✅ AI for Writing - When is It Okay? (Or is not okay?)
🤖 AKA how to not sound like a robot
Summary: In the newsletter, I explore the optimal use of AI for writing, including when to use it and when to avoid it. Additionally, I provide an in-depth guide on best practices and recommended platforms and tools for writing with AI.
As I said in my last newsletter, COVID allowed me the time and space to explore my more creative side: sculpting, painting, and writing. The last one surprised many people the most.
I heard the response, “You wrote a book?” fairly often. “Did you ChatGPT it?”
I would bite my tongue before responding because, honestly, I don’t think they meant to be snarky. It’s just the world we currently live in.
How would they know that I am a constant writer? In fact, I have written several novels over the past thirty years.
A Lifetime of Writing
I wrote my first novel, Soul Conspiracy, in my twenties. It was a finalist in the International Hemingway First Novel Competition.
This was in 1998, when self-publishing was not common, and the gatekeepers at literary agencies and publishing companies were a red ink wall more solid than the Iron Curtain. Therefore, this book was never published. (Hmmm… maybe my next project?)
My second novel, Confessions of a Gator Cheerleader, was loosely based on my time as a cheerleader for the University of Florida during the time of serial killer Danny Rollings. Stephen King had just pioneered self-publishing, so I followed suit using iUniverse.
The book received wonderful reviews in local media and sold well. However, in hindsight, I wish Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) had been around at that time (it wasn’t yet a platform) because iUniverse now owns the rights to my book instead of me.
Pro Tip: KDP is a wonderful publishing platform. You can create multiple formats, including Kindle, paperback, hard cover, serial books, audio books, etc. Download the Kindle Creator program to make it easy to create and format automatically.
My third novel was a fun YA beach read called Holiday Shakespeare, self-published through KDP. I later removed it from Amazon because of, well, personal branding.
You see, that’s the hard part. I love writing all sorts of genres—philosophical thrillers about reincarnation, advice columns on business and community building, YA fantasy, and fun things like my Cheerleader and Holiday Shakespeare books.
But people want to pigeonhole you into one thing or another.
Imposter Syndrome is Real
So, in 2021, when I got ready to publish my first business book, Unio: The Art of Intentional Community Building, I chose to “hide” my previous fun books. I wanted to be perceived as a serious businesswoman, right?
If people knew me as some fluff writer who had never tackled tough business topics, then I would not be taken seriously—or at least this was what I thought at the time.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term imposter syndrome, it means the feeling of not being worthy or qualified. And I was suffering greatly when I published my business book.
I have vast experience as a start-up founder. I have created not one but two very successful businesses and have tons of experiences and observations to share.
My book was well-written, packed with valuable lessons and information, and well-edited by a brilliant editor, but I still felt like people wouldn’t take me seriously.
Much to my relief, the book debuted well, became an Amazon best-seller in business mentoring books, and secured several keynote and speaking engagements and corporate training gigs.
I realized my fears were unfounded, and so I have since embraced the attitude of a friend of mine, the genius Nemo Hanse, who said: “The imposters never have the syndrome.” In fact, he put it on a shirt I now own.
Forget About Labels
I now understand that this one-dimensional labeling of people is absurd. So, when I sat down to write my latest series of books, HoundsHouse Orlando, I decided to write the types of books I would want to read, no matter the genre.
HoundsHouse is a fun read featuring magic and mythical creatures and battles against good and evil set right here in Orlando.
It is also a fundraiser for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. $2 from every purchase goes to the food bank.
The series is also an armchair treasure hunt because, at the end of each book, the reader is invited to go on a real-life treasure hunt. They decode clues from the text to locate a grand prize of $3,000.
If the grand prize is not found by a certain date, the $3,000 will also go to the food bank. (FYI, the grand prize has been found for Book 1, but we still raised money for Second Harvest.)
Since it was a fundraiser for a really worthy local nonprofit, it got some nice media coverage, and I was on a few morning news shows promoting it. As a result, even more of my business colleagues and friends said, “How did you use AI to write a novel?”
It Must be AI
People were genuinely curious. How did I write it so fast? How did I come up with the ideas? The puzzles to decode? It must have been AI helping, right?
I can look at these questions two ways:
The imposter view: They think I am not smart enough to do this on my own, or
The optimist view: They think this book and hunt were so brilliant that it’s hard to believe a human brain created it!
