Off until you say otherwise
Simply Publishing is a complete product with AI turned off. Every AI feature is opt-in for your team — turn on what helps, skip what does not, and change your mind anytime. Nothing on this page is required.
Optional AI
Keep the judgment. Let AI help with the searching.
Simply Publishing is designed to work with AI off. If a publishing partner opts in, Ask Simply can help staff find operational context and prepare drafts from records they are allowed to see; it does not approve rights terms, finalize royalties, or make editorial calls.
The ground rules
Four things that stay true, whatever you switch on.
AI in Simply Publishing was built the way we would want it used on our own team: opt-in, supervised, explainable, and governed with visible usage.
People decide; people answer
Ask Simply proposes — a person approves before anything changes. The website assistant answers — and hands the conversation to your team the moment someone asks for a person. AI here extends your people; it never replaces them.
Answers show their work
Ask Simply cites the records behind every answer and previews every change before it happens. Website conversations land in your inbox with a per-answer trace for admins. Usage is metered visibly, and spending caps are on by default.
Your permissions are the AI’s permissions
Ask Simply can only see what the signed-in person is allowed to see — enforced by the platform, not by the AI’s good manners. The website assistant knows only the information you connect. It all runs on the same AWS infrastructure as the rest of Simply Publishing, and your data is never used to train AI models.
Flavor one — for your team
Ask Simply: the colleague who read everything.
Ask Simply works inside the publishing team’s own permissions, cites the records behind its answers, and presents changes for review instead of taking consequential publishing action by itself.
“Which upcoming editions still need an identifier or publication date?”
A focused readiness list from the shared title spine, so the next catalog review starts with the missing facts rather than another scavenger hunt.
“Show the contributor and format details we need to review for this release.”
A source-linked summary that helps the team check the title record before a metadata handoff.
“Which statement imports are waiting for a decision?”
The review queue, source context, and exceptions in one answer — with the approval still left to the responsible person.
“Draft a checklist for the terms we need to confirm on this agreement.”
A starting checklist from the operating record, ready for a person to verify against the actual agreement.
“What is still open for the print proof handoff?”
The open milestones and attached notes gathered from the edition’s production trail.
“Draft the release checklist for the EPUB package and reader access.”
A reviewable checklist that keeps delivery evidence and reader-access steps visible without pretending the package has been approved.
From the big numbers to the missing-form chase to drafting the next page — if it lives in Simply Publishing, you can ask about it in plain language. See Ask Simply live in a demo
On the go
Your whole system, in a back pocket.
From a warehouse, proofing table, or author meeting, a publishing lead can ask the Simply Anywhere mobile app which edition needs attention next — under the same permissions as the desk view.
Chat turns out to be the perfect mobile interface for a system like this: no menus to hunt through, no laptop to open — just the question, the cited answer, and the approval, wherever the work is happening.
The full Ask Simply, inside the Simply Anywhere appSame permissions, sources, and approvals as your deskAsk for the number on the way into the meetingReview and approve proposed changes from anywhereYour records, messages, and notifications ride along
Flavor two — for the people you serve
A website that answers back — honestly.
A future public assistant can answer reader and author questions only from material a publisher deliberately publishes. During the private beta, it is a design surface, not a promise of unattended public support.
“Is this title available in an accessible digital format?”
The assistant can point to the publisher-approved edition and reader information, without inventing availability details.
“Where can I find the document my publisher approved for me?”
It can direct the author to the protected path, where access checks decide what may actually be opened.
“Who can help with title metadata or an order question?”
The assistant can route the question to the publishing team instead of improvising a commercial answer.
“Can you interpret my contract or royalty statement?”
It sends the question to a person at the publisher. Contracts, statements, and editorial judgment stay with the responsible human team.
The voice should be clear, literary, and precise — warm to readers and authors, but never casual about rights, availability, money, or personal information.
The assistant is always honest about being an assistant, and a human is always one ask away — because the fastest way to lose someone’s trust is to fake a person.
Your assistant, your rules
Customization, control, and a paper trail.
A public assistant speaks for you, so you hold the controls — what it knows, how it sounds, and what it is never allowed to do.
It sounds like you
Guidance and voice settings — tone, words to use, words to avoid, example answers — teach the assistant your way of speaking. Each widget can also choose a deeper or faster AI model.
It knows what you connect — nothing else
You choose the pages, knowledge articles, and workflows behind each widget. It answers from those, says so when it does not know, and cannot wander into data you did not connect.
Real actions, same safeguards
When a visitor submits connected private-beta intake, the assistant uses the same verified forms and review rules as the rest of your site. It cannot write to your data any other way.
People, one ask away
Visitors can reach your team at any point, and the assistant escalates on its own when it is unsure or the topic is sensitive. Conversations land in your inbox with full context — and offline hours are handled honestly.
Every conversation, visible
Your team can read every conversation, see what the assistant consulted for each answer, test changes before publishing, and measure satisfaction — including the questions it could not answer, so you know what to publish next.
Costs with a ceiling
AI usage is metered transparently with spending caps on by default. Private-beta participants review enabled AI surfaces and their usage posture before activation.
Honest answers
If you never turn AI on, Simply Publishing is still Simply Publishing.
Editors edit, rights teams interpret agreements, finance teams approve statements, and publishers decide what reaches readers. AI can help find and prepare; it does not take those responsibilities.
And if you do turn it on, it stays optional forever — feature by feature, widget by widget, with visible usage and spending caps.
Bring us one publishing workflow worth making dependable.
Show us the title sheet, the statement review, the author-document path, or the production handoff that currently depends on a spreadsheet. We will discuss whether it is the right first-partner fit.