2026 tech stack for serial fiction writers

All the things you might need to run a weekly story

Some writers, such as the excellent T K Hall, seek out analogue processes for their writing, stripping away technology to leave only the page and the pen and their mind. That’s never been me: I’m a tinkerer and have always loved technology¹, and incorporating tech into my workflow has been an essential part of my writing.

Today I’m outlining the various hardware, software and services I use to write and publish. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary in here, but I’m hoping that having it all in one place might be useful for anyone else doing similar work.

As a writer of weekly serials, I have specific requirements for my writing process:

• Writing fast is essential, but in a way that somehow doesn’t overly compromise quality

• I need to be able to edit and redraft rapidly

• Keeping track of multiple plot threads and character arcs is vital, if the story is going to be coherent and satisfying for readers

• I need to be able to publish quickly and easily, direct to my readers, with minimal algorithmic shenanigans

• I want to be able to provide audio readings of chapters for accessibility and convenience

• Creating occasional ebook collections and print editions of collected works is increasingly important

• Those print and ebook editions then need to be printed on demand and distributed automatically — I don’t want boxes and boxes of stock filling up my house

• I want the most enthusiastic readers to be able to support my writing through paid subscriptions, but in a flexible way that doesn’t punish those who can’t afford it

• As my back catalogue grows, I want it to be easily accessible and discoverable

Not asking for much, then.

Over the last four years I’ve settled into an efficient and road-tested setup. Here it is:

Software

Scrivener - £55 / $59.99

This is the super weapon. Without Scrivener, I would struggle to write the stories that I write.

To be more precise: writing does not require technology. A pen and paper is fine! If Scrivener didn’t exist, I’d still be a writer. But for working on multi-year, complex weekly serials, complete with large casts and interconnected plot threads that have to make sense and seed concepts months or years ahead of time, I need a very intricate understanding of what it is I’m creating.

That’s where Scrivener comes in. Yes, I could use notebooks and post-it notes, I could use Word or Google Docs, but it’s Scrivener that keeps it all in one place for me. I’ve used it for all four of my major serial projects and it’s never let me down.

Scrivener doesn’t make me a better writer, but it definitely makes me a less stressed writer. It takes care of a lot of the technical complexity of an ongoing serial, leaving me to focus on the story.

It’s also insanely cheap for a professional tool.

I wrote more about using it in my workflow here:

Canva & Affinity - free

I used Affinity long before it was bought by Canva and turned into a free product. It was a good deal back when you had to pay for it, and the free version is absurdly good. It’s a genuine alternative to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Being owned by a tech company that sells subscriptions does make me nervous. I fully expect Canva to enshittify the product at some point. Until then though, it’s a phenomenal tool for creating images, ebooks, covers and interiors.

When Affinity is overkill, I sometimes hop over into Canva for quick layout projects.

Clip Studio Paint Pro - $58.50 or $26.99 annual

For digital art, I prefer Clip Studio Paint over Affinity. It enables more naturalistic drawing and painting, and is available in every platform (including tablets). I want at some point to work on comics, and CSP is what I’ll be using as it has built-in features to help with panel layout, dialogue bubbles and so on.

It has a slightly convoluted payment setup. You can buy a perpetual licence or subscribe for monthly/annual plans, and there are two distinct versions: Pro and EX. EX has more features around comic creation and animation and is considerably more expensive.

Audacity - free

Open source audio editing, which I turn to when recording and editing article voiceovers. Quick and simple to use.

Here’s some more info on producing cheap but effective podcasts:

Platforms & services

Substack - free

This newsletter that you’re reading is powered by Substack. To be clear, I very rarely describe this as ‘my Substack’, as such blind brand loyalty is only asking for trouble when we operate in this late-stage capitalist hellhole. It’s my newsletter, and I happen to use Substack.

That said, the Substack toolkit is a remarkable thing. I can publish my writing, broadcast live streams, distribute video and podcasts, host chats with subscribers, and build a list of free and paying subscribers. There is very little in the way of platform lock-in: I can take my subscriber list and go elsewhere whenever I want. Video and audio is automatically shared to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and so on. There’s a built-in (optional) social network called Notes which is full of interesting people and actively encourages subscriptions.

There is no direct cost to me, the creator. Anyone can create a Substack publication for free. If you accept paid subs from your readers, that’s when Substack take 10% from those subscriptions. Given the depth and quality of the tools, that’s a great deal as far as I’m concerned — larger, more successful publications might want to consider the fixed-rate options available on roughly equivalent platforms like Ghost.

