Byword offers two powerful approaches to customize the writing style of your generated content:

  1. Basic writing styles - Define your style with simple descriptors

  2. Custom writing styles - Train Byword to mimic specific writing samples

Basic writing styles

By default, all Byword accounts use basic writing styles. This simple approach lets you describe how you want your content to read.

How to use basic styles

Enter adjectives that describe your desired writing style in the text field. For example:

  • professional

  • casual and humorous

  • academic

  • conversational

  • technical

Keep your style descriptions clear and concise. One or two adjectives typically work best.

Best practices for basic styles

  • Do use adjectives: “professional”, “humorous”, “academic”

  • Don’t use instructions: “you are writing to professionals”, “make jokes”, “you are an academic expert”

  • Keep it focused: Style descriptions should only define tone, not formatting or structure

Custom writing styles

For more precise control, Byword’s custom writing styles allow you to provide actual samples of writing that you want to emulate.

Creating a custom style

  1. Click “Switch to custom writing styles” on your settings page

  2. Select “Create custom style” or “Add a new custom writing style”

  3. Enter a name for your style (for your reference only)

  4. Choose how many samples to provide (1-3)

  5. Copy and paste examples of writing you want to emulate

  6. Click “Save Custom Style”

Creating a custom style takes 60-90 seconds as Byword analyzes your samples.

Sample selection tips

For best results when selecting writing samples:

  • Choose content that clearly represents your desired style

  • Provide at least 1,000 words total across all samples

  • Use actual published content that exemplifies your target style

  • Select samples with similar tones if using multiple examples

Managing custom styles

After creating styles, you can:

  • Enable/disable styles: Only one style can be active at a time

  • Edit styles: Update samples or rename your styles

  • Delete styles: Remove styles you no longer need

  • Switch back to basic: Return to the simple adjective-based approach

Using your styles

Once configured, your selected writing style (either basic or custom) will be applied to all articles you generate with Byword.

If you’re in custom style mode but have no specific style enabled, Byword will use a default style.

When to use each approach

Basic writing stylesCustom writing styles
Quick setupMore precise control
Simple needsBrand voice matching
General tone adjustmentReplicating specific authors
Trying different styles quicklyConsistency across large content sets