Worldbuilding Software for Self-Published Authors

Without a publisher, continuity is your job

At a publishing house, the copyeditor usually keeps a style sheet: a running list of character and place names, invented words and the order of events, updated with every book in a series. When you self-publish, that job falls to you or to a freelance editor you hire. Editors may change, but the series stays with you, so the record that carries the details forward is the one you keep: your story bible.

In yazar.io every character has their own page with ready-made profile fields such as Age, Eye Color and Nickname. When you mention another record by name in a record or a note, yazar.io links it as soon as you save; you can also type @ and pick it from a list. So before you change a detail, the character's page shows you every record and note that mentions them.

If you're writing a series, you can keep every novel set in the same world in one workspace, which yazar.io calls a book. You record each character once and use a custom field like First Appearance to note which novel they first show up in. When you spot a contradiction, open a note with the Conflict / To Check type and track it until it's fixed.

Working with your editor and narrator

Plenty of fantasy and science fiction novels include a glossary, a cast list or a pronunciation guide. If you're making an audiobook, your narrator needs that guide too: ACX, Audible's audiobook production platform, says pronunciation notes are especially important when a book has fictional locations, made-up names or invented languages. Add a custom Pronunciation field to your glossary terms, characters and locations, and the list grows with your records.

Publish your book as a Shareable Wiki set to Unlisted, and your editor, cover designer or narrator can open it without an account and browse the character pages, images and glossary in the sections you share. Pronunciations show up in each record's profile. For an Unlisted wiki, yazar.io asks search engines not to index it, but anyone with the link can open it. On Yazar Pro you can also add a password; visitors are asked for it before the pages open. Your Notes are never included, and only you can edit the records.

From the Export section in Book Settings you can download all of a book's records as Markdown or JSON on both plans. That gives you a starting point for the glossary at the back of your novel or the list you send your editor.

Where readers find you

The Author Card is free on every plan and works as a Linktree alternative built for authors. Once you publish it, yazar.io/@username shows your books with their covers and store links, your social accounts, and other links such as your newsletter signup. Any wiki you set to Public is listed automatically in the card's My Worlds section, so a reader coming back to a long series after a break can catch up on who's who.

You can download the card's QR code as a PNG and print it on a bookmark, a business card or the last page of your paperback. A printed link can't be fixed later: if you change your username, the old address no longer leads to you, and someone else can claim the old name. If you're printing a wiki link too, set the book's address by hand in Book Settings; by default it changes whenever you rename the book, but an address you set yourself stays put.

Promote your book with quote images

A short quote shows people your voice before they open the book. In the Quotes section you turn a line into a PNG with one of four templates, in square, portrait, story or landscape size, with your own background image if you like. On the free plan the yazar.io signature, a small logo in the corner, always shows; on Yazar Pro you can hide it.