Full transcript
0:00Welcome. Today, we are doing a fun
0:01little exercise comparing my experience
0:05between writing books traditionally and
0:08using AI to write them, as well as
0:10working with ghostwriters to write those
0:12books.
0:13Uh I've got a scale here on on different
0:16things that we're going to rank them
0:17each for
0:19uh on a five-point scale. And I'm going
0:21to talk about my own personal experience
0:22doing all three of these because up to
0:24this point, I've written 14 books the
0:26traditional way uh before I was working
0:28at Kindlepreneur, I I had done a lot of
0:30self-publishing and really cut my teeth
0:32on that whole process. Then I worked at
0:34Kindlepreneur for 3 years and learned a
0:37lot about the industry and all of that.
0:39Then once AI started to roll around, I
0:41started to experiment with that as well
0:44and that ended up becoming the majority
0:46of what this channel is all about, which
0:49is about how to use AI in the writing
0:50process. And of course, I get tons and
0:53tons of criticism from uh well-meaning
0:56people who nevertheless don't quite
0:59understand a little bit how AI works uh
1:01saying that it's totally just like
1:03removing all creativity from the problem
1:05from the process
1:07and just making it a soulless slop kind
1:11of thing. And I want to talk to you
1:13today about how that really could not be
1:15further from the truth. I had somebody
1:16ask me once if I could if if if I could
1:20truly show somebody one thing or or get
1:23an idea across to people, what would it
1:25be? And it really would be this. Just
1:28how much creativity and creative
1:30fulfillment is still in the process of
1:32AI. Like how much it still feels like
1:35your own story. Uh if you're doing it
1:37the right way, of course. Uh and then
1:39last, we'll talk about ghostwriters.
1:41Actually, might not be last, but uh
1:43we'll we'll also talk about
1:44ghostwriters. And uh and the creative
1:46process involved in working with a
1:48ghostwriter. And uh just to kind of be
1:52clear about our definitions here, I'm
1:54going to be doing this with the
1:56assumption that you are heavily involved
1:58in the process. So, my
2:01definition of creativity is you have
2:04something in your brain that only exists
2:07in your brain,
2:08and then you bring it out into the real
2:11world using whatever means are available
2:12to you. Doesn't really matter what the
2:14means are. And doing so can involve more
2:16or less
2:17actual creative expression, but it's
2:20still creativity to take something that
2:22was only in here and bring it out into
2:24the physical world. So, my assumption
2:27with all of this is that you have some
2:29kind of vision of a book. This is how I
2:31operate. You have a vision of your book,
2:34and then you either write it yourself,
2:37use AI, or hire a ghostwriter to bring
2:40that vision to life. But, if you were to
2:43just go to the ghostwriter and say,
2:44"Just write me a book." and you don't
2:46give them any instruction, then well,
2:47then it isn't your vision at that point.
2:50At least it's not the a vision of a
2:52specific story. And the same is true
2:55with AI. If you just go to AI and say,
2:56"Write me a book." well, then it's not
2:59really your story at that point. So, I'm
3:01assuming that you have a story in your
3:03head. You use either a yourself, AI, or
3:07a ghostwriter to bring that vision to
3:08life, and then in whatever form that
3:11takes, you have that vision fully
3:13realized in front of you. That's kind of
3:16what how I see it. That's what I go
3:18through with my students in the Story
3:20Hacker AI community, linked down below,
3:22by the way. And all of that. So, we're
3:25going to be talking about all three of
3:26these on three different sliders. We're
3:28going to talk about the creativity and
3:29the amount of creative creative
3:31expression involved in the process.
3:33We're going to talk about the ease of
3:35use, or just like how easy it is to
3:37produce the thing
3:39that you want to get out of your head.
