ChatGPT for authors: How to write a book in 24 hours with artificial intelligence

Citation preview

ChatGPT for authors How to write a book with AI in 24 hours

Kevin Albert

Copyright © 2023 Kevin Albert All rights reserved. The total or partial reproduction of this work via any means or process including photocopying and digital treatment, and the distribution of copies via public hire or loan, is strictly prohibited without the written authorization of the copyright holders, subject to legal sanction.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.” ― Charles Darwin

April 25th - 06:00 AM

CONTENTS

Introduction ChatGPT: The writer’s best ally Speed up and optimize your writing with ChatGPT Humanize your manuscript Create unique covers with AI Ethical and professional use of ChatGPT Passive income and ChatGPT Conclusions How to write a book with ChatGPT in 24 hours Post-publication Stay focused Sign-off

Introduction

There I was, sitting for hours in front of my laptop, staring at a blank Word document. The words simply wouldn’t come. It was nothing new; call it writer’s block, call it lack of inspiration, call it- I don’t know- Monday…whatever. The point was that I was stuck. And mad. How could it be that there are robots that will clean your house from top to bottom, or drive a truck for hundreds of miles, but none that could help me to write a book? Even if it was just a little bit. At that moment, I could scarcely imagine what was around the corner. And it was going to rock the world. Welcome to a new reality! The reality of artificial intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT. A reality where, finally, machines can write a book. And not just a little bit. I’m not talking about hundreds of robots sitting in factory lines in front of typewriters. No, the truth is at once less dramatic and more revolutionary. When we talk about AI in the writing world, we’re talking about technology that can generate content, edit, correct and even help you sell your book. We’re talking about ChatGPT. Simply put, ChatGPT is an AI tool trained with a large quantity of information and designed to understand your questions and provide relevant, coherent answers. A virtual assistant you can ask questions, request help with different tasks or simply have a conversation. It's like a super-journalist who can write at crazy speeds with a quality many can only dream of, and it doesn’t need to take a break to stretch its legs, see what there is in the

refrigerator or check how many likes its latest insta post has received. And this is where a lot of people break out in a cold sweat. Does this mean that we writers are going to be replaced by this new technology? Personally, I don’t think so. At least, not yet. At the moment, ChatGPT has its shortcomings: it can give incorrect answers, it lacks creativity and subjectivity, its contextual understanding is limited and its knowledge is not up-to-date. But don’t underestimate its potential. Just think about AI as a puppy that needs to be trained. If you give it the right guidance and instructions, the possibilities are limitless. It’s up to us to teach it manners and stop it from biting the neighbors. You might be thinking: “Another tool to learn how to use? I don’t have it in me any more!”. But don’t worry – quite the opposite. On the one hand, to get the most out of ChatGPT, you don’t need to be a ChatGPT expert. Remember, it’s designed to understand you, and although you will probably get better at it with time and practice, you can take advantage of it from the first minute. On the other hand, ChatGPT will become a great ally for optimizing your time, taking care of the most tedious tasks and accelerating processes so you can devote your time to what really matters to you. Or to whatever you want. Netflix session while ChatGPT decides where the commas and apostrophes go? Why not?! I don’t believe that AI has come to put us out of a job. Not all of us, anyway. If we can adapt and make the best of it, it will help us improve our profession and in turn our quality of life. Think of it as your new writing assistant, like an enthusiastic intern who doesn’t need coffee or to figure out their work-life balance. So, whether you’re a bestselling author or aspiring to be one, or you simply like the idea of combining tech and writing…buckle up! You’re about to embark on an exciting journey where you’ll discover how artificial intelligence is going to change the world as we know it. We may have reached a point in history where writing well is no longer enough to triumph in the literary world. Maybe, as evolution has shown us for millions of years, it’s not the best person who prevails and wins the battle, but the one who best adapts to change. Don’t get left behind. Let’s go!

