Issue #24 – April 2023

Discover how Artificial Intelligence can revolutionize your author business and help you reach more readers. Learn about AI-based programs such as dictation software, transcription services, and AI-narrated audiobooks to make your books more accessible to a wider audience. Explore the benefits that AI technology can offer, from increasing writing speed to catering to readers with disabilities or chronic conditions.

If you’ve ever used a voice assistant feature like Siri or Alexa to locate information, welcomed movie or podcast suggestions on a streaming service such as Netflix or Spotify, or accepted a suggested correction in a word-processing program, you’ve successfully interacted with artificial intelligence, or AI. For years, AI has touched nearly every aspect of […]

Note: The information provided here is not legal advice and should not be taken as such. It is meant for general education purposes only.  With the right prompts from a human, AI image generators, such as Midjourney (https://midjourney.com/), DALL-E 2 (https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2), and Stable Diffusion (https://stablediffusionweb.com/), can produce a wonderland of fantastical and beautiful works of […]

Being an indie author is a lot of work. Until we hit the best-seller lists, we’re often forced to wear an entire haberdashery’s worth of hats. We’re constantly researching new ideas, making outlines, finding beta readers or critique partners, and crafting clever synopses, back cover copy, author bios, and so much more. And that’s all […]

Generative AI text and art programs may be receiving the most attention right now, but they aren’t the only ways authors can use AI technology.  Released in 2020, OpenAI’s GPT-3 large language model made possible many of the text AI services that authors use today, such as Jasper.ai and Sudowrite. GPT-3 was also the language […]

Since Open AI’s ChatGPT was released last November, it’s arguably become the most talked about bot since the T-800. But before we face the inevitable future in which we must choose to either embrace our robot overlords or battle sentient toasters, we have an opportunity to teach this real-life HAL 9000 to serve the good […]

Artist Tanya Hales Explains What AI Art Generation Can Offer Authors, Publishers Images generated by Tanya Hales in Midjourney I’ve been an artist and writer since I was old enough to hold a pencil, and I started earning money from my art at age sixteen. The vast majority of my income over the years has […]

Picture by Artsmart A.I My quarry sits across from me, fidgeting nervously, scratching sweaty palms. We’re in a hotel room hastily arranged for the interview. My cell phone is placed between us, set to record, and my notebook and pen are in hand.  I try a smile. “You look nervous.” “I’ve got a lot riding […]

Does it seem to you like everyone, or almost everyone, is freaking out as AI and ChatGPT gain recognition and popularity? Are you someone who thinks that these two could be taking cash money right out of your pocket? I’m not. I encourage you to, in the words of Taylor Swift, calm down. And here’s […]

Dear Indie Annie, If I’m being honest, AI concerns me. I worry about its impact on the publishing industry and that it is taking jobs away from creatives. I also worry about the potential for plagiarism with what it creates. But I don’t want to turn it down outright. Are there ways I can use […]

Since its launch in 2022, Midjourney has been a game-changer for the internet’s supply of adorable cat photos. AI-generated cat illustrations are almost everywhere. Tabbies sip catnip tea, wear designer clothes, and sport rainbow-colored fur. However, few people realize how much artificial intelligence, or AI, programs—Midjourney specifically—have improved in just a few years, or the […]

What You Should Know about AI as a Marketing Tool Alexa. Google. Bixby. Siri. The automated voice that directs you when you call a business. Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, and it’s growing. Can it help indie authors market their work? Absolutely! Are there some caveats? Absolutely. Despite some authors’ hesitations regarding AI use in […]

‘Artificial Intelligence’ Sounds Straight Out of Sci-Fi. But What Can It Really Do? The robots are coming for your keyboards and your wallets. At least, that’s how the news may make it sound. In recent months, technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) programs have left every industry questioning what the future holds. The discussion is […]

Facebook’s advertising platform is, I would argue, the easiest ads platform to learn and the easiest to scale. You can spend a small amount of money and start selling books on the same day.  If you get it right.  Alternatively, you can hand your money over to Facebook in exchange for nothing. We want to […]

As a self-proclaimed geek-in-heels, technology has been a mainstay in my life and career for over three decades. Since my first job out of travel agent training school in 1987, I was the office nerd, the one who could fix the printer or reboot the network. The agents I worked with were “old school,” knowledgeable […]

Guest Author Ash Roberts Explains Where the Law Stands—for Now People tend to view copyright of AI-generated material as a settled issue, but that isn’t quite true. When it comes to AI, the legal case—or, more accurately, cases—for copyright is still a highly contested issue. In the US, copyright happens in two phases.The second you […]

I’m not a fan of this topic because it’s a heavy quagmire of technical lingo while also crossing over the legal threshold and getting the lawsuit treatment, which means fitting those square techno-pegs into round legal holes.  We’ll see how the lawsuits pan out, but the takeaway will give the AI producers better guidelines. And […]

At IAM, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to dissect and disseminate technology information for authors. From the beginning, we’ve understood the importance of having the right tools for your business and knowing how to use them. So it felt only right for us to dedicate an issue to breaking down the newest—and […]

Additional Resources for Keeping Up with the Latest AI News Technology is constantly changing, yet rarely do we give a lot of thought to what powers that technology. Not so with artificial intelligence, or AI. With the recent surge in AI programs and their capabilities, people in multiple industries have expressed concerns about its potential […]

Without Ethical Standards, AI Poses Risks to the Creative Industry As co-founder of the Future of Publishing Mastermind, people ask me about artificial intelligence (AI) a lot. Since I’ve been on several panels extolling the dangers of AI in creative industries, people think that I’m a Luddite.  However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. […]

How These Tools Became My Secret Weapon Concerning. Frustrating. Scary. Terrifying. Horrifying. These are all words I’ve seen used to describe writing with AI in the last week alone. If anyone knows how to use words to rile up the author world, it’s fellow authors, right? But here are some other words I’ve used to […]

… And You Probably Didn’t Realize It. Technology is constantly changing, yet rarely do we give a lot of thought to what powers that technology. Not so with artificial intelligence, or AI. With the recent surge in AI programs and their capabilities, people in multiple industries have expressed concerns about its potential impact on the […]

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