3:41Also, this kind of going along with this
3:43is not just how easy it is, but how much
3:45time and effort it can take. And then
3:47finally, the the expected quality of the
3:50book. Now, this last one's the hardest
3:52to do because it can vary all over the
3:54place. So, I may in some cases give you
3:57kind of a range of answers, but we're
4:01going to try our best to go through
4:02these. And again, this is all very uh
4:06subjective to different people. This is
4:08just kind of with my experience working
4:10with all three quite a bit. I've written
4:1214 books the traditional way. I've
4:13written a bunch of books with AI, and
4:15this channel's all about AI. And then
4:17I've actually worked with quite a few
4:18ghostwriters to work inside of uh my
4:21universe as well cuz I've got like
4:23three, 400 books that I want to write in
4:25that universe or at least stories I want
4:26to tell. And so, obviously can't do that
4:29all myself even with AI. So, I've also
4:31worked with ghostwriters. So, let's go
4:33ahead and start with writing a book
4:35yourself. How much creative expression
4:37does it have? What's the easy easy views
4:39and the overall quality that you can
4:41expect, okay? So, let's start with
4:44creativity. Obviously, an enormous
4:46amount of creative creativity involved
4:49in writing a book yourself. You're not
4:51only providing the creativity for
4:53planning everything, but you're also
4:56actually typing out the words. And every
4:58sentence involves a certain amount of
4:59creativity. So, I'm going to put that
5:01one way over here as far as the amount
5:04of creativity that you can expect from
5:07this process. Now,
5:08I am going to add a caveat on this one
5:11because not every form of creative
5:14expression is desirable to everyone. And
5:17writing is kind of a step-by-step
5:20process, and there are parts of the
5:22process that might feel more creatively
5:24fulfilling to you that others.
5:26Think of it this way. Like, imagine you
5:29are These days, nobody would really
5:30contest that you can be
5:33a artist in Photoshop. Like, you're just
5:36a wiz at taking pictures and mashing
5:38them together and making something
5:39beautiful out of that. I don't think
5:41anybody would really dispute that fact.
5:43Then there are also artists who are
5:45literally hand painting oil paintings or
5:47something like that or acrylics or or
5:50watercolor or whatever and they're
5:51different mediums.
5:53Now, in writing there has not
5:56traditionally been different mediums of
5:59writing. Um
6:01it's only really been writing it
6:03yourself or hiring a ghostwriter in the
6:04past and now we have AI to act as a
6:06different medium of writing. And what AI
6:09allows you to do is it allows you to
6:11focus on that part of the process that
6:12you like the most. So, I will say even
6:16though generally speaking writing a book
6:18yourself is probably peak creative
6:20expression, it depends on the person.
6:23And because I for for myself find the
6:26actual prose writing part of writing out
6:28the sentences sentences actually doing
6:30the typing to be the most mind-numbing
6:33work imaginable. Everything else in the
6:35writing process I absolutely adore. And
6:38so, you know, some people think that
6:40because I find that process mind-numbing
6:42that that makes me not a writer. I don't
6:44think so. Like it doesn't feel that way.
6:46I still feel quite a bit of creative
6:48expression in the writing process and I
6:50have gotten into that flow state when
6:52writing a book myself that is absolutely
6:54amazing. But even before AI came around,
6:57I was switching to dictation, which is
7:00another more recent form of
7:03of a medium of getting it done. And even
7:05that was like way less of a headache
7:09than actually typing out the process.
7:11So, that's the only caveat here is that
7:14some parts of the process when you're
7:16doing everything yourself can be
7:18extremely tedious and therefore take
7:20away from the creative expression and
7:22joy that you have with it. But all in
7:25all, highly creative part of the process
7:27when you're doing everything yourself.
7:29Let's talk about ease of use. Also, very
7:32very high. In general, this is the
7:34hardest way to write a book is to write
7:36everything yourself. Now, of course,
7:38that was the only option available to us
7:40in the past. But these days we do have
7:42other tools, AI being one of them, uh
7:45dictation being another, that allow us
7:47to really bring this back and still get
7:50the same end result, like the same
7:52vision coming out of our head into the
7:53physical world, with less work. And so,
7:57as I think these tools get better and
7:59better, I do think that writing a book
8:02yourself completely, like with with uh
8:07no additional help and use of tools
8:09whatsoever, is going to be a little bit
8:11like trying to mow your lawn with a pair
8:12of scissors. Uh yes, it's going to be
8:14more work. Maybe you find that
8:16particularly fulfilling, or you can get
8:18into a kind of flow state for it, but no
8:20one's really going to be applauding you
8:22for doing it. They're just going to say,
8:23"Just use the darn lawn mower." All
8:26right? So, very difficult on this scale.
8:29I I guess I should say this is like uh
8:32instead of ease, so it's easiest here on
8:35number one and hardest over here at
8:36number five. All right, quality of the
8:38book. This is one where we're going to
8:39have to give you a range because uh
8:42newbie writers are going to have
8:45a uh much harder time of this.
