Full transcript
0:00We have a big problem when it comes to
0:02writing non-fiction using AI. A problem
0:05that is sabotaging a lot of authors and
0:07keeping most of them from getting any
0:10traction with their non-fiction books.
0:12And that's whether you use AI or not.
0:14But if you take time to understand my
0:16strategies that I'll get into in this
0:18video, that should no longer be a
0:20problem. And once again, that's whether
0:22you use AI or not. Now, if you're new
0:25here on this channel, you know I'm a
0:27very AI positive person, but only so far
0:30as it is used as a productivity tool to
0:34enhance rather than to replace one's own
0:37knowledge or creativity or just
0:40thinking. And yet with the non-fiction
0:43space in particular, there has really
0:45been a huge problem that I've seen pop
0:47up and one that's more prevalent in
0:50non-fiction right now, but might
0:52eventually be something we see a lot
0:54more of in fiction as well uh in the
0:58future, especially as AI's quality gets
1:01better and better. But believe it or
1:03not, these problems didn't actually
1:05originate because of AI. They existed
1:08long before AI. But AI has had the
1:11unfortunate side effect of really
1:13exasperating the problem, making it
1:15easier to do. So, let me show you what I
1:18mean. Firstly, I would like to show off
1:21this article right here. This is just
1:22one of many articles similar to this
1:24that are showing off just how scammy AI
1:27generated book rewrites are flooding
1:29Amazon. This article in particular is
1:31talking about what appear to be AI
1:33generated imitations and summaries of
1:35their books on Amazon. there's little
1:37they can do to reign in the ripoffs. And
1:40this is just an example of uh uh AI
1:43being used in a much more scammy
1:45capacity. Uh one that I definitely don't
1:47condone and uh is probably illegal
1:50because uh in all likelihood what
1:52they're doing is they're taking an
1:54existing book and just having AI rewrite
1:56it, which is considered plagiarism, even
1:59if it wouldn't necessarily pass a
2:00plagiarism check. Uh there's one example
2:03here of someone that found that their
2:04book was just completely rewritten and
2:07uh Amazon took it down uh took the
2:10imitation down and Amazon uh said while
2:13we allow AI generated content we don't
2:15allow AI generated content that violates
2:17our Kindle direct publishing content
2:18guidelines including content that
2:20creates a disappointing customer
2:22experience. So I think this is a good
2:24clarification that's not really the AI
2:25content that's the problem but it's how
2:28it has been used in this case in a case
2:30that's very clearly scammy. And then
2:31you'll also have a lot of uh options
2:34where people will do summaries of books
2:36kind of in the hopes that the summary
2:39will be picked over the original book,
2:41especially if you price it a whole lot
2:43lower. Uh it's something that definitely
2:45existed long before AI, but it's
2:47something that's so much easier to do
2:49now with AI that we're just seeing so
2:52much more of it. Now, if you ask me,
2:54this is actually not as big of an issue
2:56as people seem to think it is because
2:58most of these things don't get seen at
3:01all. Uh especially if you as a
3:03non-fiction author are doing everything
3:05correctly that even uh even if you're
3:08doing that and people are making all of
3:09these imitation books of your book,
3:11chances are they're not going to come
3:12near to digging into your profits as
3:15much as you might be afraid that they
3:16would. And that's because Amazon's
3:18algorithm is pretty good at these days
3:20at identifying quality and what people
3:22actually want and uh establishing
3:24legitimacy of an author or that sort of
3:26thing. Uh so it's not something that I
3:28personally worry about too much. But if
3:30I want to be a non-fiction writer and I
3:33want to use AI to help me out in that
3:35process, what is a more legitimate way
3:38of doing that that's not a huge scam
3:41like this obviously is? And to answer
3:43that, we really need to go back to the
3:45two main strategies that people had
3:47around non-fiction even before AI, which
3:49I think are still relevant to the
3:51conversation today. The first of the
3:54main strategies is that people will
3:56write one book and then they will link
3:58it to a bunch of different courses, uh,
4:01a YouTube channel, services that you
4:03provide, etc. So, while the one book
4:05might not make a lot of money on its
4:07own, it serves as a way of getting
4:10people in the door to where the real
4:12money is made. And that happens usually
4:16down the pipeline in your own business.