(I’m choosing to go with the latter! Ha!)
Confession: While I spent months writing my book, working with a professional editor to revise it, and even meeting with beta readers on it, I did use AI for three small parts—the title, a few of the puzzles designed for the hunt, and the book cover.
How I Used AI
I’ll walk you through how I utilized the current AI tools and give some tips on when should and should not use AI.
I originally wanted to name the book SwanHouse to pay homage to Orlando’s famous swans in Lake Eola. However, Swan House is a real place in Atlanta with a pretty solid social media presence, so that would not work.
Pro Tip: Always google potential business names, product names, character names, book titles, etc. You may find the one you have your heart set on is taken!
So, after wracking my brain for alternatives, I turned to ChatGPT and wound up with HoundsHouse.
ChatGPT also helped by creating the start of a few of the puzzles for the treasure hunt, which I then tweaked further to make it a little more complicated.
Finally, I used ChatGPT 4.0 to create the initial cover art for my book because I had a deadline to get it published by the target release date in April.
Using ChatGPT for Book Covers
Pro Tip: The image you get from Midjourney or ChatGPT will depend on the prompt you input. I often look at the free image prompt ideas here to better tell the platform what I want the end image to look like.
I find Midjourney cumbersome to work with right now—although I am sure they will improve the user interface—so I prefer to start with ChatGPT. However, you can use the same type of prompt on any AI imaging platform. Note - you must use ChatGPT 4.0 version or higher to create images.
Here’s the prompt I used for my HoundsHouse cover:
I am writing a book about a secret society called HoundsHouse and it is located in Orlando, Florida. Its members hunt for magical animals whose power is so great that others might use them for ill-gain. So, a queen hid the animals to keep them safe. They are hidden around Orlando. Can you create an illustration to use for the book cover? It should feature icons from Orlando: Lake Eola, the swans, etc.
Here’s what I got:
Pretty good, right? So, I tried tweaking a few things in the prompt, but the images only went downhill. Here are the ones I did not use:
You will notice ChatGPT is not great at spelling things in images. I also find that the first image it produces is usually the best.
Pro Tip: Start with an AI image or illustration and then upload it to Canva where you can tweak it.
I decided to download that first image from above, and then I put it into Canva and continued to make it look the way I wanted. Below is the final version I created, meeting the sizing specs required by Kindle (including space for the barcode, which Amazon adds):
AI Disclosure
Once ready, you upload your final book to KDP.
There, Amazon asks if you used AI to write the book, which I truly like. In this world where things are AI-created vs. human-created, I think a disclaimer is appropriate.
The only problem? It is self-reported.
The author can choose whether or not to disclose honestly if AI wrote their book, and I don’t have much faith in the honor system.
So, When is AI Appropriate for Writing?
I struggle with this question of when AI should be used, and it boils down to a few considerations.
Consideration #1: Is this process or results-driven?
First, what is your reason for writing this piece? Is it an outlet for your creativity and passion?
It is pleasurable for me to write, and so the use of AI would rob me of that. It would suck away all the joy I get from the writing and rewriting process and make me feel as if my mind had been invaded by an alien who had taken over.
I would look at the AI-written words on the screen and be like, who is this? So, in this case, when it is the process that is important, I say no to AI.
However, if the piece's purpose is to achieve a specific result—a business blog post, product description, how-to, instructions, etc.—then, I really don’t have a problem with using AI to assist with the writing.
I do recommend coming up with an outline or brief summary yourself and then putting that into ChatGPT to write for you.
Pro Tip: Google does NOT downgrade AI content, but it does downgrade poor content!
You have to be careful with AI writing, though, as the reader cares whether the voice and tone are readable. Always proofread and edit the AI content to make it sound more human.
Pro Tip: Use an AI checker to make sure the piece reads as if a human wrote it. There are plenty out there, but I like this one.
Consideration #2: Reader Expectations
I remember being so disappointed when I first found out that several New York Times bestselling authors used multiple ghostwriters to produce books at a faster pace.
I thought every author was similar to Agatha Christie, who famously wrote 77 novels over her lifetime. I remember reading that she would lock herself away at her beach house for a week or so, mulling over a new plot in her head. And once she had the entire thing planned out, characters and all, she would sit and write the novel in just a few days.
I am afraid authors like Christie are few and far between, especially with artificial intelligence. It’s just too easy to upload a few documents for AI to learn an author's voice and then ask it to write in that style.
