Introduction

“The next revolution will catch us all off guard, as they always do. Said another way: if the crowd is anticipating the revolution, it can’t be the revolution.” —Doc Searls, 2002

It’s been two-and-a-half years since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to a public mostly unfamiliar with artificial intelligence. Initially it appeared to have no obvious relevance to book publishing. Since then, everything has changed. And nothing has changed. Publishers are now delving into the new AI tools, exploring the edges, and engaging in chats with ChatGPT. But there’s no sign of a true revolution in the practice of publishing; it’s just too soon.

There is an abundance of uncertainty around AI’s role in writing and publishing. Major controversies and concerns surround AI’s use. Still, for many, there’s excitement about the possibilities.

I’m going to focus here more on promise than on peril. But I do include an overview on the concerns and risks surrounding AI, particularly as they apply to authors and publishers. I’m not seeking to belittle the concerns, many of them severely troubling. They’re just not what this book is about.

I consider this publication to be more of a ‘booklet’ than a book. The UNESCO definition of a book is “at least 49 pages” (why not 50?), and, at 300 words per page, this one at one point looked like it might have failed to qualify. But, more importantly, it’s not intended to be the definitive word on anything—it’s more of a progress report. Artificial intelligence, and its role in book publishing, are changing at a breakneck pace, which shows no signs of slowing down. So this book(let), this report, is just a snapshot.

Using the Leanpub platform, I’ve been releasing my research and analysis as a work in progress—it’s revised as a living document. I’ve never attempted this before. My reasons are two-fold: to offer something useful in the short-term, and to have the facility to continue to revise it as required. The AI story is far from over. (This latest version was extensively updated in May 2025.)

I hope my approach will prove useful for readers, though I’m aware that too many updates could become annoying. I’ve tried to reduce the topicality of this book, to reduce the focus on the stuff that’s going to change the fastest.

The version of the book that was (quietly) available beginning in April 2024 was marked as “75% complete” and offered for free to readers. I then expanded the book to a “90% edition,” also for free. July 23, 2024 was the official pub date for the “100% complete” version, which I put into wider distribution outside of Leanpub, via Amazon and the IngramSpark network. I’m continuing to update the 100% version: but most updates will only be available to Leanpub buyers—it’s unwieldy to constantly update print, ebooks and audiobooks, that are in wider distribution. (I’m planning to release the May 2025 version also on Amazon et al.)

I’m hearing daily about the pain that people across the publishing industry are facing trying to come to terms with AI. Why is it so painful? Here are three possible reasons:

• The technology is complex and mysterious, too complex for non-scientists to understand. Anxiety is common. (There’s a fascinating study positing an “AI anxiety scale (AIAS)” measuring 21 different reasons that people are anxious about AI.)

• AI has become vastly controversial in publishing, mainly because of copyright issues that strike at the heart of authoring and publishing.

• Yet there’s also an atmosphere of FOMO—Fear Of Missing Out. Despite AI’s many flaws, as with other alluring technologies (the Apple watch? Blockchain/Bitcoin?), we face that gnawing feeling: what if I’m missing out on the next big thing, like I did on a couple of the last really big things. I felt stupid then; I don’t want to feel stupid again.

All right: It makes sense that publishing people are feeling some AI pain.

So what then is the use case for this book?

The use case is that you work in book publishing, or you’re an author trying to better understand book publishing, and you’re sick of feeling stupid and confused around AI. Too many of your colleagues appear to understand it better than you do, and you’re tired of not being able to engage intelligently on the topic.

My goal for readers is that, by the end of this book, they’ll feel enabled to join the conversation, to express an informed opinion. I want you to feel equipped to make personal choices around the technology, and have a path for learning more about how to use AI, if you choose to do so.

I do not want to inundate readers with lots of blah-blah about the underpinnings of AI technology—I’m not going to talk much about AI in the abstract. Instead, I want to give you a grounding in AI specifically for book authoring and publishing. If someone asks you, what does natural language processing really mean, you can answer, as I do: I’m not an AI expert. But I do know how AI is being used in my industry.

I dislike the phrase “what you need to know” because it so rarely lives up to its billing, often missing wide of the mark, either far more than you need to know, or far less. Will I get it right? I’m serious about trying to convey the minimum. I think I know what publishers need to know about AI, as I’ve been talking to lots of them, while hosting seminars and webinars designed very specifically to provide just the basics.

After the summaries that introduce most sections, I’ll expand on the main concepts. I’ve also kept these as short as possible, though, truth be told, sometimes I do go on.

A short-form I’m going to use is “Chat AI.” When OpenAI first released ChatGPT, it was the only kid on the block, but now there are a half-dozen important competitors. I’ll go into the specifics shortly, but you’ve heard of some of them already, from Google and from Microsoft. They (and several other companies) now offer online AI chat software that’s similar to ChatGPT. And so rather than saying “ChatGPT and its competitors” I’ll just refer to the whole category as “Chat AI.” If I write “ChatGPT” I’ll be referring specifically to OpenAI’s software.

The book is mostly practical, but in the final section I posit an essay on what may be the real-world consequences of AI on the book publishing industry, alongside a few other conjectural spinnings.

The primary audience for this book is trade (consumer) book publishers. A secondary audience is all other book publishers (scholarly, educational…) to the extent that there are overlaps in these industry sectors, and in their approach to using AI in their workflows.

The subtitle states this is a guide to AI for both writers and publishers. Authors are an important audience for me. In part that’s because I want publishers to understand what writers are doing with this technology. I think that’s important. At its 2024 annual meeting, the BISG (the Book Industry Study Group), which mostly represents trade publishers, indicated that “it is looking to draw from a broader pool including, literary agents and authors.” That’s a welcome move.

