Are you tired of being praised for your entrepreneurial writing spirit?
Are you sick of supporting other indie authors in the pursuit of connecting directly with readers and giving them the precise book they’ve been craving?
Have you tried a purity spiral?
Now, I know what you’re saying: “But Kris, purity spirals are for politically active people! Not for artists like us.”
Au contraire, my darling.
For the low, low cost of a tweet (bonus points for tagging an author you’ve never spoken to, know nothing about, and whose work you’ve never read), you too can join the thousands who use purity spirals to alienate fellow authors and piss off your readers.
You can start today!
Seriously though…
I’ve talked a lot about AI recently and people have their opinions. In all sincerity, I’m not writing this to change yours.
I want to caution you against shooting yourself in the foot, especially if you’re working on your first book.
At the end of May, there was a great kerfuffle regarding the winner of the SPFBO cover contest. Look at this beauty:
The problem? It’s AI-generated. And the artist didn’t disclose it. It was particularly hurtful to the author who, like most of us, is not an artist himself and can’t tell the blessed difference.
Prindle defended his artist, slapping down those who accused the artist of wrongdoing. But then the artist finally came clean and yanked the cover from the contest. The runner-up cover went home with the prize.
All good, right?
Nope! Even after the cover was pulled, there was a great wave of authors making threats and accusations of hackery:
If I learn an author used AI to help write their book, I’ll encourage my readers to review-bomb them.
If you don’t have your cover hand-drawn with an artist commission, you’re not a serious author.
My brother in Christ, do you know how much custom, hand-drawn commissions cost?
It all culminated with one author (who I will not name, as he’s been through enough) PULLING HIS PREORDER from Amazon because some helpful Netizen pointed out that his cover probably had AI elements in it. The author’s artist confirmed this upon inquiry.
If you pull a pre-order, that’s a big deal. You’re barred from running a pre-order again for a year and the algo will hate you when the book comes out. Seriously, it’s a problem.
And he pulled his perfectly good, human-written novel because of a purity-spiral dogpile.
Not to be too spicy, but you can miss me with that garbage.
If I was interested in the opinions of a bunch of self-important gate-keepers who routinely subject strangers to purity tests, I would have pursued a big-5 publisher.
People have differing opinions on AI in writing and in art.
Maybe you ask your artist if they use AI. I don’t. Because I don’t care. I ask him to create a particular vision and he does. I am grateful for his artistry and creativity.
Perhaps you are opposed to using AI-generated outlines in your books. Most of us are uncomfortable with AI-generated novels. Because as I’ve mentioned before, they’re not good. They require a human author to fix the generated content and actually turn it into a story.
Maybe you are okay with that process. Maybe you are not.
You know who doesn’t care at all?
Readers.
As much as you love to imagine that your reader will pick up on the fine-tuning you have done to your text, ensuring that it truly sings, I regret to inform you that most readers rate on a binary scale: worth the money or not worth the money.
Do not look for the BookTok girlies to care that such-and-such author created their much-loved historical romance with the help of Sudowrite.
They only care if it’s good—if it was worth their time and money.
And since they’re the ones keeping the lights on in this joint… their opinions are the ones that matter.
Whenever you're ready...
There are three ways I can help you:
If you're a novelist
The Nonsense-Free Editor offers developmental and line editing for authors of all genres.
If you're struggling to finish a WIP
InkCrafters Critique group offers an online group of authors (we’re at 17 members now) to review your work, offer feedback, and help you sharpen your skills.
If you're a business owner/entrepreneur
Having a book to sell to your prospects heightens your authority in a way that social media posts never will. If you want to publish your ideas but have no time to write, the Nonsense-Free Editor offers ghostwriting to bring your ideas to a wider audience, making sure the right people find you when they Google your industry.
Learn More | Get on the Waitlist
It doesn't brother me the slightest if a cover is AI generated. If zero draft is AI generated, but you go through multiple drafts where the completed work is nothing like zero draft, does this need to be said somewhere?
"If I was interested in the opinions of a bunch of self-important gate-keepers who routinely subject strangers to purity tests, I would have pursued a big-5 publisher."
Preach! 🫡