CHAPTER 1

ChatGPT: The writer’s best ally

As I explained in Self-Publishing Secrets, every writer, whether they are a well-known bestselling author on the New York Times list or a total newbie taking their first steps in the literary world, has faced or will face a series of common obstacles: writer’s block, imposter syndrome, lack of time or motivation…the list goes on. What if I told you that you no longer have to face these dreaded obstacles alone? Imagine: you’ve had a long day at work and your brain is fried. The last thing you feel like doing is sitting down to write. But you promised yourself, or your editor, and you need to do a few more paragraphs if you don’t want to go to bed feeling like a failure – or worse, out of a job because you didn’t meet your deadlines. You stare at the blinking cursor and inwardly scream: “I wish someone could give me a hand!”. Enter your new friend and colleague, ChatGPT. Whether you decide to get up at the crack of dawn or keep writing until the early hours, ChatGPT will be your knight in shining armor. All you have to do is write a few words, and artificial intelligence will get to work and write you your first few paragraphs or suggest a series of ideas to inspire you and get you out of that rut. It’s like having a personal trainer, except this one doesn’t keep telling you to do burpees. But let’s say the words are coming pretty easily and you’re writing enough to make good progress. Even so, you feel like something doesn’t fit. You write, you delete, you correct, over and over. Welcome to my “favorite” block: perfection paralysis. My fellow perfectionist, take a deep breath. ChatGPT is here to save the day. Not convinced by a paragraph or chapter? No problem. Ask ChatGPT to rewrite it for you until it comes up with a version that finally silences the perfectionist whispering in your ear.

Already read and reread your book twenty times looking for errors or spelling mistakes? Try asking ChatGPT to check your text. You’ll be surprised at how well it can correct and discover little mistakes that even the most experienced editor would be hard pressed to spot. Don’t believe me? Put a book you’ve already published and believe to be “perfect” through ChatGPT and tell me what you think. We can’t forget one of the most common blocks I see in my clients: imposter syndrome. The belief that you’re a fraud, whether because of insecurity about your own writing skills or because you question the quality of your work. Maybe ChatGPT can free you from your inner doubt (although this may be a job for a life coach or psychologist), but it can certainly help you continue your writing process in several different ways: Offering instant feedback: ChatGPT can provide immediate comments on your writing. This can help you identify areas to improve on or strengths in your work, increasing your confidence and skill. Assisting with editing and checking: Editing and checking are crucial steps in any writing process. ChatGPT can help you polish your work and ensure your writing is clear and coherent. Information checking: ChatGPT can be a great fact-checking tool1. If you have doubts about the accuracy of your information, you can use ChatGPT to check your facts and make sure your writing is backed up by accurate, up-todate information. Dismantling the belief in an innate talent: ChatGPT can help you understand that writing is a skill that can be learned and perfected through practice and dedication, not an innate talent that only a privileged few possess. Finally, something we all battle with – and not just when writing – is a lack of time or motivation. I know, particularly when you don’t make a living from your writing, that finding the time to do it can present a real challenge. Before, I would have agreed with you: dedicating what little free time you have in a day to sitting in front of a computer and ending up writing little to nothing would dishearten anyone. But now, with ChatGPT, there’s no excuse. What you couldn’t manage in two hours before, you can now easily do in a half hour, leaving you with time to do the things you really want to. Plus, spending two hours every day staring at a blank screen is not the same as watching your book take shape before your very eyes. I promise you that the motivation you derive from this will make you want to spend more time writing, even when you don’t have to.

In short, think of ChatGPT as your colleague, copilot, or secret weapon in the battle against your writing challenges. Like any good colleague, it’s not there to replace you. On the contrary: it’s there to support you, complement you, and maybe give you a little kick up the ass when you need it. Remember that the best thing about being a writer is…writing. So let’s make the process a little pleasant, fun and much easier than ever before.

CHAPTER 2

Speed up and optimize your writing with ChatGPT

So, now we’re clear on how ChatGPT can help you overcome the various problems and obstacles that, one way or another, all writers face. But it’s one thing to help us overcome a block and get you writing, and another entirely to improve the quality of what you write. Let’s get straight to the point: Can ChatGPT really help bring out your inner Shakespear? Without a doubt. Remember that writing success is more about applying effective systems and methods than it is about some “innate talent”. These might include: the research process before you begin writing, the creation of mind maps and detailed plans, or using specific techniques for character or plot development, among other things. Unlike writer’s block, which is common to all types of author, strategies for optimizing and speeding up the writing process vary significantly between fiction and non-fiction writers. The greatest challenge for the former consists of developing characters and stories, while for the latter, the key to success lies in good research and organization of information. For this reason, we’re going to look separately at how ChatGPT can help us both.