I want writers to read this book because it can help them understand what publishers are doing with their manuscripts. Self-published authors always keep one eye on traditional publishing—they are, de facto, publishers themselves—and so the AI technology of interest to publishers will be of interest to them.

But, make no mistake, this is not a hands-on how-to for authors on using AI to be better and more productive writers. There are numerous books on that topic (sadly, many of them just scammy Amazon rip-offs). And lots of YouTube videos (of varying quality).

Within trade book publishing my ideal reader is not necessarily a decision-maker, but rather one of the many people who work across the industry every day, creating books and finding readers. I’ll be talking about all of the key publishing functions in this book, from editorial through to sales and distribution. And about the intersection of writers with readers.

Though I grew up in Canada, and began my publishing career there, I’m based in San Francisco, in the United States, and so I default to thinking about the U.S. publishing industry. But just about everything in this booklet should be as relevant to a publisher in Madagascar as it is to a publisher in Manhattan. While publishers in smaller countries face challenges of scale, so do small publishers in America, and this book is intended for companies of all sizes.

When I talk to small publishers about AI, and when I talk to very large publishers about AI, the big difference that I notice is the notion of the publishing ‘enterprise.’ The largest publishers are often part of (or adjacent to) public companies, and once you’re a public company, issues around reputation and security loom so much larger than they do for an everyday publisher, not accountable in the same way to shareholders and the news media. While an editor at a Big 5 publisher has the same use for AI tools as a freelance editor working for smaller outfits, the context in which they use the tools is quite different.

How much do you need to know about AI to read this book?

I’m assuming that my audience has roughly zero knowledge about AI’s innards, but that they’re smart readers. So I’ll be treading that fine line between zero knowledge, and not talking down to readers.

I do imagine that just about everyone has heard about the new generation of AI: a YouGov poll, in January 2025, suggests that only 7% of Americans know “nothing at all” about AI. Writers and publishers have almost certainly heard about some of the copyright complaints, but probably don’t have a grasp of the issues. So I don’t have to explain that AI stands for “Artificial Intelligence.” But I won’t assume readers can define what AI is, what it means, its potential impact, and so on. That’s why you’re here.

My mantra for the publication of this book is ‘accessibility.’

For most people, that merely means something akin to ‘availability,’ and, indeed, I intend to make this book available in as many forms and formats as I can conceive of. I want to expand the concept of the bookish container. I’m trying to make my book an exemplary publication, highlighting the full range of what can be achieved today when publishing a single book.

On Leanpub you’ll find the book available as a PDF file, an EPUB file, and as a free-of-charge web-based publication. You’ll find translations into 31 languages, including the major Asian and European languages. There will be multiple audiobooks in major languages–so far I’ve got French and German; more to follow.

I also make the book available, in print and digital formats, on all the ecommerce platforms that can be accessed via Ingram and Amazon. That includes most of the book online retail sites, in much of the world. And this way libraries will also be able to buy the book, though, understandably, they have slight space available for self-published work. (I’m happy to donate digital copies to any library in the world that requests one, or to provide a print copy at cost.)

It doesn’t make sense to record a video of the entire book, when audiobooks are available. But some people prefer to access content via video. So I’ll offer abridged video versions, in multiple lengths.

And what about the human touch? I’ve also been available via webinars or one-on-one online consultations, via my website and blog. I can even be hired to show up in person!

‘Accessibility’ means much more than its dictionary definition. As the folks at the Canadian National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) put it, “An accessible book is one that can be used and understood by everyone.” And so my English EPUB file meets the W3C 1.1 recommendation for the print-disabled, including robust alt text descriptions for images. We hope to meet this accessibility standard for the foreign language translations as well.

The alt-text was created with ChatGPT. I didn’t edit ChatGPT’s version, so that anyone reading the EPUB can see how good it is, and where it’s still lacking. As my colleague Bill Kasdorf reminds me, good alt-text describes what a sighted reader derives from an image, not just what the image appears to be.

For book publishers, accessibility is no longer an option: it’s a default setting.

(I have two mea culpas to share: Because of limitations within the publishing platforms, the default PDF file will unfortunately not meet the PDF/UA spec, nor will I be able to offer a large print version of the book on ecommerce sites.)

As indicated, this book is (relatively) short. When you call a short-ish document ‘a book’ you run the risk of buyers protesting, “I thought I was buying a book, but it’s only 50 pages long!” I’ve done everything I can to make it clear on the sales page that this is not a full-length book, but if you’re disappointed, keep in mind that Leanpub offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, and I’ll happily extend that refund offer to ‘forever.’ I want readers to be delighted, not disappointed. (If you bought the book on another platform, email me: I’ll send a check!)

The book is heavily hyperlinked (these appear in different ways in different formats, but often as footnotes). I’ve always believed in linking to original sources in my work, so that readers can verify my sometimes grand claims. But I’m aware that hyperlinks and footnotes can be distracting, particularly if you’re using an e-reading device. I apologize for that. The best bet is to ignore the links as you read, and return to them if you want to go deeper on a topic.

I don’t know in which format you’re reading (or listening to) right now. Nor in which language. I’ve tried to make the “ergonomics” of the book as user-friendly as possible, and links and footnotes are not always optimal from that perspective.

This book has sponsors, something that I know is unusual for ‘a book.’ I explain how the sponsorship works in my ‘disclosures’ section at the end of the text.