Substack in 2025 became the big, hyped platform that everyone was jumping on. But that hype isn’t mere hyperbole. The platform has been a significant factor in getting my to 9.5k subscribers.

Check out my Substack tutorials here.

Google Drive - various plans

I’ve used Google Drive for years and years. It makes it easy to access my files across devices and also serves as a remote backup: if all my devices got smashed up or my house exploded, my writing would still be in Google Drive.

In the last few years this has became a potential vulnerability. Google has a long reputation of abandoning products, and while I don’t see them doing that for something as essential and widely used as Drive, they’re also a tech company that is swept up in AI hype. Their focus is elsewhere, which makes me nervous.

I’ve been looking at open source and European alternatives: Proton seems promising. The actual migration is non-trivial, though, and doesn’t mean much while I’m still locked into a Microsoft ecosystem. More on that below.

IngramSpark

This, for me, is as yet untested. When I self-published No Adults Allowed I took the path of least resistance and used Amazon KDP. As a technical test it was useful, but has left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

One of my missions for 2026 is to extract No Adults Allowed from Amazon and make it widely available. The best route for doing that appears to be IngramSpark, which is able to distribute to a wide range of bookshops (online and offline) as well as libraries.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Bookshop.org

Moving away from Amazon requires having an equivalent store to use as a first port-of-call for readers. Back when I published No Adults Allowed the options were rather limited, but last year Bookshop.org expanded their offering to include ebook sale and distribution.

Suddenly, there was an Amazon alternative. I still need to look into the particulars, but IngramSpark + Bookshop.org seems like a promising combo. They’re also non-exclusive, so anyone who really likes to give Bezos money will still be able to do so.

Again, I’ll report back as I explore this later in 2026.

Bookfunnel - $100 $200 per year

UPDATE: Nissa Harlow down in the comments noted that BookFunnel are doubling their prices In February this year. Doubling! That rather knocks it out of the recommendation bucket for most use cases. Here’s BookFunnel’s blog post about the price changes.

It’s tempting to see Substack as a guaranteed growth engine, to expect constant success simply by being on the platform. That’s not how any of this works, though, and it’s up to us to find readers and reach beyond the obvious venues. That’s where I’ve found BookFunnel to be very useful over the years: especially in the first couple of years of writing, BookFunnel found me a foundational reader base.

You do need a back catalogue of some sort, or at least the existence of a sample or extract of work, but other than that it’s all very easy to use. And better than raging at the mysteries of Substack’s algorithms.

It used to be $100 annual, which wasn’t nothing, but in my experience it was a more reliable ROI than spewing money into Facebook or Amazon ads. In February 2026 they’re doubling their prices, sooo…that’s not great. I’ll be looking around for alternatives.

I detailed how it works here:

Wait, what about social media?

The short answer is that I don’t really use social media to promote my newsletter. It simply doesn’t perform for me in a useful way, and the effort to share my work on the various social platforms isn’t worth the minimal/non-existent reward. We’re long past the age of useful hyper-scaling virality via socials.

This could vary for you, depending on what you write. Mike Sowden has reported having significant success on Threads and Bluesky, for example — but his brand of optimistic science education is perhaps an easier sell than my weird scifi serial fiction.

The exception for me is Substack Notes, where there does seem to be a direct correlation between posting and growing the newsletter. Plus, it’s a pleasant and interesting community: I learn a lot from reading Notes and am always discovering new writers. That simply doesn’t happen on LinkedIn or Bluesky, let alone any of the other legacy platforms.

Incidentally, I really recommend looking at Matt Stasoff’s latest Social Signals mega-presentation, which is a fascinating vibe-check on where we’re at with social media and online platforms.

Which AI to use?

When talking about tech in 2026, it feels necessary to address the elephant in the room. Which is my preferred LLM? What’s best for ideating? Which one is good for creating illustrations?

Here’s the thing: I used Midjourney a fair bit in 2022, when it first came out. It seemed promising! Then three things happened:

1. I became increasingly aware of the ethical and copyright problems around the training datasets

2. The AI aesthetic became recognisable and generally undesirable: the quality simply isn’t there, despite a veneer of technical competence

3. I realised that I was doing less of my own drawing, the more I used Midjourney — which felt very backwards

In February 2023 I made a point of ceasing all use of generative AI, as I explained here:

Why I cancelled my MidJourney subscription and don't use ChatGPT

I updated my general thoughts in 2025:

Taking another look at genAI for 2025

I try not to be too knee-jerky about genAI, or ideological about it. My current opinion is a practical one, based on it not really being fit for purpose, especially for creative activities. It’s that ongoing triple-whammy of low quality results, ethical questions and copyright uncertainty.