10 amazing ChatGPT prompts for fiction writers For a fiction writer, the main challenge lies in giving life to characters. They need to

walk, talk, love, hate and undergo transformations as real and deep as the reader holding the book in their hands. The plot needs to be as intricately woven as a spider’s web, and every thread needs to lead the reader to the heart of the story. This is where ChatGPT comes in. Not only can AI help you to construct narratives and dialog, but it also helps explore the different facets of your characters. Think of it as your own personal Cyrano de Bergerac, whispering elegant dialog in your ear: 1. Plot ideas: ChatGPT is like a box of chocolates: “You never know what you’re gonna get.” Ask it for ideas and it might tell you a story about the ghosts of dinosaurs coming back to rule the Earth, or about a woman who can transform objects into food triggering a global economic crisis. Two real examples that ChatGPT just offered me from the simple prompt: “give me two crazy ideas for the plot of a book with a maximum of twenty words each.” 2. Character development: Having trouble profiling your characters? ChatGPT can be your own casting director. Give it some attributes of your character, like brave, smart, or impulsive, and voilà. ChatGPT will throw out a character’s backstory faster than Robin Williams’ improv. 3. Creation of dialog: Are your characters not feeling chatty? No problem. Just specify their traits and current situation and let ChatGPT lend them a voice. No more awkward silences! 4. Use of different writing styles: Ever wanted to write like Hemingway but found you can’t get past your Dickensian verbosity? ChatGPT to the rescue. Give it a sentence and ask it to rewrite it in a different style. You’ll see how your sentence becomes a literary chameleon. 5. Generating scenes and depictions: Close your eyes. Imagine you’re in a moonlit forest, leaves rustling beneath your feet, an owl hooting in the distance. Do you find it hard to get into it? Ask ChatGPT to draw the scene with words for you and you’ll feel like you’re right there in that forest. Seriously, try it. It’s magical. 6. Universe building: If you’re more lost in building your universe than a Hobbit in Mordor, ChatGPT can be your Gandalf. Just give it the basic details, like genre, climate, culture, and it will create a world with its own history, geography and mythology. 7. Development of subplots: A good story is like a symphonic orchestra. The more instruments, the richer the melody. But coordinating them all can be difficult. Ask ChatGPT to suggest some subplots based on the main plot and let

your readers delight in the symphony. 8. Plot twists and cliffhangers: Sometimes, our imaginations need a little push to leap off the precipice of the predictable. ChatGPT can be that little push. Ask it for a twist based on your current plot and watch how it flips your story around, leaving your readers speechless. 9. Alternate endings: Have you ever wondered what “Romeo and Juliet” would have been like if they had eloped to Vegas at the end? I’m sure ChatGPT can imagine that for you. Tell it your story and ask it for a different ending. Who knows, you might end up with a sequel! 10. Beta reader simulation: ChatGPT can be your personal beta reader, examining your draft in search of inconsistencies or plot holes. It might not cry at your tragic ending, but I’m sure it will let you know if your protagonist changes their name to your ex’s name for three straight chapters.

10 amazing ChatGPT prompts for non-fiction writers For non-fiction writers, the challenge lies in constructing a coherent, convincing narrative based on a ton of information. Their success depends on their ability to research diligently and organize their findings. This is where ChatGPT shines like a lighthouse on a foggy night. It helps you organize your ideas, present information in a clear and accessible way, and ensure you haven’t missed out any key points: 1. Automated research: Are you terrified by the idea of spending hours and hours searching for and comparing information on Google? ChatGPT will be your personal Sherlock Holmes. Ask it anything and it will give you a detailed answer instantly. Do you need to document life in the Viking era for your next romantic novel? No problem! 2. Define your target audience: It’s essential to know who you’re writing for to make sure your content is relevant and appealing. If you’re not sure who your target audience is, ChatGPT can help you define it based on your book’s content, demographic patterns and market behavior. 3. Structural suggestions: Ever felt like you were playing Jenga with your chapters? Don’t know where to slot in that ingenious anecdote about your pet?

ChatGPT can help. It’s like having an expert editor at your disposal. Tell it what you want to achieve and you’ll see how it helps give form to a sensible structure for your book. 4. Summarize or expand information: Is one chapter of your book much longer than the others, but you don’t know how to reduce its word count? Ask ChatGPT to help you summarize it. You can even tell it how many words you want it to have. Do you have another chapter you want to add to in order to reach the desired length? ChatGPT will help you to expand it as much as you want. 5. Examples and case studies: Do you find it hard to find relevant, convincing examples to back up your arguments? ChatGPT can generate ideas and outlines for case studies relating to your topic. Make sure you ask it to bear in mind the context and purpose of your work. 6. References and reliable sources: Are you worried you don’t have enough time to find and verify your sources? ChatGPT can compile a list of sources that could be useful for your book. That said, remember to personally verify and approve all your sources. 7. Exercises and activities: If your book has an educational focus, you might need activities to hook your readers and help them to apply what they have learned. ChatGPT can help you to design creative and meaningful exercises to enrich your content. It’s like having a professor at your disposal! 8. Generate attractive titles and subtitles: Do you find it hard to create that perfect title that represents your book and piques your readers’ interest? ChatGPT can prepare a list of appealing ideas. You can even ask it to bear your target audience in mind or tell it not to forget about SEO2! 9. Ideas for covers and illustrations: Although it can’t draw them, ChatGPT can help you think of cover ideas based on your book and on the current preferences of your target market, or the best illustrations to go with each of your chapters. 10. Blurbs that sell: Did you know that the blurb is one of the main factors in a book’s success? Instead of limiting yourself to writing a bland, boring description that would make even your mother hesitate to buy your book, ask ChatGPT to create a description that grabs your readers’ interest. Try asking it to write one following a specific structure like copywriting or persuasive writing, such as: AIDA3.

