Sastra

For publishing and translation teams

Every book moves forward with a clear owner.

Sastra plans the work of a publishing and translation house: books, articles, podcasts and video pass through their stages, rights and money are tracked with blockers, printer and publisher email lands in one place, and AI agents do the paperwork.

Start free trial Self-host it

14 days free, then $24 a month for up to 15 people. Free software under the AGPL. Read the source.

A project board: a book moving through translation, editing and typesetting, with one stage blocked by a missing license. Projects · Books The Gospel of John Translation → Editing → Typesetting → Print Translation Chapters 1–8 done Chapters 9–21 Sokha · due Fri Editing Read-through 1 Dara · in progress Typesetting Blocked License not signed Rights blocker · typesetting cannot start The license for chapters 1–21 is drafted but not signed. Next step: send the license to the publisher for signature. Send license

What Sastra does

One calm workspace for the whole flow, from rights to print.

1

Projects with stages and owners

A book is a project. It moves through translation, editing, typesetting and print. Each stage has tasks, and each task has one owner and one due date. Everyone sees what is next and who holds it.

  • Templates for books, articles, podcasts and video series
  • Chapter-by-chapter tasks made for you
  • A daily "do in this order" list for each teammate
My tasks · do in this order Translate chapter 9The Gospel of John · due today Review cover proofPsalms for Children · from printer email Record episode 12 introDaily Bread podcast · Thursday Check budget for reprintHope for Today · next week
2

Rights and money, with blockers you can see

Licenses, royalties, budgets and printer quotes live next to the project they belong to. When something is missing, the project shows a blocker and the next step, so nothing goes to print without a signed license or the money to pay for it.

  • Rights pipeline from request to signed license
  • Needed, secured and spent, per project
  • Printer quotes compared side by side
Budget · Psalms for Children Needed$4,820 Secured$3,900 Spent$1,215 Shortfall of $920 before print Next step: ask the partner for the second payment. Printer quotes Phnom Penh Print · 2,000 copies$2,140 Mekong Press · 2,000 copies$2,390
3

One address for publisher and printer email

Every workspace gets a correspondence address. Your team copies or forwards partner email to it, and Sastra files each message under the right project, publisher or printer. Quotes, proofs and invoices are read out of the email for you, ready for review.

  • Threads linked to projects automatically
  • Replies sent from the same address, so nothing scatters
  • Follow-up reminders when a partner goes quiet
Correspondence · Phnom Penh Print Re: Quote for Psalms for Children "We can print 2,000 copies at $1.07 each, delivery in 18 days." linked to · Psalms for Children · printer Suggested quote · review 2,000 copies · $1.07 per copy · $2,140 total Delivery 18 days · 6 × 9 in · 240 pages Accept quote
4

AI that does the paperwork, not the decisions

An assistant that knows your projects answers questions, drafts emails and plans a new book from an interview. Agreements and grant documents are read into projects and budgets. Every suggestion waits for a person to approve it.

  • Plan a whole book in one conversation
  • Import agreements and funding documents
  • 1,000 AI credits a month included; buy more when you need them
Assistant · plan a new book Plan "Hope for Today", 12 chapters, translated by Sokha, edited by Dara, print in March. Here is a plan with 4 stages and 41 tasks: • Translation, 12 chapter tasks, Sokha, Oct–Dec • Editing, 2 read-throughs, Dara, January • Typesetting and proofs, February • Print run, 2,000 copies, March Create project Edit the plan first

Pricing

One plan. Everything included.

Hosting, a ready correspondence address, backups, upgrades, AI credits and support, for the whole team.

$24per month

or $240 a year, two months free. 14-day free trial.

Start free trial

About half price in low-income countries. See the details.

  • Up to 15 people
  • 1,000 AI credits every month
  • Your own correspondence address
  • Daily backups and automatic upgrades
  • Support by email
  • Every feature. There is only one plan.

Free software. Run it yourself if you prefer.

Sastra is published under the AGPL-3.0. The hosted service adds the running of it: servers, email, backups, upgrades. The software is the same.

View the source Self-hosting guides

Where it comes from

Sastra was created by Nathan Wells inside a translation ministry in Cambodia, where the team uses it every day to plan books, articles and audio for readers in their own language. It grew out of real handoffs that went missing, proofs that sat in inboxes, and budgets kept in spreadsheets.

It is written in plain language, one word for each idea, because most of the people who use it read English as a second language. Sastra Cloud is run by Lectio, Nathan's translation platform company, so that other ministries can have the same tool without running servers.