I Built A Tool That Edits Your Notes To Help Them Go Viral

Give The NoteSmith a try right now

Hello!

I’ve spent about 50 hours creating a new tool for you.

This is going to sound weird, but I’ve created an AI tool that mimics my Notes feedback, and it’s pretty freaking amazing. You can use it to send in your Note draft and get tips to improve it within seconds.

I let my paid subscribers test it out last week, and here’s some of the reviews we got:

“Holy crap, Tom. I just used this for the second time and it blew my mind! Really took my note to the next level! :D”

“Hey Tom, I just have to tell you that the NoteSmith is amazing. I've had it do two of my notes so far, and they became so much more powerful than they started out.. I can't imagine how you did it, but it's like having my own personal notes editor. Five stars!!!!!!!”

“Tom, this thing you have built is amazing! The writing and advice seem like they are actually coming from you so, therefore, I trust it. There's so much potential with this program, and I can't wait to see what you do next.”

If you want to try it out for free, sign up for it here.

You’ll be given 2 tokens (or 2 uses) for this tool.

If you want 50 tokens per month, become a paid subscriber to The Writing Long Game right here.

I’m very confident in this tool, and for that reason I’ve raised monthly prices to The Writing Long Game to $17 per month and $135 per year. For the next 72 hours, though, you can become a paid subscriber at $15 per month or $120 per year. Sign up here to get the lowest price that will ever be available.

You might have questions like:

• Isn’t this going to suck at writing like all other AI?

• How did you train it?

• What does the feedback look like?

It’s a new concept, so let me explain it all to you.

Here’s a video explaining how to sign up for The NoteSmith, how to use it, what it looks like, along with some example feedback.

NoteSmith Video Tutorial

Timestamps:

0:00 How to sign up for The NoteSmith
0:20 How to navigate The NoteSmith
1:36 Example Note feedback
6:20 How to give feedback to me to improve this tool

Example Feedback

Last week, I had a group of 20 paid subscribers test out The NoteSmith.

Emma Vivian

said it helped her write her best-performing Note of all time. This one, to be exact. It got 90+ likes!

Here’s an example of that original Note draft, along with feedback, that the NoteSmith gave her:

Note Draft

I have spent over five years polishing my memoir manuscript.

Sometimes, I find myself in a shame spiral about not having finished sooner. I’m well aware of the difficulties with publishing in this genre and that the odds are stacked against me.

I’m often riddled with negative self-talk:

• Shouldn’t I be done with this by now?

• Are people judging me for taking so long?

• Is my writing even any good?

This morning, as I sat at my desk to power through some final cuts, I suddenly saw things differently.

I haven’t spent five years doing nothing:

• I’ve been improving my writing and polishing my story.

• I’ve learned what it takes to stay motivated, dedicated and creative.

• I’ve shown up for myself again and again, even when I didn’t believe in myself.

Even when all I wanted to do was quit. Maybe I shouldn’t be ashamed of myself for spending five years on my manuscript. Maybe I should be fucking proud.

NoteSmith Feedback

​Hey! I love the raw honesty here. You've captured that inner struggle so many writers face, especially with longer projects like memoirs.

Let's make this even more powerful. Your opening line is solid, but let's punch it up a bit:

"I've spent 1,825 days polishing my memoir manuscript."

This immediately grabs attention and sets up the time investment in a more visceral way. I love the shame spiral mention - that's so relatable. Let's lean into that emotion a bit more:

"Some days, the shame of not being 'done' yet feels like a physical weight. I can barely lift my fingers to type."

Your awareness of the publishing challenges is good to include, but let's make it more personal:

"Every time I open my laptop, I hear the voices of well-meaning friends: 'Memoirs are so hard to sell. Are you sure you want to keep going?'"

The negative self-talk section is great. It puts us right in your head. I'd keep that as-is. Now, let's amp up that moment of realization:

"This morning, staring at my manuscript for the thousandth time, something shifted. It was like putting on glasses and suddenly seeing clearly."

I love how you flip the script in the second half. Let's make that contrast even starker: "Five years isn't failure. It's: - 1,825 days of showing up - Countless drafts, each better than the last - A masterclass in perseverance"

Your final two lines are powerful. I'd tweak them slightly: "I shouldn't be ashamed of spending five years on my manuscript. I should be fucking proud of not giving up on myself."

Here's one way you could write this:

"I've spent 1,825 days polishing my memoir manuscript.

Some days, the shame of not being 'done' yet feels like a physical weight. I can barely lift my fingers to type.

Every time I open my laptop, I hear the voices of well-meaning friends:

'Memoirs are so hard to sell. Are you sure you want to keep going?'

I'm often riddled with negative self-talk:

• Shouldn't I be done with this by now?

• Are people judging me for taking so long?

• Is my writing even any good?

This morning, staring at my manuscript for the thousandth time, something shifted. It was like putting on glasses and suddenly seeing clearly.

Five years isn't failure. It's:

• 1,825 days of showing up

• Countless drafts, each better than the last

• A masterclass in perseverance I shouldn't be ashamed of spending five years on my manuscript.

I should be fucking proud of not giving up on myself."

Remember folks, I am just a robot trained by Mr. Kuegler. Tweak these suggestions if they feel a little unnatural, and add extra context if necessary. Do you have another note you would like me to look at?”

9 Facts About ‘The NoteSmith’

Here are some things you’ll notice about The NoteSmith as you use it.

1. It sounds human

I wanted this to feel like you were talking to a digital version of Tom Kuegler. I iterated the prompt extensively to get the “voice” right. Yes, it’s a little awkward sometimes, but I think it gets the broad strokes right and makes you feel comfortable.