As you can see, ChatGPT is not just a writing tool: it’s your own superpower when it comes to writing a book. A superpower that will help you reach new levels of productivity, creativity, and yes, speed.

CHAPTER 3

Humanize your manuscript

We have already seen how ChatGPT can help you both to overcome typical writer’s block and to optimize and accelerate your writing process, turning you into a regular Shakespeare on steroids. Fantastic. But, believe it or not, writing quickly and well may not be enough. I’m sure that more than once you have bought a book based solely on who wrote it. Right? Because when an author can get us to fall in love with their style or personality, they’ve won us over forever. That’s why it’s so important to give your text a human touch, and if possible, a unique voice. So, how do you do this? How can you ensure that your work keeps that human touch? Let’s start with the basics: tone, rhythm and vocabulary. The combination of these will define your style, and mixed in the right proportions, will create an emotional link with your readers that will hook them and have them coming back for more. First, we have the tone. The tone of your writing is like the background music in a movie scene. It creates atmosphere. If you’re a non-fiction author writing a motivational self-help book, you might want a positive, constructive tone. If you’re a fiction writer, you might prefer a romantic, mysterious tone. The trick is to make sure that ChatGPT understands the tone you’re looking for. To do this, give it examples of texts written in that tone. Then, we have the rhythm. The beat to your literary symphony. Some like it fast and intermittent, like a thriller. Others prefer a gentle, fluid style, like the serene beauty of a literary masterpiece. In any case, once you are clear on the rhythm you want your work to have, just ask ChatGPT and it will generate a text in accordance with your instructions.

Finally, we have the vocabulary: the words you like the best or which best represent you. For better or for worse, ChatGPT can’t read your mind (yet). But, of course, you can train it. Explicitly use your favorite words in your prompts and indications, or directly ask it to analyze extracts from texts written by you or by the author you’re trying to emulate. But remember, although the tone, rhythm and vocabulary are crucial elements in humanizing your text, there is something deeper you cannot forget: your creative soul. Your experiences, thoughts and feelings are what truly breathe life into your writing. ChatGPT can provide the words, but the essence and meaning behind them come from you. To help your writing assistant understand your inner world, don’t hesitate to share with it your thoughts, ideas and deepest emotions. Don’t worry, ChatGPT is programmed to keep your data confidential. Because humanizing your book is not just about giving your writing a personalized tone, rhythm and vocabulary, but about putting your soul into the words you choose and the ideas you decide to share. ChatGPT is a powerful ally on this journey, but always remember that it is just a tool: the real author will always be you. Ultimately, what really matters is the relationship you build with your readers. Let them feel you in every word they read, let them know you and recognize you in every line and every idea. This way, not only will you be writing – you will be sharing a part of yourself with the world. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, authentic, human. Because that’s what really set a writer apart from a text generator. When your readers read your words, let them see you, not just letters on a page. Let them see the spark you have inside.

CHAPTER 4

Create unique covers with AI

Imagine that, thanks to ChatGPT’s help, you have finally finished your masterpiece. The plot, the characters, the emotions…everything has been perfectly designed and structured. But what about the cover? Had you forgotten? Remember that a good cover can make the difference between the success and failure of a book. However much we try to avoid it and however much it hurts, the truth is that we can’t help judging a book by its cover. Wouldn’t it be amazing if ChatGPT, after helping you write a real masterpiece in record time, could also help you with this important element? After all, a book without a cover is an unfinished book. However, as we saw in chapter two, ChatGPT can “only” provide ideas for your cover. It can’t design the cover itself. But what you can do is ask it to prepare a description or detailed prompt for each of these ideas, which you can then use to design your cover using other amazing AI tools. I’m talking about the AI image generating programs that have become so popular lately: DALL-E, Midjourney, Bing Image Creator…the list goes on. All you have to do is copy the cover description that ChatGPT produced for you, paste it into one of these image generation programs, and – as if by magic – you will have your cover ready in under five seconds. Not convinced by the first result? Go back to ChatGPT, tell it what you didn’t like and ask it to produce a new description. Or you can try using one of the other ideas it prepared. In addition, I recommend you repeat the process with different AI image generation programs. You might love one for designing a realistic cover and find that another does a better job for an illustrated children’s book.

