275: How to use AI to write a book (without losing your soul)

Here's a simple technique to write a book quickly. There’s one prerequisite. You have to have already produced a lot of content on the subject. That could be blog posts, articles, podcasts – even documentation, or how-tos. 

Step 1. Gather all your content. If it’s available online, you can point the AI to the web page. 

Step 2. You might be able to upload audio or video files straight into your AI of choice, or you might need to use something like otter.ai to create a transcript.

Step 3. Have a preliminary chat with your AI chatbot and explain what you want to do.

Step 4 is to upload your information. Realize that you have now fed the LLM with your material, thereby contributing to the fall of civilization. 

In Step 5 the AI will give you the table of contents. Review it and see what you think. It’s possible the AI took an approach you don’t like. You can say, “No, I want you to focus on such and so,” and have it regenerate the table of contents. Once you have something close to what you want, edit it until you’re comfortable with it. 

Step 6 – upload your new table of contents and tell the AI to write the first chapter using your content in your voice. Tell it to use your actual words as much as possible. Do the same for each chapter. 

Step 7 – Now you have a draft manuscript and the hard work begins. Go through and edit it critically. Rewrite anything that doesn’t sound like you. 

You’ll find that the AI has dropped some things you wanted to include. Put them back in. You’ll also find that it’s added some things. Rewrite those from your perspective. 

Step 8 – Upload your new manuscript and ask the AI what’s missing. What aspects of your subject matter did you forget to include? 

AI can be very helpful on this task because it has such a broad collection of content on your subject matter. You don’t have to accept all the recommendations, but it’s good to have them as a check – to make sure there aren’t any big holes. 

My experience is that some of the recommended additions will be good, and some will sound like boilerplate, boring nonsense taken from somebody’s whitepaper. 

Step 9 – Fill in the blanks. You write it yourself, from scratch (that’s what I do), or you can ask the AI to write those sections in your voice, then edit it. 

Step 10 – Repeat Steps 8 and 9. You might find a few more holes to fill. 

Step 11 – Ask the AI to write a glossary of the key terms in your manuscript. Edit it carefully. 

Step 12 – You’re done with AI. Now you need to read and rewrite the whole manuscript a few times until you’re comfortable with it. 

For me, writing is the easy part. Rewriting is the work. 

Step 13 – Find three reviewers. Two of them should be knowledgeable in the subject area, and one should know nothing about it. While they’re reviewing the manuscript, leave it alone. Do something else. Don’t touch it or think about it. You need to get some mental space between you and the project. 

Step 14 – Try to suppress your ego. Remember that if something wasn’t clear, that’s your fault. You didn’t make it clear enough. With that attitude firmly in mind, read the reviews, re-read your manuscript, and incorporate whatever seems helpful. 

Step 15 – Now’s the time to think about your title, cover, and so on. I know a good cover designer on Fiverr who disproves the old rule. She’s good, fast, and cheap. Look her up under pro_ebookcovers. 

Step 16 – Perfect is the enemy of done. You can spend the rest of your life trying to fine tune and sharpen your manuscript, or you can get comfortable with an appropriate level of professionalism. It’s a hard choice. 

You should probably have the manuscript professionally edited and formatted, unless you’re pretty good at those things. But remember that it’s hard to edit your own work.