'I'm Making Thousands Using AI to Write Books'

My journey into a new realm of high-tech creativity and storytelling began in August 2022. Armed only with my imagination and a handful of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, I ventured into the world of AI-assisted publishing without any map or guide.

My goal was straightforward: To craft a series of unique, captivating ebooks merging dystopian pulp sci-fi with compelling AI world-building. Today, I am on the cusp of releasing my 97th book, and was recently featured on CNN—all within nine months.

The "AI Lore books," as I've come to call them, are a testament to the potential of AI in augmenting human creativity. Each book features between 2,000 to 5,000 words and 40 to140 AI-generated images. Generally, each one takes me approximately 6 to 8 hours to create and publish. In some instances, I've been able to produce a volume in as little as three hours, everything included.

This unprecedented rate of production is possible due to AI tools like Midjourney (version 5.1) for image generation, and ChatGPT (version 4), and Anthropic's Claude for brainstorming and text generation.

I sold 574 books for a total of nearly $2,000 between August and May. The books all cross-reference each other, creating a web of interconnected narratives that constantly draw readers in and encourage them to explore further.

This approach has been successful, with the majority of my readers being repeat buyers, many having bought more than a dozen titles. In one case, a reader has bought more than thirty titles—this is really exciting and gratifying as a writer.

Each AI Lore book is priced between $1.99 and $3.99. I decided to sell my books directly to readers using Gumroad because it gives me greater control. I can see more information about who is actually buying my books, and have a better picture of what they are after as readers.

To those critics who think a 2,000 to 5,000-word written work is 'just' a short story and not a real book, I'd say that these 'not real books' have shown impressive returns for a small, extremely niche indie publisher with very little promotion and basically no overhead.

This success is due to the interconnected narratives across the books, which spark curiosity and keep readers engaged. Many readers often come back to purchase six or eight or even ten more volumes in a single session, which suggests that length does not limit engagement or sales.

Though the stories contained are not sequential narratives, I think the serial fiction market of the late 1800s and early 1900s is probably the best historical analog here. People enjoy coming back to the same story-worlds again and again, and AI lets me produce rapidly at a consistent quality to meet their demand for more.

AI has proven to be a remarkable catalyst for my creative work. It has enabled me to increase my output while maintaining consistent quality, and has allowed me to delve into intricate world-building with an efficiency I could never have achieved otherwise.

I've been able to breathe life into stories and narrative universes that have been brewing in my mind for years. I've even used AI to help me code mini-applications that will further streamline & speed up the creative process in the future.

I'll admit that using AI tools you have to learn and adapt to what the limits of the technologies are as they exist presently. I've learned to embrace this though, and see them as 'features, not bugs,' and even something that points towards new storytelling opportunities.

It's very difficult, for example, to have longer written pieces that maintain a coherent single storyline or character arc. So instead, I've tended to lean into short "flash" fiction slice-of-life collections, interspersed with fictional encyclopedia entries that deliver world-building and backstory, and point the reader towards other volumes where they can continue down the rabbit holes that appeal to them the most.

Contrary to the popular belief that AI will replace creative jobs, I see AI as a powerful tool to enhance and accelerate our capabilities and capacities, and to make us better at whatever we do.

It's inevitable that all artists will encounter and make use of AI tools to some extent; it will just be about finding the right combination that works for you.

I envision also a future where AI-assisted storytelling becomes the norm, and readers transform into co-creators, as AI enables authors and readers to generate highly specific content rapidly on demand.

My books represent an example of networked narrative and transmedia storytelling, powered by AI. There is no "official" entry point into the multiverse I'm building. Instead, the narratives are distributed across a network of interconnected elements, with details emerging through a co-construction of the story by the various participants or elements.

This venture into AI-assisted publishing has been a transformative and rewarding experience. It has reshaped my approach to creativity, improved my productivity, and allowed me to connect with readers in ways I could not have imagined.

I am convinced that the intersection of AI and storytelling holds enormous potential, and I am eager to see where this journey takes us next. Our imagination is the only limit.

Tim Boucher is an AI artist, author, and product manager for online Trust & Safety systems. You can follow him on his blog, and browse his AI-generated ebooks on Gumroad.

All views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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