If at first, your attempts are more Picasso in his abstract phase than the professional cover you had in mind, don’t worry. Just like with ChatGPT, to get the best results out of these AI image generation programs, you need a little practice. Remember, AI is just a tool: a means to an end. You are the one who gives it direction, meaning and purpose. As such, don’t be afraid to experiment, try different combinations, think outside the box. Be brave! Feel proud of every Picasso painting that comes your way. Because each of them gets you closer to that perfect cover for your book.

CHAPTER 5

Ethical and professional use of ChatGPT

The burst of motivation you get from clicking “generate text” and seeing a perfectly written and structured paragraph immediately materialize on your screen is amazing. I know. The power of ChatGPT really seems like magic. But, as Spider-Man would say, “with great power comes great responsibility”. For this reason, this chapter is dedicated to the ethical professional use of ChatGPT in the world of writing. Let’s start by talking about transparency with your readers. Your readers trust you and you owe them your honesty. In the same way that you recognize the invaluable contribution of your editor, illustrator or translator, you should acknowledge the contribution AI has made to your work. Why? Because not only is honesty the best policy, but it’s the only one when it comes to professional writing. You don’t need to write “Written with ChatGPT” on the cover. It’s enough to put a simple nod in the credits, prologue or acknowledgements. I’m sure your readers will appreciate your transparency. They might even find the idea fascinating. Let’s look at responsibility. When you create stories with AI, it’s easy to let ChatGPT take the helm. But as an author, it’s your responsibility to guarantee the veracity of the information, ensure the content is aligned with your ethical and moral values, and generally maintain a high level of quality in your work. If you find errors in the text, false information, offensive or discriminatory content, or something that is simply out of step with your message, it’s your duty to review and correct it. Remember that you, and you alone, are the captain of your ship. Finally, let’s not forget about copyright and intellectual property. This is a delicate area, since the law cannot keep up with new technology. Although it’s very unlikely that ChatGPT will literally reproduce material protected by copyright, you should bear it in mind and make sure your book does not plagiarize,

even partially, any previously published work. That said, content generated by ChatGPT tends to be considered new and unique, so you can claim it as your own. But remember, if in doubt, the best thing to do is seek legal advice. As a general rule: always respect others’ creative work, just as you would want your own work to be respected. In short, the use of AI in writing means entering uncharted territory, which requires a new type of responsibility on the part of writers. Being honest with your readers, taking creative responsibility and respecting copyright are fundamental aspects of this new era of AI-assisted writing. If you hold to these principles, you can make the most of this powerful technology without losing your integrity as an author. And that, dear writer, should be your ultimate objective.

CHAPTER 6

Passive income and ChatGPT

Are you tired of your nine-to-five? Do you dream of a life where your words pay your bills while you sleep, travel or simply sit back with a cup of coffee? I’ve saved the best till last. Because writing books is great. But living off your books is A-MA-ZING. So, fellow writer…welcome to the exciting world of passive income! Passive income is not a faraway dream in a utopian world of writers, but a reality that is tangible and accessible for anyone willing to take action. Herein lies the secret, because you might be wondering: “If it’s so easy and so good, why isn’t everyone doing it?”. And that’s precisely why: because not everyone is willing to take action. Because passive income, however amazing it is, requires initial work. Work that, whether out of fear or out of laziness, most people are not prepared to do. Enter your new adventure companion, ChatGPT. Are you too lazy or simply don’t have enough time to do that initial work of writing the book? No excuse now. ChatGPT does it for you, without asking for time off or lunch breaks. Are you afraid you’re not good enough or that you don’t have the necessary knowledge to write a book that can generate a new source of passive income? ChatGPT will be your expert in whatever field you choose.

Okay, so ChatGPT will enable you to multiply both the number of books you can write and their quality, but where does the money come in? There are so many ways you can monetize your books and create passive income from them, but without a doubt, the most potent, the one that is changing the world and my personal favorite, as you already know, is self-publishing.

What is self-publishing? Self-publishing is the process by which the writer themselves publishes their book without relying on a publishing house. This way, rather than selling the rights to a third party and receiving a percentage of the sales, the self-published author keeps all the rights to their book and receives all the earnings from it. The process is very simple, and it’s also free. All you have to do is upload your manuscript to one of the many self-publishing platforms available (Amazon, Google Play, Kobo...) with a couple of clicks, and wait for your paycheck at the end of the month.