4:18And I'll get back to that strategy in a
4:20second. Now, the second strategy is to
4:22do a lot of research to find underserved
4:24categories and niches on Amazon. And
4:27then, as quickly and efficiently as
4:28possible, write several books that fill
4:30all aspects of that niche. The usual
4:33strategy that online gurus that claimed
4:35to be experts in this uh field would
4:38teach about this stuff was to hire ghost
4:41writers to write very short books so
4:43they wouldn't cost a lot and you could
4:44get a lot of them out there that were
4:47purely informational. And pretty much
4:50all they were doing is just
4:51regurgitating info that had been done a
4:53thousand times before. And most of the
4:55time this didn't actually require the
4:57person publishing the books to know
4:59anything about the topic. And with AI,
5:02this has also become something that is
5:04much easier to just uh you know
5:06regurgitate a topic over and over again
5:09in various different ways. And of
5:11course, you would probably also see a
5:12lot of the more scammy options like
5:14writing summaries of a book and posting
5:16those where those summaries were often
5:18very clearly designed to be mistaken for
5:20the original book, which we saw with
5:21that Wired article. And unfortunately,
5:24this is the way people are doing it
5:25these days. And it's uh it's borderline
5:28scammy at this point. uh even even
5:31writing a regurgitated book that covers
5:34the topic in a different way is honestly
5:38quite scammy. And uh if I'm being
5:40honest, um the the idea behind that
5:44strategy is that you could find a niche
5:46that isn't really well filled, right? Uh
5:49find something where a lot of people are
5:51searching for a topic, but there aren't
5:53really that many books on that topic.
5:55And so they would write something and
5:57and uh make sure to fill the niche. But
5:59the problem with that now is that AI can
6:01do it so easily that all of those niches
6:03are going to get filled very very
6:04quickly. And so I do not think that this
6:07is a strategy that will work long term,
6:10especially if all you're doing is
6:11writing purelyformational books that
6:14have nothing of an uh nothing original
6:17to contribute to them. And I'll show you
6:19the way uh you have probably seen other
6:21gurus show you how to write this kind of
6:24non-fiction book. You've probably seen
6:26something like this before. Or if we go
6:27to say chat GBT and say something like
6:31give me an outline uh we'll say a
6:36chapter outline for a book about
6:39establishing small habits and just do
6:43something similar like that
6:46and okay now it's giving us the outline.
6:48So chapter one, understanding habits,
6:49what habits are and how they form, the
6:51habit loop, uh how habits shape identity
6:54and daily life. And then you say, okay,
6:56now give me a more fleshed out outline
7:01for chapter 1. Okay. And boom. All
7:04right. Now it's giving me a much more
7:06fleshed out outline of chapter 1. Uh we
7:09got the habit loop, cube, routine,
7:11reward, keystone habits, identity, and
7:13habits. Oh, okay. All great stuff,
7:15right? And then they'll be like, "Okay,
7:18now write the entire chapter in 3,000
7:22words." All right. So, I let this go and
7:25now it's going to actually start
7:27drafting the whole thing. Okay. And in
7:29this case, it's asking me a follow-up
7:31question. Uh, and I'll say, uh, uh, so
7:34it wants me to know if it wants a
7:36popular health self-help style or a more
7:38academic analytical tone. We'll just say
7:40popular self-help style. And in this
7:43case, it's splitting things up into 1,00
7:45word chunks according to what it's
7:47telling me here. But you can usually get
7:49AI to do an entire chapter all at once.
7:52Um, and here it goes. Think about your
7:54last morning. Did you brush your teeth?
7:56Scroll through your phone before getting
7:57out of bed? Pour a cup of coffee without
7:59even thinking about it. Chances are you
8:00did. And chances are you didn't stop to
8:02question whether those behaviors were
8:03deliberate choices or simply autopilot
8:05routines. And a lot of these gurus will
8:08show you this exact process that I just
8:09showed you. and they'll say, "See, look
8:12how fast you can write your book now."
8:16But I'm sure you guys can see the
8:18problem here. All this is doing is
8:20giving us regurgitated information uh
8:23that has just been uh collected from all
8:25of the different sources on the internet
8:27and other books, put all together, and
8:29then simply spit out again in a way that
8:31is different, but still kind of the same
8:34information.