2. It’s encouraging

One thing my tool does is start the critique off with something it loved about your draft. Always. That was important to me. The constructive criticism isn’t intense either. It will never call you an idiot, it will instead gently suggest changes and encourage you like a caring coach.

3. It writes exceptional opening lines

Another thing you’ll notice is it’s a master of writing great opening lines. That was a priority for me. Most Notes die because their opening lines suck. I synthesized much of my opening line philosophy and translated it into detailed instructions that really knock it out of the park. I think you’ll be impressed.

4. It’s good at cutting the fluff

In true Tom Kuegler fashion, this tool is great at cutting the fluff from a Note draft. You’ll probably be delighted to watch it condense sentences, paragraphs, and bullet points down to their essential parts.

5. Overall, it’s just a fantastic writing coach

In general, this tool knows how to turn decent writing into great writing. It’s trained for Notes specifically, but you can take the writing tenants it espouses and incorporate it into your long form writing, too.

6. It’s not perfect

My goal for this tool was to get it so that 80% of its suggestions were on the money. Right now I’m closer to 100 percent than 80 percent. But just know that sometimes it misses important context, and that you, the author, should judge whether to implement the changes it suggests word for word, or to use its suggestions as a “jumping off point” to improve your Note. Either is acceptable!

7. It’s a little repetitive sometimes

Another thing you might notice is that it can be a little repetitive with the direction it gives. For example, it LOVES making sentences more concrete and less abstract. That’s because I love that as a writing coach. I see this as a strength, though. This tool helps you master foundational Notes principles.

The occasional repetitiveness of this tool is actually a positive—helping you internalize proven writing principles over time.

8. It works for all kinds of Notes

Typically Notes fall into one of two categories: stories or lessons. There are some people who love writing personal stories, and others who just want to give great advice. This tool gives story-based advice to “Story Notes” and lesson-based advice to “Lesson Notes.”

9. Do not have a conversation with it

Why? Well, because The NoteSmith’s got some crazy conspiracy theories, that’s why! No, in seriousness, it’s only designed to give you feedback on your Note drafts. Don’t try to have a conversation with it, because you will only lose tokens and waste your time.

How To Use ‘The NoteSmith’

Click here to sign up. After you do, you’ll be given 2 tokens (or 2 uses) for this tool. Here’s two very important things to remember:

1. ONLY respond to it with your Note draft. Don’t try to have a conversation with The NoteSmith, because you lose tokens every time you message it.

2. Copy, paste, and format your Note exactly how you’d format it on Substack. Use bullets, line breaks, and spacing exactly how you intend to on Substack.

After signing up, you should be all set.

Why It’s Different From Other AI

There’s people who might say things like:

1. AI sucks at writing, why is this any different?

2. I think AI writes quite well, so if I can just get Claude to rewrite my draft, why do I need this?

To the first question I say: If you give AI good direction, it can write extremely well.

Give The NoteSmith a try and see! Besides, this tool isn’t writing your piece from scratch—it’s just taking what you’ve written and making it better based on instructions I’ve painstakingly curated for it. I’m not advocating for AI to write for you, I’m advocating to use AI as an assistant to help improve your existing writing.

To the second question I say: Yes, Claude is a good writer, but the difference between the base model of Claude Sonnet and Claude Sonnet trained on my writing principles is night and day.

Truly! It’s a big difference. If you want to see that contrast, ask generic Claude to give you feedback or rewrite your Note draft, and do the same with my tool and see which one wins. I’m confident my tool will write better Notes every time. I trained this tool on Substack Notes specifically, not writing in general. It’s specialized in a way that makes it very valuable for people who want to go viral on Notes.

That’s why I want to give you this tutorial! You got to see it to believe it.

How I Made ‘The NoteSmith’

Creating The NoteSmith was incredibly difficult, taking me over 50 hours to bring it to life.

You probably noticed the last 3 months I’ve done monthly “Note Critique” sessions for paid subscribers. I copied dozens of subscriber Notes and my feedback for them into a document, and spent days training Claude on it. It analyzed my writing tenants, and wrote principles I tended to repeat a lot. Stuff like:

• Notes shouldn’t be more than 250 words long.

• Opening lines should be 10 words long at max.

• Paragraphs shouldn’t have more than 3 sentences in them.

After weeks of work, I’m finally pretty happy with it.

It’s not perfect, but it does give genuinely great insights that can dramatically improve the quality of your Notes.

I’m so excited for you to test it out!

I’m giving each subscriber 2 tokens (or 2 uses) to this tool. In exchange, I’d love any and all feedback you have for how to improve it. You can give me feedback right here:

Again, if you want 50 tokens per month with The NoteSmith, become a paid subscriber here. Annual and monthly prices go up at midnight on Friday!

I Want To Give You More AI Tools Like This Every Month

Along with The NoteSmith, I want to make more AI tools for you in the future to help augment your writing.

I loved engineering The NoteSmith. I’m sure you can sense it in my words. I want to make more tools like this, and I think as an educator, AI is a fantastic tool to teach, reinforce lessons, and give more support to my students.

In the past, I could only give one Note critique per month, and it took me 20 minutes to write up every one. Now? I can give you unlimited critiques in seconds.

I also love AI tools for teaching, too. I could give you a Live Training, and trust that you’ll implement the lessons I teach, or I can give you a tool that makes certain you’ll implement the lessons I teach in a tangible way.

AI tools beat live trainings every time.

It’s kind of revolutionary.

I hope you try out The NoteSmith to see what I mean.

Get 2 tokens free right here, or become a paid subscriber here to get 50 tokens per month.