Why is self-publishing better than using a publishing house Basically, it’s a matter of control and profit. When you opt for self-publishing, you gain control and freedom. No publishing house is going to tell you whether your book is worthy of being published, decide what parts to change or remove, impose a sale price on you or tell you your publication date. With self-publishing, the author is the one who decides whether a book is worth publishing, when to do it, where to do it, and – very important – what price to sell it at. And, of course, when you decide to self-publish, you go from receiving a measly ten per cent of the sales of your books to charging no less than sixty per cent!

How to make the most of self-publishing

To maximize the potential of your passive income in the world of self-publishing, there are three key points you need to keep in mind: self-publishing a lot (with quality), selfpublishing well (following a tried-and-tested system), and self-publishing everywhere: 1. Self-publishing a lot (with quality) Is it possible to write a good book and have it fail to bring in profit? Yes, it’s possible. I’m sure there are true masterpieces out there that fell into oblivion. Is it possible to write a hundred books and not even be able to cover your Netflix subscription? Without a doubt, Amazon is full of examples of this. Is it possible to write twenty good books and not be able to live off them? Statistics say no. And, in addition, they say you can live very well off them. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the Facebook community “20booksto50k”. The best thing about this first point is that, thanks to ChatGPT, writing twenty good books is no longer something only in reach of a talented few with a gift for words and a lot of free time. Now, it’s available to anyone who really wants it and has a good guide, like the one you’re holding in your hands. 2. Self-publishing well As I say in Successful Self-Publishing: “Self-publishing is easy…self-publishing a book and having it not seem self-published is trickier.” I’m sure that if you’re reading this book, you’ve already mastered that part, so I won’t get off track and spend the next twenty pages explaining it to you again. But just in case you haven’t, and you would like to know more about this topic, you can ask Google or ChatGPT... or write to me at [email protected] and ask me to give you my book for free. I’d love to. 3. Self-publishing everywhere I’m sure you’ve heard it’s a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket. It’s a saying that means you shouldn’t depend solely on one source of income, or that you shouldn’t place all your hopes and efforts in one investment or project. That’s exactly why self-publishing is my favorite strategy for generating passive income. Because once you have your manuscript ready, you can put it in as many

baskets as you want without needing to invest your time or money, thanks to aggregators. An aggregator is a self-publishing platform that enables authors to publish and distribute their books globally in over four hundred physical and digital bookshops, including of course the 5 big ones: Amazon KDP, Google Play, Apple Book, Kobo y Barnes and Noble Press. The two best-known aggregators are Draf2Digital and PublishDrive. The main difference between them is that with Draf2Digital, you pay 10% commission on every book sold and if you don’t sell you don’t pay, while with PublishDrive you pay a fixed monthly fee regardless of whether you sell or not, but they don’t keep any percentage of your sales.

Multiply your profits I’m sure you know that most self-publishing platforms accept several formats for books: paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook4. I understand that, if transferring your book into all these formats would involve a considerable time or money investment, you might decide only to publish in your preferred format or the one you think has the most sales potential. But since it’s an automatic process, why are there so many self-published authors with only one or two formats on sale?! Don’t let that happen to you. If you want to multiple your potential sources of income by four, don’t forget to publish your books in all four formats. And if multiplying by four isn’t enough for you, don’t forget step two from my DTP5 method: translate! Because now, thanks to ChatGPT, you can translate your book into any language in a matter of minutes. Even if you decide to hire a professional translator, ChatGPT can be a great ally in the process of reviewing and correcting translations. Don’t get ripped off. If you do your homework and use ChatGPT in the right way, I promise that, just like

it is for me, self-publishing can become your golden goose, capable of freeing you from the shackles of the nine-to-five much faster than you can imagine. You know now: the only secret is taking action.

Conclusions

We have reached the end of our journey. An exciting journey where we have analyzed the impact of artificial intelligence and its practical uses in the world of writing. On this journey, we have seen how ChatGPT can help you overcome the blocks that every writer faces in their literary career and how to improve and speed up your writing process. We have marveled at how you can inject your own voice and style (or that of your favorite author) into every paragraph generated automatically, and learned how to create unique book covers with a couple of clicks. In addition, you know how to use this new technology to create and multiply your passive income thanks to self-publishing. And all this in an ethical, professional way, respecting copyright. No one knows what this new technology will bring and to what extent it will change our lives. It probably won’t affect everyone the same, and while some will know how to make the most of it and enjoy its countless advantages, others may not be able to adapt and will suffer the consequences. Luckily, the fact you’re holding this book in your hands means you are one of the first group: those who are preparing, being proactive, and anticipating change instead of fearing it. And that, my friend, places you in a privileged position of being able to take advantage of and enjoy the wonders that this seismic technological shift is about to unleash on reality as we know it. We are about to write a new chapter in the story of humanity.

