AI and why Self-pub Authors are the Future of Books
... I'm going to hate myself for posting this ... Because I'm rooting for our local book stores. And am rooting for all authors, indy or otherwise. We’re all in this together. Sincerely.
I can smell this image.
But for every social media post an author makes, raging against the dying of the light, there is literally an AI in control of distributing it into an AI generated algorithm ... We've accepted that. We've accepted it with so many other things that we are and are not already aware of. It's very likely, we’ve listened to/streamed an AI generated song today (see SKYGGE). Each day, the technology grows faster. Along the way, the lines grow more and more blurred.
As a writer, I follow authors and bookstores on social media. I want to learn from them. I want to root for them. Many of them are understandably against AI written books. But many of their posts about it remind me a bit of all the "animal lover" posts I see - made by people with a plate of chicken resting on their laps. (Sorry.)
What I’d rather see: a post that shows something they are doing that supports (with whatever investments) something that would have otherwise been cheaper with AI. Something substantial. For example, I’ve supported a local designer/artist to do all of my book covers. It was expensive (compared to nothing). It was worth it.
In the meantime, are we going to stop using platforms like Amazon and publishers like Penguin Random House because they're the "people with money" settling into a pro-AI dialogue? Are local bookstores going to take them off their shelves? ... No? Why? Because they sell?
I'm no different. Unfortunately, Amazon holds over 90% of the self-pub market. (Try to avoid a company that’s allowed to hold over 90% of the market you’re going after. See how that goes.)
Someone, right now, can generate a CGI book written in a popular author’s style. 5-10 years from now, it will be no different from this author’s writing, arguably “better,” as it would also be run through additional filters, customized by the user. Does this author have gay characters? Presto! Not anymore! They’re filtered out.
If it’s easy to generate whole new books like this, It’ll also be easy to do with existing books. So much for representation!
You know who they won’t be able to do that with? Self-pub authors.
… think about everything that is written by ghost writers today. Autobiographies, Nineteen Steps, James Patterson novels … If AI hasn’t already dipped into these fields, that’s where it’ll start.
Local Book Stores:
I want you to be around in the next 10 years. I implore you, start normalizing a large, featured display of self-pub (not just Small Press) authors in your store now (more than that small rack of zines in the back corner). If you do this, you might be around to see the next decade.
If you don’t think it’s going to happen, check with Blockbuster or Sam Goodie, hell, check with Borders or Walden books … if people can type in their favorite style and have a computer generate it for them, say, after a monthly fee, what do you think is going to happen?