8:35And this also begs the question, if
8:38anybody can get this information through
8:40chat GBT or another uh chatbot like it,
8:43like I use perplexity a lot to do
8:45research, if I can just get it through a
8:48chatbot, why do I need to buy a book
8:52that is the same stuff? Okay. So, really
8:56the problem with this strategy of trying
8:58to fill all of these niches with uh just
9:00regurgitatedformational
9:01content. The problem with that, it's not
9:04so much like doing it that I uh am
9:07worried about. I'm not worried about the
9:09legitimate authors who are doing things
9:11right. They're probably going to be
9:12fine. I'm worried about the people
9:14actually trying to make this strategic
9:16work because it might have been
9:17something that worked in the past but it
9:19is definitely not going to work now
9:22simply because I can just go to chatbt
9:24and get this information myself and more
9:26and more people are going to figure that
9:27out and uh if I don't even if I don't do
9:30that if I still go and read books most
9:32of those books are going to be made in
9:34this faction because so many people are
9:36just flooding Amazon with this type of
9:37book so what do we do about this right
9:42that is the real question here and I
9:44will start by actually talking a little
9:46bit about one of my books which is the
9:48plot module. Uh this is a book I wrote
9:50for authors and the idea behind this
9:53book is that it gives you a chapter by
9:54chapter outline uh template. Uh
9:58basically what I did is I went out and I
10:00researched every single template that I
10:02could find out there because what I
10:04really wanted was something that would
10:06tell me on a chapter by chapter or scene
10:08by scene basis what should happen in
10:10every chapter. I saw that a lot of
10:12people out there would say, "Yeah, you
10:14got to have these eight beats or these
10:1612 beats or these 15 beats in your
10:17story." But they would never really show
10:19me where those should go or uh like
10:23should they be on multiple chapters long
10:25or just one moment in time. And I just
10:27really thought like for myself uh
10:30working with Ghost Writers 2 or or if
10:33you're a brand new author starting out,
10:35it would be really nice to just say say
10:38this is the order of events, right?
10:40um some refle flexibility required of
10:43course but that was the whole idea
10:45behind the plot module and so I created
10:48this and this is my best-selling
10:50non-fiction in fact it's my bestselling
10:52book period it out sells both of my
10:55other non-fiction books combined and uh
10:58is by far my top selling book and there
11:00are a couple of things that made this
11:02book different that have made it a very
11:05successful book for me even though the
11:07non-fiction market is very flooded this
11:09still does very well for me. And I'd
11:11like to talk a little bit about what
11:13some of those are. Although I will do
11:14another video next that goes a little
11:17bit more in depth on my process of
11:18writing non-fiction. But let's just
11:20start by going through all of the
11:22different ways that you can actually
11:24find success with non-fiction without
11:26doing this information regurgitation
11:28that uh I just demonstrated using AI. So
11:32what do you need to write non-fiction?
11:35First of all, you need some kind of a
11:37personal brand. I believe uh in this day
11:39and age, you need to be able to set
11:41yourself apart. It's okay to have pen
11:43names, but even those pen names should
11:45be specializing in something and you
11:48should really go deep down the rabbit
11:50hole on what those um what those topics
11:53are. In fact, I would say the most
11:55important thing for you to have is an
11:56obsession with the topic itself. You
11:58need to know more than the average AI,
12:02at least uh the average regurgitated
12:04information that AI gives you. You need
12:06to be more of an expert than that. You
12:08need to be obsessed with the topic. And
12:10then once you have that, you need to
12:12develop a kind of personal brand.
12:14Something that differentiates you from
12:16the AI where you are creating something,
12:19maybe different frameworks, uh different
12:21strategies, different uh systems that
12:25maybe didn't exist before, but um are
12:28your way of going about a that
12:30particular topic. And another thing that
12:33you're going to need are personal
12:35stories. Stories are absolutely
12:37essential. Even in non-fiction, you need
12:39to have some kind of story to back
12:41yourself up. These can be stories from
12:43yourself, uh from mentors you've had
12:45that are you're just passing on the
12:47information you learned from them. It
12:49can be stories from clients, doesn't
12:51matter. Uh but you need some kind of
12:52story in there. So many times, even
12:55before AI came around, I would read a
12:56book and it was nothing but information.
12:59But when you have information, nobody
13:00really cares about that information
13:02until they have seen it in action inside
13:04of a story. So you need to have a
13:06personal story or a story of a client or
13:09something like that to go with it. Going
13:10along with that, you also need proof.
13:13You need to have proof that your
13:14frameworks work in some capacity, right?
13:17You need to show that you have
13:19experience with this topic. And that's
13:22very important. And you can get some of
13:23that through your stories, thankfully.