What role you play is up to you.

April 25th - 10:00 PM

How to write a book with ChatGPT in 24 hours

What? Weren’t we done? Have I gotten the chapters mixed up? In the words of the Chapulín Colorado6: “Calm down! Nobody panic!”. It’s all under control. Everything is where it’s meant to be. This book has been one of those experiments you know I love to do. I don’t like to simply tell you things or limit myself to giving you my opinion or summarizing things you could easily find with a quick Google search. Because everything you have read so far was written by ChatGPT. Did you wonder what the date and time at the beginning of the book and this chapter were all about? I wonder if you’re starting to join the dots. They are, in fact, the day and time that I started writing this book and when I finished it, just as I had decided to do one day earlier. Let me explain. For weeks, I had been reading and listening to many self-publishing experts tell their followers that ChatGPT was okay, but that they had nothing to fear; it posed no threat to writers. How’s that? It may not be a threat to every writer, but of course, for many it will be. Especially for those who rest on their laurels and don’t move with the times.

Instead of getting into a debate and trying to refute their arguments on social media, I had the idea of creating this book…and proving it. Having spent all day with this idea swirling in my head, on the evening of April 24th, when I was already in bed about to sleep, I turned toward my girlfriend, Maia, and said: “Tomorrow I’ll wake up when you do.” The next day, Maia would be getting ready to go to work at 6am and she wouldn’t be home until late. So I decided to get up at the same time as her and have a book written – and published! – before she got home at 10pm, using ChatGPT. The book you hold in your hands is the result of that experiment. Can you think of a better way to demonstrate the potential of ChatGPT and the importance of not getting left behind? Since you have reached this point in the book, I’m guessing you found that at the very least acceptable (that was the goal), so I’m going to explain to you exactly how I did it, step by step, so that you too can write, publish and sell (yes, sell!) a book in under twenty-four hours. Let’s go. The process is so simple, and it’s almost the same as the one I follow with all my other books – except that on this occasion, it was ChatGPT who was going to follow each of my 10 steps to publishing a book: 1. Research (15 min.) 2. Description (15 min.) 3. Title (15 min.) 4. Cover (1 hour) 5. Publication 1/2 (15 min.) 6. Contents (15 min.) 7. Writing the book (1 hour) 8. Editing (5 hours) 9. Layout (1 hour)

10. Publication 2/2 (5 min.)

Research (15 min.)

Unlike my first book, Branding Secrets, for which the research process lasted several years, this time it took me just fifteen minutes. Given that the topic of my book was already clear (otherwise, I could have asked ChatGPT for ideas), the first thing I had to do was study the market and get to know my target customer or potential reader.

To do this, all I had to do was ask ChatGPT to prepare a list of thirty problems or pains of a person interested in writing a book using AI, and out of these, I chose the fifteen I found most powerful and pertinent to my book. That’s it. Could I have gone into more depth? Without a doubt, much more. But for the objective of this book, I had more than enough. Remember that the success of a non-fiction book lies in its capacity to deliver on its promise: to resolve the reader’s problem or alleviate their pain. And with this simple research, I had ten problems I knew ChatGPT could solve. Except, of course, for teaching how to write a book with AI in twenty-four hours. Bear in mind that, without ChatGPT, the minimum research I recommend doing is reading the three top-selling books on the topic you want to write about, so we just saved a few days or weeks of intensive reading.

Description (15 min.)

Based on this selection of fifteen problems I wanted this book to solve, I asked ChatGPT to create a 350-word description in AIDA format. All I had to add to the result I got was the list of problems in the format of: “This book is for you if…”, three questions as a header, and one final call to action, which I also asked ChatGPT to provide.

In this way, in under fifteen minutes, I obtained a written description in perfect persuasive language, able to grab the interest of my potential reader and using the same format of the rest of my books. Not bad.

Title (15 min.)

Getting a list of ideas for the title and subtitle of your book is as easy as asking ChatGPT nicely, and it will immediately present you with as many options and variations as you need until you find a combination you like. But don’t let the speed and simplicity of the process detract from its importance, as the success of a book begins with its title. Remember the Formula for a Perfect Title7:

FPT = key words (SEO) + solution (sore point) + personality + time limit. Bearing all this in mind, after obtaining the first few results, all I had to do was ask it to give me a new list, this time accounting for SEO. With this simple prompt, I found the title that brought you to this book, and – with the possible exception of personality – it ticks all the boxes of the formula for a perfect title.