8:49Um so, this one I would actually say
8:51that ranges all the way across the
8:54spectrum because um a lot of beginner
8:57writers might be absolutely horrible
9:00at uh at writing the books. And yet a a
9:03truly stellar, experienced writer can
9:06get all the way to like peak skill
9:08performance on their books when writing
9:11it themselves. It really is a matter of
9:13how much they have worked with the with
9:15the with their process and how many
9:18times they have written books with a
9:21feedback loop. Cuz let's be clear, just
9:23writing a lot of books
9:25without some kind of feedback loop to
9:27give you improvement is not going to
9:28turn you into a good writer. Also,
9:31if you are trying to spend a lot of time
9:35getting everything right, that is also
9:37not going to turn you into a good
9:39writer. People think that writing a book
9:41like taking the time to write say one
9:43book a year is going to make that book
9:45better and it's actually not true.
9:47Stephen King says I think it's like two
9:48to three months is ideal. Otherwise, you
9:50start to lose control, lose thought,
9:52lose traction with that story.
9:56Um and yeah,
9:58publishers might release a book a year
10:00for that character or for that author,
10:02but many authors like Stephen King had
10:05started out with pen names so they could
10:07actually write multiple books when the
10:10when the publisher would refuse to do
10:11that. Now it's Stephen King, he's
10:13Stephen King, they'll let him do
10:15whatever he wants. But um
10:17generally, you want to be writing a lot
10:19very frequently for like 10 plus years
10:23before you're going to be getting all
10:24the way over here. Okay? So that's that
10:27is writing a book yourself. There's
10:29still a lot of value to it. Um it can be
10:32super creatively fulfilling. However, in
10:34my personal admittedly biased opinion,
10:37it is the least effective way to do
10:39things these days. Uh and if you it's
10:41it's useful to do as a practice like you
10:44know, write a little bit every day, but
10:46as a career move, as someone who's
10:50trying to get stories out of your head
10:51into the physical world, it's the least
10:53effective way to do so. That will depend
10:56on your own tastes. Uh if you really
10:58love that prose writing process, then
11:01this process is going to be excellent
11:03for you. Just don't expect to really be
11:06able to get much traction there with it
11:08very fast. You have to play the long
11:10game and we're talking 10, 20 years if
11:12you want to see success doing this in
11:14today's market. All right. Now let's
11:17actually go to ghostwriter next. I want
11:18to save AI for last uh because
11:20ghostwriter has been interesting for me
11:22uh doing a couple of uh ghostwritten
11:24books with people.
11:26Uh
11:26and again, the the way it works for me
11:29in my process is I actually work with
11:31them. It's almost more of a co-writing
11:33thing, um but when you get very, very
11:35clear on the plot, I provide a
11:38significant amount of details about what
11:40I want the plot to look like and the
11:43characters and the growth that the
11:45characters go through and all of this. I
11:46have a very clear vision in my head
11:48going into this.
11:49And so what I do is I just try to
11:50express that vision as best I can to the
11:52ghost writer, hand them the project, and
11:55then they go and and and do it. Okay?
11:59So, in that kind of a process, the
12:02amount of creativity involved is still
12:05pretty prevalent if that's if that's a a
12:08phrase,
12:09because I'm still working with the ghost
12:11writer pretty significantly. And
12:14interestingly, if I were to if we go by
12:17my definition of creativity, which is
12:18taking something from your head and
12:20bringing it into the world, the end
12:22result is about the same either way,
12:24right? Because the story gets told, it
12:27gets told in the way that I want it.
12:29Assuming you have a semi-decent ghost
12:31writer. And then let me know down in the
12:33comments if you want some insights on
12:35how I find a ghost writer that's
12:37reasonably affordable, that's also
12:39reasonably good.
12:41So, there's still a fair amount of
12:42creativity involved because the end
12:44result still would more or less match
12:46what I did what I would do if I wrote it
12:48myself. So, for creativity, I'm going to
12:51put creativity for ghost writing right
12:53around here around the three mark
12:55because I still find it pretty
12:57creatively fulfilling. Now, I'm the kind
12:59of person who finds most creative
13:02fulfillment in the planning of a series
13:04and the plotting of a book and all of
13:06that. So, of course, I'm going to find
13:08this probably more creatively fulfilling
13:10than
13:12than other people,
13:13but that's just where I'm putting it.