13:25Um, and then I I always think I kind of
13:27touched on this already, but I think
13:29that you need to have some kind of your
13:31own framework or your own contribution,
13:33something that you are uniquely
13:34contributing to the topic that isn't
13:37just a regurgitation of other
13:38information because even if you're not
13:40using AI, too often authors will just
13:43regurgitate information that they just
13:45learned when going through this process.
13:47And I think in order to do this well,
13:50you need to uh yes, you know, uh consume
13:53a lot of information on that topic,
13:56spend some time working with it,
13:57teaching it, but then at some point you
14:00need to come up with your own
14:01contribution, your own uniqueness that
14:03makes it unique. Uh you know, what can
14:05you put in there that is not already
14:06something AI knows or is a framework
14:09that AI doesn't know yet, right? That
14:12sort of thing. And then if you've done
14:13all that then yes it is fine to use AI
14:16to help you in the execution of your
14:19ideas. When I wrote the pro plot module
14:22I developed all the frameworks and the
14:24ideas and the outline and everything
14:25myself. There are stories in here that
14:27are mine and and personal to me. But
14:30there were uh elements where after I had
14:32assembled all that information I could
14:34just go to the AI and say okay I need
14:37this section of the chapter to cover
14:39these five points. Write it for me. and
14:42I knew I could do that. And then there
14:43are other elements where I knew I had to
14:46write that part because it was something
14:48that was more personal to me and I just
14:50felt like I needed to be the one to
14:52express it in my own voice. And it's a
14:54hodgepodge of this. Um, but the point is
14:57that AI can help you in the execution
14:59but not in the actual development of the
15:02information, if that makes sense.
15:04Because a lot of people see AI as
15:06something that can do the thinking for
15:08you. And if you think so, not only will
15:11you be getting not getting very far in
15:13life, but you'll likely grow dumber as
15:15you don't use those thinking muscles. Uh
15:18AI can help with the doing of a thing.
15:21But the human must always always be in
15:24charge of the thinking. And I do think
15:27that using books alone as a strategy for
15:30non-fiction success is kind of outdated.
15:32Honestly, I am admittedly a bit biased
15:35around this topic, but I think for
15:37non-fiction authors, especially in any
15:39educational space out there, YouTube is
15:42probably the best place to start, not
15:44with a book. And then once you've built
15:47up an audience on that YouTube, which is
15:49actually a lot easier to do if you have
15:52a niche, enough educational topic. Uh
15:55once you've built that audience, then
15:56you can release your books. And this is
15:58actually great because by that time you
16:00will have heard enough feedback from
16:02your audience through your YouTube
16:04channel that you'll be able to take that
16:07information and add a lot of that unique
16:10flavor that will set your book apart and
16:13incorporate it into your frameworks and
16:14all of that. Uh so that's just a little
16:16bit of advice there. I actually don't
16:18think that non-fiction authors should
16:19start with the book. They should start
16:21with a YouTube channel somewhere where
16:23they can test ideas to to see how well
16:26they they deal with their ideal audience
16:28and then once they've getting gotten
16:30some validation on those ideas so
16:33something uh in the analytics of the
16:35YouTube channel or what have you to to
16:37say yeah this is a good idea then they
16:39can take those things and turn them into
16:40a book uh which is what I did with this
16:43but uh only after they've done a little
16:45bit of that validation and gotten that
16:47feedback. Now, don't get me wrong,
16:49non-fiction is far from dead. In fact,
16:51all this crap that is flooding Amazon
16:53does very little to affect those authors
16:55who are doing things the right way
16:57because most of them never see the light
16:58of day thanks to Amazon's algorithm,
17:00which is just getting better and better
17:02at judging quality. And my plot module
17:04book makes more money than any of my
17:06other books, fiction or non-fiction, and
17:08more than my other two non-fiction books
17:10combined. So, it's definitely doable,
17:12especially if you have some other kind
17:14of way of presenting your information
17:16like in a YouTube channel like this one.
17:19If you combine all of the different
17:20mediums like that, you're most almost
17:23certainly going to have a huge advantage
17:25over the people that are just putting
17:27out regurgitated information. And in my
17:30next video, I'll go through my entire
17:32process on how I write non-fiction
17:34books. So, subscribe if you want to miss
17:36if you don't want to miss that video,
17:37and I'll see you there. And also, I
17:39teach authors how to use AI
17:41appropriately without sacrificing your
17:43creativity or ethics.