AI and Publishing: Part One

What I’ve Learned as an Indie Author

Over the past few days I’ve run across a viral meme that seems to be circulating in the indie writer and publishing community. The meme was created from what appears to be a quote shared in a newspaper. The quote is from author Joanna Maciejewska who originally shared it as a post on X, formerly Twitter. Her quote reads: “You know what the biggest problem with pushing all-things-AI is? Wrong direction. I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”

And this is EXACTLY how I feel about the use of AI in publishing.

I’ve been a novelist for more than a decade. In that time, I’ve written 14 books, formatting, designing (cover to cover), and self-publishing eight of them, including my best-selling The Scars We Choose duology and Only the Rocks That Float. Last year, I contracted with La Panthère Studio to publish my first work of nonfiction, Mystic Storyteller, which releases this year. The remaining five are out of print and in need of a good editing, which, along with marketing content, are what I’ve decided are my only reasons for using AI in the publishing process. Hang on and I’ll share why...

Only after coming up for air last year following the completion of Mystic Storyteller had I begun paying serious attention to the growing popularity of AI-generated content in the publishing industry. Until then, my publishing experience had always been a one-woman show: I designed all my covers, formatted my books, and have done the same for dozens of other indie authors like me. The only services I’ve hired out are editing and graphic design programs. Now, I understand that many authors aren’t as design savvy as me, and they rely on those of us who can provide those services for them, such as cover design and marketing materials. This is absolutely normal, and it helps maintain the healthy cycle of artists supporting artists. What isn’t normal or supportive is indie books having to compete in sales with those manufactured using AI-generated content.

Novels, entire series, are being AI-generated and sold as if they were written with blood, sweat, and tears, you know, the stuff real, living authors put into our work. For indie authors like me, this means every AI-generated book similar to mine that readers are buying is one less book I could have sold them, one less authentic story they could be reading and enjoying. Instead, and unbeknownst to most readers, the characters and scenes in AI books were compiled by harvested (stolen) data. Not only that, but I’ve witnessed other indies reporting computer programs stealing their work and passing it off as authentically written books. That’s the moment when I started paying attention, when AI became real and not just another planted media distraction. And so, back in March 2024, in an attempt to understand whether there were any ethical uses for AI in writing and publishing, I initiated a conversation to discuss when it’s okay to use it. The resulting discussion was enlightening, and what I walked away with was the understanding that there are three camps: those who choose to use AI to help with publishing because they cannot afford to hire-out the services; those who are adamantly against using AI and would rather save their money to hire real artists, formatters, and editors; and those, like me, who didn’t have a stance and were eager to learn and understand the implications of using AI.

To be clear, my only experience using AI programs has been spellcheckers, predictive text, and a particular free character generator tool... which I won’t link because I have since stopped using it. Regarding the latter, when I was using the program, I would feed the app information about the characters in my current work-in-progress (WIP), a Southern Gothic fiction series, and then it would spit out portraits so I could see the characters as I’d imagined them. Like my method for using the tarot’s illustrations for storytelling inspiration, these AI-generated images provided visuals for me to look at while fleshing out (pun intended) my characters.

After my conversation on Instagram, followed by a subsequent discussion with my publisher, owner of La Panthère Studio Stacey Williams-Ng, around their anti-AI policy, I stopped using the character generator.

Why? Because AI programs like these don’t create the art they’re releasing to users out of sheer talent and skill. Their content isn’t fueled by time, copious amounts of caffeine, blood, sweat, and tears. No, content-generating programs scan the internet for images of real artists’ work and copy them, morphing them into likenesses of whatever descriptions are programmed into them. Artists who spend weeks, months, years on portraits, landscapes, graphic designs, and other visuals are finding their work being “borrowed” by these AI programs and reimagined as data-fed artificially generated content. I don’t have to elaborate; this is theft, and it is not cool.

So, what are the ethical uses for AI in publishing?