13:15Again, this is all based on my
13:15experience. For ease of use, this one
13:18comes way down here almost to number
13:20one, almost to number one cuz all I have
13:22to do is provide the story and they
13:26pretty much take care of the rest. And
13:28if you have a semi-decent ghostwriter
13:29who knows uh a little bit of what
13:31they're doing and has experience, and
13:33most ghostwriters actually have a lot of
13:34experience, cuz all they do is just
13:36write books for other people. It's very
13:38hands-off. After [snorts] I give them
13:40the stuff, it's very hands-off. They
13:42give it back to me. I can do just a
13:43quick editing pass, but usually
13:45everything is A-OK. Uh you know, once
13:47I've vetted the ghostwriters. The
13:48ghostwriters that I do work with, it's
13:50like very very easy. There's very little
13:53that I have to do. The only reason I'm
13:54not putting this as on number one is
13:56because
13:57uh it could be actually easier if I
13:59didn't give them any creative input. If
14:01I just said, "You come up with the
14:03concept. You write the book." I know
14:04people, publishers that do that.
14:07That kind of what they do is they
14:09identify a genre, and then they kind of
14:11figure out what the tropes of that genre
14:12are, and the general genre expectations,
14:15and then just hand that to a ghostwriter
14:17and say,
14:18"Here you go. Uh write me some books
14:20that do this." And then they publish it,
14:22and they act like a publisher. That
14:23would be a little bit easier, maybe even
14:25like off the scale this way. But because
14:28I do like to work with a ghostwriter and
14:29give them specific instructions, and
14:31even like go back and forth with them a
14:33little bit before they even start
14:34writing it, that's why I'm putting that.
14:36Quality. Once again, this is going to
14:39depend on your ghostwriter, but I'm
14:41going to say the range is more like uh
14:44like if you've vetted your ghostwriter
14:46well, and you've been putting in some
14:48input in terms of plot and everything,
14:50you're you can expect a higher return
14:54for this. So, the range on this one I'd
14:56say is right about here. Um
14:58and you can easily get into some really
14:59high-quality books working with a
15:01ghostwriter. Um you're not going to
15:03probably you're probably not going to
15:04get the Stephen King levels, so maybe I
15:06can like take off a little bit of the
15:08tail end here, but it it's highly likely
15:11that you'll be able to get a decent
15:12result as long as you've vetted your
15:14ghostwriters properly. All right, so
15:16that's ghostwriting. And uh for Now,
15:18let's go to AI
15:20and talk a little bit about what AI
15:22looks like. Okay? So, AI is an
15:24interesting thing. The reason I saved it
15:26for last is because it is I see it as
15:29being almost in between writing it
15:31yourself and a ghostwriter in quite a
15:32number of ways, actually. It's very much
15:35a similar or a a kind of hybrid of the
15:38two, very much so. So, creative
15:40expression. I know people who are
15:42anti-AI are going to not like this, but
15:46I actually put that somewhere over here.
15:48Um people think People who are
15:50misinformed think that AI involves no
15:52creativity. In my experience, it
15:54involves far more creativity than using
15:57a ghostwriter. And I'm still using quite
15:59a bit of creativity when working with a
16:01ghostwriter, at least in the way that I
16:02use it, because I'm very involved in
16:04that process. With AI, it's like having
16:07a ghostwriter, but the ghostwriter needs
16:09to be micromanaged every step of the
16:11way, and you have to be much more
16:14involved, much more involved. Now, is it
16:16the same amount of involvement and work
16:20as writing a book yourself? Of course
16:22not, right? But as far as creative
16:24expression goes, if you're doing this
16:26correctly and you're not just saying,
16:27you know, just write me a book, if
16:29you're actually trying to create that
16:30thing in your head into the the real
16:32world, by far, by far more of a creative
16:36process than using a ghostwriter. And I
16:38would even go close to getting like
16:40closer to here. Uh the only reason that
16:43I don't is because you're not actually
16:45writing the prose yourself. There is
16:47actually a hybrid option that I will
16:50talk about in another video, um where
16:53you can kind of use both, um where you
16:56have AI write you a draft and then you
16:58write a completely new draft just kind
17:00of glancing at the old at the AI version
17:03from time to time to gain inspiration.
17:05That's even more like that's like over
17:06here somewhere. But generally speaking,
17:09I'd put it somewhere between ghostwriter
17:12and writing it yourself and leaning more
17:14towards writing it yourself, because the
17:16actual process when you actually get in
17:17the weeds and are doing the work with
17:19AI, it's still work. It's just not as
17:24mind-numbing as as doing all that
17:27typing. Uh and again, I know I'm going
17:28to get pushed back for that because uh
17:31how dare I suggest that that's
17:32mind-numbing work when that's like the
17:34epitome of creative expression for
17:36people. And that's fine. That you know,
17:38that do you do you, right? I'm going to
17:41do me. And this is how I see it. All
17:43right? Ease of use also somewhere in the
17:46middle. Uh I would say uh so if
17:49Ghostwriter is super easy and writing it
17:52yourself is at the hard end of the
17:53scale, I'd probably put it right in the
17:55middle, like at a three or just, you
17:57know, maybe a little closer to the hard
17:59side. Uh it is certainly it certainly
18:01still requires quite a bit of work. Uh
18:03but it is also certainly not nearly the
18:05same amount of work as writing it all
18:07yourself. The best benefit that I get
18:10from it, uh cuz sometimes it can
18:11actually take you a similar amount of
18:12time, but the best benefit I get is just
18:15not having the blank page syndrome,
18:16right? Not having to just start from
18:18nothing and figure it out, right? That's
18:22difficult to do. And thankfully, we
18:24don't have to do it uh with AI. We can
18:26at least get a nudge in the right
18:28direction that kind of uh like it primes
18:31the pump, let's say, the creative pump.
