AI for Authors

Authors and publishers often see themselves as living in two solitudes, connected, but essentially apart. That has largely been true in modern publishing.

Times change. Where publishers were once untouchable, top authors now call the shots. As I discuss elsewhere, self-published author are the trailblazers. They carry little of the baggage that burdens traditional publishing.

When publishers look at AI, they see few opportunities. When I talk to authors about AI, the world is their oyster. The possibilities are near-endless:

Authoring and editing

• Trying to write & publish whole books

• Trying to ideate for a new project

• Trying to ideate within a new book

• Fine-tuning of the story

• Research

• Fact-checking

• Writing companion

• Developmental editing

• Copyediting

• Spell-checking and grammar-checking

• Proofreading

Illustration/imaging

• Create illustrations and charts

• Cover design roughs

• Video promotions

Marketing

• Automate submissions to agents, publishers, contests, friends, blurb requests

• Generate marketing material: press releases, blog posts, social media, etc.

• Website generation

Authors are going to drive much of the change in industry adoption of AI, whether for or against.

They are the beneficiaries of much of the startup innovation surrounding AI in authoring and publishing — some 70% of the startups are looking to work with authors on their journeys.