Ultimately, the inherent design of LLMs is based on a homogenising smush of massive data, the end result of which is inevitably mediocrity. It’s an averaging engine. James Cameron had some interesting thoughts recently on this:

I’m someone whose experience of creativity is that the idea and end result are far less important than the process itself. GenAI currently inverts that: it posits the idea (the prompt) as the key ingredient, with the final output being the only valuable asset. That’s just not a form of creativity that interests me.

Falling back on stock photos can be a bit boring, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone actively avoiding reading an article because it used a stock image. AI images might have the potential for a bigger initial audience draw, but they’re also likely to put off a whole bunch of readers. It comes down to what kind of audience you’re looking to cultivate.

Once we get past the hype cycle, which might happen as early as this year, perhaps then we’ll be able to pluck the genuinely useful AI tools from the wreckage of the industry.

Hardware

Remarkable Paper Pro - from £559

This was my big indulgence in 2025. I’d had my eye on e-ink paper tablets for several years, thinking that they would be good additions to my toolkit. I was finally able, after much saving up, to buy a Remarkable Paper Pro, and it hasn’t disappointed.

Quick aside: I was only able to afford one of these things thanks to the direct support and generosity I receive from readers of this newsletter. I never expected to be in that position, having started from scratch in 2021. I still have the day job, but it’s astonishing to me that I make any money from my writing. What a time to be a writer, eh?

My interest in an e-ink tablet was increased by my chats with T K Hall. His commitment to a non-digital workflow is deeply appealing, even if it doesn’t quite fit with the way my particular brain works. A tablet designed with an analogue, stripped-back interface seemed like it could bridge the gap.

And it has! I use it to keep notes, work out tricky plot points, sketch out upcoming chapters, as well as to do the bulk of the writing. I always used to write in Scrivener, on a laptop, but that always came with the risk of being distracted: the internet was only ever a click away.

On the Paper Pro, there’s far fewer distractions. It doesn’t have apps in the traditional sense, and I can’t browse the web. I can read, I can write, I can draw. That’s it. Combined with an e-ink screen that doesn’t strain my eyes when I’m writing for long stretches and it’s a lovely experience.

It is, of course, a luxury item and absolutely not a necessity. But I have been very pleasantly surprised at how it’s integrated into my process and made writing even more enjoyable. They have a smaller notebook-sized version now, which looks pretty nifty, and alternatives are available from the likes of Supernote.

But yes, I emphasise that this is very optional.

A laptop

As much as I love the Paper Pro, it’s no good for handling the business end of things. A proper laptop is required for actually publishing the writing. I have a small Windows laptop with a touch and pen-enabled screen, and it does the job nicely.

Most of the software I’ve mentioned works fine on Mac or Windows, and doesn’t require a supercomputer. I like having a laptop that works with a pen, as it’s useful for sketching and illustrating posts, but otherwise anything that can run a modern web browser is going to work.

As I mentioned above regarding Google Drive, my one concern here is using Windows itself. Aside from it becoming increasingly wonky as Microsoft goes all-in on genAI, there’s the risk factor of running a US-based operating system in 2026 and beyond.

Just as I would avoid or hesitate having an operating system developed by a Russian or Chinese company, we’re unfortunately now in a situation when the same caution has to be applied to the US.² I’ve been looking into open source alternatives, and the switch to Linux is more viable now than it ever has been: but there are still quirks and barriers, such as Scrivener not having a native Linux build. Still, the success of Steam OS shows that Linux is closer than it’s ever been to being a viable option.

Europe as a whole is fast-tracking alternatives and a move away from reliance on US tech, but it’s going to take a while to spin all of that up. Hopefully the volatile time we’re living in will pass, but it would be irresponsible to not be considering escape routes at this point in history. It’s important for all of us to carefully consider the operating systems and platforms we’re using, and who precisely we are sharing data with — and that goes especially for American citizens.

External hard drive backup

Using cloud storage for backup is a no-brainer, but it’s also vital to have your own backup solutions. This can be as simple as having an external hard drive and/or USB stick. Every couple of months I copy my ‘books’ folders over to the external drive.

This way, if something weird happens to my computer AND to my Google account, I haven’t lost all of my work.