18:34So and once again, all three of these
18:36things can get the idea from your head
18:39into the physical world. It just matters
18:42to what degree do you want to hand off
18:45some of that work to a person or an AI
18:47to get it done. All right. And now let's
18:49talk about the quality. So um I'd say it
18:52starts right about here. Um so people
18:55can get really poorly written books when
18:57they're writing it themselves. If
18:58they're inexperienced or they they
19:01haven't been getting good feedback loops
19:03and everything,
19:05AI is a far better writer than that. Uh
19:08so it's going to be doing much better.
19:09In fact, I think this is too low.
19:11Uh I think it's maybe just a little bit
19:14Actually, I'd say it's probably about
19:16the same as a ghost writer at the low
19:17end, right?
19:19Because a ghost writer can be a really
19:21poor writer, too. And if you're only
19:23working with them because they're the
19:24only thing that you can afford, you the
19:26quality might actually be worse than you
19:28want it to be. But with AI, there is a
19:31certain base level of quality if you
19:32know what you're doing. Uh like if
19:34you're if you go through the
19:35step-by-step process that we talk about
19:37in my membership, like it's going to be
19:39a significantly higher quality. Uh there
19:42have been studies recently that people
19:44often
19:45prefer AI writing when they don't know
19:47it's AI writing. And which is insane
19:50[snorts] to me, but
19:53but yeah,
19:54there are certainly quality issues with
19:55AI, but the baseline where people can
19:59start from is significantly higher than
20:03where people would start from
20:05uh
20:06if they were just writing it themselves.
20:08Okay? So, this is where I'd start. As
20:10far as where it can go, um it depends it
20:12depends on kind of the situation, right?
20:14So, we're talking just like someone
20:16who's skilled with AI, who's good at
20:18using AI, it can get them to about maybe
20:22here. So, the range is shorter, but the
20:25floor is higher, right? Uh but the
20:28ceiling is not going to be as high as a
20:29highly skilled writer. Unless that
20:33person is a highly skilled writer and a
20:37highly skilled AI user, which is a rare
20:39combo. Uh but I'm sure in the next 10
20:43plus years, we're going to be seeing a
20:45lot more of those kind of people. People
20:46who understand story, who understand
20:48what good prose looks like, and use AI
20:51to get there. Those people are probably
20:53going to be off this scale. They're
20:55going to be way off in this direction to
20:58the point where
21:00I truly believe that a skilled human
21:02plus AI will be able to do things that a
21:05skilled human alone could never have
21:07done before. We are entering an age
21:09where the technology is going to allow
21:11us to collectively raise all ships.
21:14Everything's going to get better. And
21:17the floor is going to get higher, but
21:18the ceiling is also going to get higher.
21:20Um right now, we're not quite there yet,
21:22I don't think. Uh I think the the
21:25ultimate potential that you have after
21:2710, 20 plus years of practicing writing
21:29is going to be higher if you're writing
21:31it yourself. But once we get to to the
21:33point where people have been using AI
21:34for 10 to 20 years,
21:36we're going to be seeing some things
21:38that people can do with AI with that
21:40amount of experience that a newcomer
21:41coming into AI could never have done. Um
21:44so, I hope that
21:46kind of all makes sense. I know I
21:47rambled a little bit in this video, but
21:49I hope that was all useful for you. Uh
21:51if you want to learn more about how to
21:52use AI practically in a way that is not
21:56disrupting your creativity to make sure
21:57that that book in your head comes into
22:00life in the form that you are in in a
22:03form that you are proud of and that uh
22:05matches or exceeds what you what you
22:08would get if you wrote it yourself, then
22:10please check out the link down below
22:12where uh I can guide you through that
22:13whole process, and I'll see you in the
22:15next video.