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I was so excited! Last week I spoke with a potential author, who told me that his manuscript should be ready in a few days. The kicker? He hadn’t started it yet.
I imagined him secluded in a hotel room, trailing a Hemingway in a cabin somewhere off the beaten track. “I use AI to write it. Have you heard of the latest chat AI?” I had, and my 50 years made me skeptical (it’s a side effect of getting old and awesome, lol).
But I was curious as the AI waves in my entrepreneurial network seemed to get faster. AI-speak popped up everywhere. As a publisher, editor, and writer, did I have anything to worry about? How would this change the face of publishing? Would it be like the most recent changes: everyone becomes publisher and author – which is great for the market and the people, but then there was the downside: everyone became publisher and author.
You could get mad at me, and that’s okay, but there are some fields that we can’t level, even with the best tools. Hence this article, which came about after playing with AI late one night with my own manuscript and while writing ideas. Here’s what I’ve found using AI – what it’s good and bad at:
Related: Why AI Writing Assistants Are a Good Thing for Content Creation
The pros and cons of using AI for writing
1. It is GREAT at generating headlines. In fact, I used it to cobble together the headline for this article. My author told me he loves the book titles it spits out for him.
2. It’s quite effective at removing existing text and editing all the extra words (i.e. “word economy”). The final product reads a bit like stereo instructions: flat, dehumanized and like everyone else’s. But this is a good starting point if you’re working with a transcript, for example. Just charge it up and send it through AI so it comes out clean on the other end.
3. I didn’t like the results when I asked it to include narrative elements like “using body language” and “recording dialogue.” It gives you basic suggestions like: “I wrote”, “I listened”, etc.
4. It is not consistent or accurate to include all elements of your manuscript unless you request it. I think it’s actually designed for short documents, because I crashed the thing a few times. For example, I added a story about how my college professor took us on a field trip to select the main character of our stories, and boom! That was not included – until I told it to “record the story about my professor taking the class on a field trip”.
5. Writing your outline takes some of the work out of it (please tell me you always start your book writing process with a sketch). But remember, the outline should read like your old-fashioned English teacher used to yell at you. You need a goal for each chapter – easy to achieve with AI – but then you need supporting points. So if you’re writing about how to implement effective marketing in your business, your bullet points underneath might include what marketing is, why you need it, what some of those marketing options are, and so on. You need to tell your AI robot to make supporting statements. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with a table of contents – that’s not enough information for your future book.
Related: AI and GPT-3 in Content Creation: How Does It Affect Your Work as a Writer?
Now, the fantastic news! If you’re a content creator, this could totally change the game for you. My author told me he instructed his AI to set up a 52-week content creation calendar, complete with posts. So you can work that up and then put in your existing content. Repurposing what you’ve written and shared is one of the smartest ways to increase your visibility, boost your brand awareness, improve your content creation efficiency, speed up your writing and implementation, and keep the benefits come.
Also, don’t worry about scaring people off with branded wear. It takes people a long time to remember your name and face (not that you’re not totally sweet and memorable – it’s just how people are wired). Did you know that if you have a minimum of ten podcast episodes, you have a book? Pass your transcripts to the AI monster, take the results and add your humanity, stories and case studies. Then you have a book.
As I see it, AI is like grammar. It will improve you where you are. It will also teach you if you let it. You can’t blindly take every suggestion from either. You should use your judgment to make decisions about what to include and what not to include in your writing. Know the basic rules of writing. Keep your style. Then use the tools at your disposal to improve your talents.