Apparently, AI is the newer, cheaper ghostwriter.
I feel strongly if the reader thinks they are reading something YOU wrote (like HoundsHouse, in my case), then you darn well should have written it!
On the other hand, in brand and business blog posts, where an author is often not even listed, the reader most likely does not care who or what wrote the piece as long as they can gather the information they are looking for.
In these cases, I feel it is fine to use AI to write the posts as long as you carefully proofread them and use an AI checker to make them sound more human-sounding.
Consideration #3: Is Human Work Involved Offline?
Let’s face it; some things are best done in person.
Imagine experiencing that new ride at Disney, traveling down a river cruise on the Seine, or interviewing a celebrity, historian, or industry expert. Try covering breaking news without witness interviews!
There are some human experiences and interactions that AI simply cannot do (yet).
I had a client who sold cleaning supplies, and for Valentine’s Day, we devised a “When cleaning in your love language” campaign.
As part of the campaign, AI was asked to write several romance-style blog posts in which the man offered to clean the woman’s house as the ultimate romantic gesture.
AI did fairly well, but let’s say subtlety was not its strength. All the robots could do was draw on the millions of cheesy romance novels already on the internet rather than truly provide a human touch.
Repurposing of Content by AI —Is it Legal?
In thinking about AI’s ability to draw on work previously written by humans, I just read about a lawsuit filed by two lifelong journalists. Both octogenarians discovered ChatGPT was most likely using some of their content to repurpose it into new content, so they decided to sue the companies creating AI.
That lawsuit has been turned into a possible class action as bestselling novelists John Grisham and RR Martin and publications like Mother Jones, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune have also joined.
This defense of AI is taken directly from the article:
The chief executive of Microsoft’s AI division, Mustafa Suleyman, defended AI industry practices at last month’s Aspen Ideas Festival, voicing the theory that training AI systems on content that’s already on the open internet is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of US copyright laws.
“The social contract of that content since the ’90s has been that it is fair use,” Suleyman said. “Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been freeware, if you like.”
I am not sure how an author’s original thoughts in the form of a novel or news article, which are behind a paywall, would count as fair use or freeware, but that’s exactly what this suit is all about.
And even if the claimants prevail? It appears the genie is out of the bottle and is not going back.
Artists and composers ask the same question. I can use an app to turn one of my photos into a Van Gogh-style painting and then send it to a company that will professionally print it on canvas, simulating brush strokes and all. Most likely, we would never be able to tell I didn’t paint it.
AI is composing music, even simulating voices and instruments, and producing songs.
In a world where literally anybody can be a master artist via an app, is anyone still a true master?
These are questions for a future podcast and newsletter.
Grammar Nazis, Bless Your Heart
One final thought—Human writing also means the occasional typo, which I am fairly infamous for.
I lost the top part of my right index finger years ago (lawnmower accident—really!), and so my keyboarding shifted to a two-finger, hunt-and-peck process. As a result, the typos are rampant, and I spend just as much time, if not more, proofing my writing than I do actually penning it.
And you know the saying that we can’t see our own typos? It is so true! Even with Grammarly checking my writing as I go, I still do not catch everything.
So grammar nazis have a special place in my heart, as in, “Bless your little heart,” using my most southern accent.
The good news is those small typos are signs of human writing, which is a positive sign in this AI world.
So, if you happen to catch a typo (as one of you did in my last newsletter and so kindly emailed me to let me know), relax… I’m a human in the equation!
Here’s Your Guide
I get a lot of questions about how AI works best for writing. What platform should you use? How do prompts work and how can you get the most out of the robots?
I’ve created an easy-to-consume 7-page guide that you can access here. I explain everything about how AI learns and gathers information, what types of writing it is best suited for, which platforms you should use for specific types of writing, and I review best practices so you will get the most out of the robots.
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As I explained in my first newsletter, after losing my biggest client to AI, I am now “leaning into me” and using this time to share my business experience and explore what’s next for humans in a world where robots can do all of our jobs quicker, cheaper, and most likely better.
Thank you to the many people who emailed, texted, or texted with their encouragement and thoughts about AI. I’m excited to continue sharing my experiences via Substack.
This newsletter is packed with valuable tips on marketing, content creation, trends, and tech tools. It will help you make sense of today’s business world so you can focus on being the most efficient you!