The following report is by Tim Boucher, the pseudo-author of these new books, published in Newsweek on May 15th, 2023:
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.
SEE: Artificial Intelligence Is Now Viewed As A Person Who Can Claim To Be Patent Holders, Court Rules
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.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
AI is here and replacing everything. Everything that takes skill, time, effort, workmanship, talent, genuine intelligence and smarts – are all going out the window. That was already the case prior to the AI revolution due to innovation in technology and increased convenience, which caused dullness, laziness, inspired and deluded losers; like the idiots who would throw a paintbrush at a canvas and then psychopathic weirdos call it “profound” and “thought-provoking.”
The AI provided to us plebs is still patchy and glitchy and by no means is perfect by any stretch, but that is by design so people will become dependent on it and crave the next iteration.
Who needs to write and write books when you got AI? If you thought people were imbeciles before, then get ready for a new wave of idiot…
As for you, continue to read PAPER books, and continually keep your penmanship sharp.
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1 Timothy 4:13
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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I remember back in my fanfiction writing days going from writing 2,000 word chapters to 8,000 word chapters. It took years to get to that point, but working on my writing skill was great fun and seeing it improve over the year provided me with joy. No fancy AI, no extravagant tools, just myself, an Ipod with some clean music on it, my imagination, and Open Office on the computer. That’s all it was really, and I did it just for fun and because I enjoyed it.
Maybe I ought to start writing again, just keep things purely my own creation so to speak. It’s a pretty good hobby to have and one can keep it clean if they really wanted to.
I find this very interesting and timely for personal and confidential reasons (thanks to the Lord I had this urge, and took heed of it to do some editing, and not just hastily post this along with things said to me in confidence).
That aside, they always have to “ease” people into their traps and many other deceptions. This Grammarly program (with its annoying ads on Youtube) is an example that comes to mind. Or even the spelling and grammar check feature on MS Word. Typing on a keyboard all the time also takes a bit away from being a good writer and from keeping the brain in better shape (as I tell myself often), though not as drastic as something like Grammarly , and now these AI tools.
Does anyone find it funny that the name they used to supposedly make us better in grammar, Grammarly is bad grammar?
Reading a lot of paper books and other printed materials (not Playboy, new bible versions or tabloid mags) definitely improves writing skills, and reading often in general, including online articles, along with writing by hand. Though paper books are better than some of the online written texts, I believe simply because paper books go through more painstaking editing before printing, depending on the editor’s capabilities and attitudes as well. Also, this prevents too much harmful strain on the eyes from the computers or digital devices’ screens.
Do most editors nowadays use computer programs that “auto-edit” written text, or would the typical way of editing be reading every word within the manuscript and relying on their brains to spot the errors? I’ve no clue. But still, with paper books, less chances of reading something that has errors (I do remember reading paper books in the past that had mistakes here and there). Of course, nothing that men produce can possibly be perfect all the time obviously. Perfection is the Lord and the King James bible.
One of the things I admire about Bryan Denlinger (Born Again Barbarian Youtube channel). From the hundreds of videos I’ve watched on his channel, nearing roughly 700 now, I think I’ve never seen any errors with the descriptions under the videos, except for just one typo. No errors either on his written stuff on his website (not that I consciously and intentionally scour anyone’s work for errors, I certainly don’t).
In connection with this, something I’ve learned from the bible through one of his studies, “Can A Christian Be Perfect”. We cannot be perfectly sinless, but we can have a perfect heart toward the Lord (see 1 Kings 15 KJB). The point is to strive hard continually for perfection, even though we cannot ever be perfect.
A big problem with illiteracy nowadays is because the school and education boards continue to keep redefining the standards, and change permissible sentence structures, syntax, abbreviations, and slang; which the problems are then compounded when teachers choose to enforce or not enforce the new rules, or just flat out create their own because they think they are oh-so smart. This happened all the time when I went through public school.
Good point. Very true. This provoked many thoughts, thanks to God. Made me think of how deep the evils of secular men, along with the devil’s coaxing, are.
Everything man gets his hands on gets messed up. Like what you’ve said, they think they’re oh-so smart. “Ye shall be as gods”. Proven by your articles and other sources. All this tampering with everything to “improve” things.
Do you think the Lord’s word, the King James bible, was his plan also to provide a standard for how all men should write and speak (Jer 6:16)? I believe this should’ve been the case (but of course, Satan and the innate pride of men messed this up too, another factor to why we’ve all gotten dumber in these “modern” times). That all the other kindreds and tongues were supposed to base their grammar and other language structures largely on the final, purified English translation of the scriptures while still retaining the uniqueness of different tongues? I say largely because in some areas of the world, certain things are unseen/unheard of. Like what I’ve heard from one of Bryan’s studies (hope I remember it right). He was talking about this bible perversion where they replaced the word “sheep” with “pig” in a certain passage because this specific group of people have never seen such an animal. Poor lie/excuse though, they could’ve just shown them an actual sheep or a painting/photo of it right? But why would they? They want to defile God’s word. These foul, hateful perverts.
Also came to mind, thanks a lot as well for the Winepress because your efforts save us a lot of time with looking up truth behind all of the incredible, ridiculous amount of deceptions, since you cover many different topics, including natural health and economics. It’s like going to a place where almost everything we need is provided. I know, it’s not an excuse to get lazy with our own researching but this has to be pointed out as a reminder to the readers. The opposite actually, your example with the WP should be an inspiration for us to also do our own research diligently with things that matter and share them with others.
I do get that you’re only one man doing this, there’s simply too much going on to keep track of. Thanks to the people who send you important topics also.
Sent you this before (and Bryan), but I wanted to say again, these verses (moved to add v17) remind me of your boldness against these wicked people, I hope these encourage you anew:
Ezekiel 3:17, 8-9
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
God bless you Jacob.