Some people ask me whether I worry about artificial intelligence eating my lunch.
I’m a New York Times Bestselling book ghostwriter, and I write books the old-fashioned way. Without mechanical intervention.
AI is a wondrous research tool. Ask it a question and you will get a deep, thorough, useful, and often fascinating response.
But do yourself a favor and don’t ask AI to write your book for you. Let me explain why.
I have seen plenty of book plans generated by AI. My clients sometimes share them with me, as if to say, “Look what I got from ChatGPT in 16 seconds! What do I need you for?” Here’s the problem. Virtually the same book plan that AI provided you is what it provides everyone else in your industry. Typically, it is a generic rehashing of everything that’s already been said on the topic.
Readers of AI-generated books don’t really get to know the authors, because there is precious little about the author in the book. AI outputs are only as good as their inputs, which is to say that you cannot program AI to be creative, only repetitive.
Maybe one day that will change, but that is not how things are these days.
Somebody programmed into AI the idea that books should begin with a history of the topic at hand, which serves as a prelude to whatever unique thoughts the author will eventually provide later in the book.
What a bad idea.
These days, nobody cares about the history of anything. People aren’t interested in the ways things were in retirement planning, stock investing, consulting, or real estate 25 years ago. They just want to know what’s happening right now.
But here’s a secret. People don’t read books from professionals in financial services, real estate, law, consulting, medicine, or other topics because they want to get educated about the field.
Instead, they want to find the right person they can turn to for the services they need.
This kind of book is not meant as an education. It’s an audition.
The biggest challenge professionals face when looking for new clients is the trust gap. How can people trust you with their money, the future of their business, their legal issues, or their health if they don’t even know you?
These days, people have very short attention spans (I’m really grateful that you have read this far into the article!) so if you start off with something boring and generic like the history of a topic, you’re practically inviting readers to stop reading your book and find someone else with whom to engage.
Sorry, AI. You are really great at a lot of things, but you aren’t great at planning books.
The approach share with many of my clients is to start off in chapter 1 not with a history of anything, but simply by demonstrating that you understand the specific core problems the reader faces better than anyone else. People should come away from chapter 1 of your book asking themselves, “How does the author know so much about me? It feels like he or she is reading my mail!”
This creates a sense of curiosity. Who are you? How do you know so much? What is your background? What is your training? Let me get to know you!
People don’t actually read books. Instead, they use them as a screenplay for a movie that is going to play in their heads. In that movie, there are two characters. The reader as student and the author as teacher. They know who they are. Now they need to know who you are when they are “being” you in a movie that is playing in their heads.
That is why chapter 2 is all about you. Your story, told in about 10 to 12 pages, so that the reader knows exactly who he or she is being when they are telling the story in your book to themselves.
And then in chapter 3 and subsequent chapters, talk about how you serve. Talk about how you solve problems. Talk about where your industry is today. Nobody cares about where it was 20 years ago. You probably don’t even care!
And then close with a respectful call to action that demonstrates to readers that you are available to solve their problems and here’s how to reach out.
Can AI do all that? Maybe one day. Maybe after it reads this article! But not today.
Turning to AI, as it currently exists, to plan your book is a recipe for disaster. The whole point of a book is to have you stand out, to create preeminence, to make the reader say, “I found the right person!” AI-generated books are far too generic, vanilla, bland, and middle of the road to accomplish anything like that.
Write your own book, hire a ghostwriter, or don’t have a book at all. And AI-generated book plan, or worse, an AI-written book, will turn off pretty much everyone who comes in contact with it.
The world is sick of generic. The world is sick of meh.
On the other hand, the world is ready and waiting for you.
