it for me?

Yes. From the first page you have an editor, Focus, the Notebook and your characters added in one gesture. Bergotte reads your chapters as you write: your Story, your character pages and consistency grow as the book does.

How long does it take to read my novel?

In our tests, a 35,000-word novel was read in about ten minutes; a longer book takes more. You can write meanwhile, and Bergotte emails you when it’s done.

What if it gets something wrong?

It can happen: it’s a reader, not an oracle. That’s why every remark points to the passages behind it, and a contradiction is only ever a question. You decide.

Which files, which languages?

A .docx or an .epub, up to 25 MB. Images, tables and footnotes are not brought in. Bergotte reads novels written in French or in English, and its interface speaks both.

What happens when I’ve used it all?

Nothing more is charged. During the free trial, Bergotte pauses until you choose a plan; on a plan, until the next month, unless you move to a bigger plan. You can still write, find what it has already understood and export your manuscript. The trial has no end date: you use it at your own pace.

What happens to my manuscript?

It stays yours. Export it whenever you like as .docx or .epub. If you close your account, everything is erased thirty days later. Bergotte is in alpha and improves every week: export regularly, as with any software.

You write. Bergotte reads the whole book.

Your whole novel, at hand.

A calm editor that keeps everything.

A question, and the page that answers it.

Your characters, without a spreadsheet.

Contradictions, before your readers.

Your manuscript, seen whole.

A manuscript in a drawer, or a blank page.

Your book, read while you write.

Bergotte grows with your book.

Today, your novel lives in four windows.

It holds the thread. You hold the pen.

Try Bergotte on your novel.

Plume

Roman

Atelier

Before you hand it your novel

Your novel deserves a reader who has read all of it.