Publishing online is another form of backup, in a way: my Substack archive is another repository of my work that I can use for retrieval.

Obsbot Meet 2 webcam - £129

I’m keen to explore live streaming in 2026 and produce a new round of video tutorials. Previously I’ve relied on a £20 cheapo webcam that I bought during the Covid lockdown for work: it did the job, but was smudgy and made me look like I was inhabiting a smoke-filled, cigarette-stained Parisian café circa 1920.

After researching a tedious number of alternatives, I ended up getting an Obsbot Meet 2. It’s high quality, can switch between 1080p and 4K, has fast focus and works well in low light. It’s also TINY. So far, very happy with it.

Sennheiser Profile microphone - £88

When I started recording voiceovers for the newsletter, I didn’t want to rely on built-in microphones. I ended up with a Sennheiser Profile, which is small, highly directional and plugs into just about anything via USB-C.

I don’t have an ideal recording setup, but the Sennheiser manages to make my recordings sound fairly decent.

More on podcasts here:

How to create a simple podcast

A phone

Lastly, a phone is still pretty useful. I have a Google Pixel something-or-other, it does the job, I keep the apps on it as stripped-down as possible and try not to get distracted.

I have no social media apps on the thing, for a start. The only exception being Substack, but I consider that a necessary business tool.

The thing about phones is that for about a decade now it’s been true that more-or-less any phone will do. I’m not interested in the latest iPhone or the latest and greatest Samsung Android phone. From my position, they are entirely pointless and overpriced. I don’t need a supercomputer in my pocket — I just need something that can browse the web, make calls and otherwise shut the hell up.

I struggle to think of a more boring device than the smartphone. In the late-2000s it was an exciting concept, to have an internet-enabled computer that you could take out and about. In 2026 I want the phone to stay out of my way unless I want it for something specific. My point being, don’t waste money on the latest, fanciest phone, because phones that were coming out a decade ago could already do everything a writer needs them to do.

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That’s a big list of stuff. Some of it is quite expensive, some of it is very cheap or free. You absolutely don’t need any of it, and if you already write quite happily without leaning on a bunch of tech that’s all good.

What’s important is to find a process that works for you. The kinds of serials I like to write have a specific set of requirements, and the tech I’ve listed here makes it considerably easier for me to do what I do. By making the process less logistically tricky, it gives me more time and brain space to focus on the story itself.

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Meanwhile.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully that was a useful list of useful things.

Here’s some other stuff:

• You may have seen me go on about MEGA ROBO BROS and Donut Squad, both created by Neill Cameron. My son has just about aged out of The Phoenix magazine and Neill’s core work, which is obviously an absolutely tragedy for ME, but apparently that’s a thing that children tend to do. Anyway, given that most of you reading this newsletter are in the USA, you’ll be pleased to hear (if you have 6-13 year olds in your life) that Donut Squad is going to be available Stateside later this year. Woo!

  Donut Squad TAKE OVER THE USA!

• This counterpoint to the literacy doom and gloom is a good one:

  Text is king

• Live video chats between Chris Best and Mills Baker are always interesting. They tend to start out talking about a new Substack feature, then spin off into general madness. In this case, it’s Mills’ shirts. Anyway, point is: if you use Substack and want to have a better sense of why they’re putting their development efforts into particular features, these chats are the place to go.

  Substack TV, Article Armageddon, President Plump

• I am continuing to read The Hobbit with my son. Neither of us have read it before. It is good. More hot takes to come.

• We’re also reading Worst Bot Ever, a Transformers comic from Skybound about a wannabe baddie who turns into a ballpoint pen. It is very funny and full of in-jokes. Comic timing in comics really fascinates me, because it seems like a really hard thing to do. Jamie Smart is excellent at it, and turns out Brian Smith Jr and Marz Jr are, too.

Right. Later this week arrives the FINAL CHAPTER of Tales from the Triverse. This is a big deal, to me at least. I’ll see you on Friday.

1. This has become increasingly difficult in the last decade. Social media’s decline, general enshittification, crypto, NFTs, genAI — the most prominent tech has been awful for years. But there are still glimmers, if you know where to look.

2. To be clear on this point: I love Americans (most of the people who read this newsletter are from the US), and I’ve always loved the idea of America. Most of my favourite movies, music and TV shows are from the US. My main cultural touchpoints are American! My concerns here are not about the American people, but the corrupt and violent bastards that have taken over the country. Hopefully it’s a temporary state of affairs, but the rest of the world can’t rest on that assumption.