People use ethical AI every single day, and often when we don’t even realize it. Search engines like Google, editing programs like Grammarly, marketing content creation apps like Canva and PhotoShop, these are ethically acceptable for use while writing and publishing. Amazon’s KDP book formatting and cover creation templates are helpful to authors who aren’t as design savvy and can create their own. I know they gave me a kickstart I needed when I’d first arrived on the self-publishing scene a decade ago. Audio book creation uses AI programs, as well as global distribution platforms to help get books into readers’ hands. These are all responsible uses of AI in publishing, and every decent publisher shares their guidelines on AI.

In the tarot publishing industry, copycat decks are popping up on Etsy, eBay, Amazon, wherever tarot decks are sold. These decks are AI-generated, low-quality images stolen from the actual artists and publishers who create and distribute them and passed off for the real thing. This is theft, plain and simple, so when working with tarot to inspire creativity, it’s important for storytellers to purchase authentic decks created by real artists and sold fair and square.

A Publisher that Cares

La Panthère Studio is a publisher that not only cares about selling quality, original work, but they care about ensuring their artists and writers are fairly compensated for the work they’ve produced. For these reasons, I am proud to trust them with publishing my new book, Mystic Storyteller: A Writer’s Guide to Using the Tarot for Creative Inspiration and its companion tarot deck.

For specifics around what ethical use of AI means to La Panthère Studio, you can watch this video from a live Instagram session Stacey facilitated a few months ago. You can also watch a conversation she and I had around helping indie writers understand the implications of using AI in this live Instagram chat.

The bottom line is this:

If you are a writer seeking to self-publish or you’re moving into the traditional publishing space, please research to understand the inner workings of the AI programs you are using. Review the AI content policies of said publishing platforms and when to disclose to both your readers and publishers if you have used AI in your writing. My opinion is that leveraging AI to polish one’s own writing is absolutely acceptable but using AI to author entire books and/or steal from others is garbage behavior that produces trash unworthy of reading.

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Next Week: Part Two

Keep an eye on your inbox, as next week I’ll release Part Two of my experience with AI and Publishing: what I’ve learned about crowdfunding platforms in publishing and their AI policies. I’ll share with you a transparent overview of BackerKit, the crowdfunding platform La Panthère Studio is using to support production of the Mystic Storyteller book and tarot deck. Until then, be sure to mark your calendars...

Save the Date

The Mystic Storyteller book and tarot deck is being launched on BackerKit Tuesday, August 6. That means YOU will have the opportunity to support bringing this book and deck to life! If you are reading this via an email from me or through Substack, you’re on the fastest track to staying updated on all details. THANK YOU for your interest, your kind words, and your support! If you are not already following the project on Instagram, please do.

In Case You Missed It

Have you downloaded your free copy of my Fill Your Cup: Focus on YOU Workbook? This resource is a token of gratitude for every Substack and email list subscriber, and I designed it to support your holistic needs. If you have yet to download your copy, please do. You can find it here, and you can also read more about the workbook here.

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In her more than thirty years as a storyteller and visual designer, Amanda “Mandy” Hughes has written and designed over a dozen works of literary, Southern Gothic, and women’s fiction under pen names A. Lee Hughes and Mandy Lee.

Mandy is the founder of Haint Blue Creative^®, a space for readers and storytellers to explore, learn, and create. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Psychology, and she has worked as an instructional designer for nearly twenty years.

When she’s not writing, Mandy enjoys the movies, theater, music, traveling, nature walks, birdwatching, and binging The Office. She is a tarot enthusiast who uses the cards to enhance creativity and foster wellness. Her book Mystic Storyteller: A Writer’s Guide to Using the Tarot for Creative Inspiration and companion tarot deck are coming to La Panthère Studio in 2024.

Mandy lives in Georgia with her husband and four sons, two of whom are furrier than the others (but not by much). Visit her website at haintbluecreative.com and follow her on Instagram @HaintBlueCreative and @MysticStorytellerTarot.