Announcing: Zeitgeist Vibe Checker

While AI Thomas is still my magnum opus, this tool may be a close second.

Or put another way, the Zeitgeist Vibe Checker is for Author Update what AI Thomas is for Novel Marketing. Like AI Thomas, this tool evolves every time we release a new zeitgeist episode.

You know that feeling when a book that should be a hit just... isn't? The writing is strong. The story is compelling. But readers walk past it.

The problem is often cultural timing, not quality. Reader appetites shift every 20 years or so, and we are in the middle of one of those shifts right now. Antiheroes are losing their grip. Morally gray villains feel exhausting instead of sophisticated. "Girl boss" protagonists are declining even among women. Meanwhile, ruthless noble heroes and stories about building civilization are surging.

The Zeitgeist Vibe Checker analyzes your fiction manuscript against the cultural zeitgeist using the frameworks from Novel Marketing and Author Update. Upload your book, pick your genre, and get a report that covers your story world, hero and villain archetypes, moral system, genre resonance, and where you fall on the construction-to-destruction spectrum.

It also gives you 5-7 specific revision suggestions tied to actual scenes and characters in your manuscript. Not vague advice. Not flattery. Honest analysis.

Fair warning: this tool will not tell you what you want to hear. It will tell you what you need to hear.

Available now for Novel Marketing Patrons ($10/month and above).