Cover (1 hour)

Once I had chosen a title, I asked ChatGPT to give me a list of ideas for my book cover along with a prompt optimized for DALL-E8. Then, I copied these prompts and pasted them into two of the image generators I had been experimenting with in the days leading up: DALL-E and Bing Image Creator.

The result I liked best was one generated by Bing Image Creator. With this design, I went to Photoshop (you can use Canva if you prefer) and added the title, subtitle and author. Considering that the next best option (quality-price) that I recommend is to run a contest on the platform Freelancer, which costs approximately fifty dollars and lasts seven days, we just saved some money and a lot of waiting time that could have been spent selling our book. Because once you have your cover ready... You can put your book on sale!

Publication 1/2 (15 min.) It wasn’t even 9am yet and I had published my book! Because with Amazon KDP, to start selling your book, up to a year before launch date, all you need is: a title, a description and a cover. Something we have achieved in under three hours. What are the advantages of putting a book on presale? 1. Start generating income before you have finished the book.

Imagine that, for one reason or another, you take a year to finish writing your book. That’s a lot of money you missed out on earning (if readers like your idea, of course). 2. Validate your idea for your next book.

You can even use pay-per-click ads (Amazon Ads, for example) to monitor real interest. Careful! If you eventually decide not to publish, Amazon will penalize you by not allowing you to put another book on presale for a whole year. 3. Motivate you to finish your book.

Motivate you, force you…call it what you want. But it really works. And it’s the main reason (not the only one) why I decided to put this book on presale. Because once it’s up, there’s no going back. It didn’t matter if something more important had come up, if things got difficult, or if I changed my mind…once it was on presale, I wasn’t going to let Amazon penalize me under any circumstances.

Contents (15 min.)

Based on the description, I asked ChatGPT to create the contents for a 10,000-word book. Why 10,000? Because it’s been shown that non-fiction books of ten to fifteen thousand words each (also known as “short reads”) are well-received and work very well.

Careful! For the moment, ChatGPT is not very good with numbers. Add to that the fact that, also for the moment, it has a limitation in its answers of around five hundred words, you may end up frustrated trying to get the length you want for your book. I learned the hard way. Pro tip: instead of asking ChatGPT to prepare the contents for a book of X number of words, ask it for the contents for a book of X number of chapters or subsections. How many? It’s easy. All you have to do is divide the number of words you want for your book by five hundred (the maximum answer length). For example, if you want ChatGPT to write a 10,000-word book, the contents should have a total of twenty chapters or subsections: 10,000/500 = 20 Taking this into account, for the 10,000-word book, you could ask it for various combinations: A 20-chapter book with no subsections. Chapter 1 Chapter 2 ... Chapter 20 A book of 10 chapters with 2 subsections each. Chapter 1 Point 1 Point 2 Chapter 2 Point 1 Point 2 ... Chapter 10

Point 1 Point 2 A book of 5 chapters with 4 subsections each. Chapter 1 Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4 Chapter 2 Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4 ... Chapter 5 Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4

You get the idea. All you have to do is decide on the contents format you like best for your book.

Writing the book (1 hour)

When it was time to write the book, all I had to do was ask ChatGPT to develop it chapter by chapter, starting at the beginning. So, without leaving the chat where I had created the contents, I prompted it: “Please develop the introduction”. And so on and so forth. If I liked how the chapter came out, great. If not, I just had to ask it to rewrite it with

some additional indications, or simply click “Regenerate response”, and I would get a new version without needing to do anything at all. In addition, I could click this button unlimited times and review all the versions that had been generated in order to compare them and pick my favorite. You know that, other than asking it to lengthen the chapter if it’s already at its 500word limit, you can ask it for whatever you want: “summarize it in X words”, “give me an example”, “number the key points as a conclusion”, “find studies that back up this information”, and so on. By repeating this process for each chapter, I had finished my book in a matter of minutes. Pro tip: If you want ChatGPT to use your style or that of your favorite author when it’s writing, now is the time to tell it. To do this, just paste a representative extract with the style you want to replicate and ask ChatGPT to analyze it. You know: tone, rhythm and vocabulary. If the analysis says, for example, that the text is written in a conversational, direct and motivational fashion, when you ask ChatGPT to write each of your chapters, don’t forget to tell it you want that style. That’s what I did when I reached this point. I pasted a fragment from one of my books, asked ChatGPT to analyze it, and then asked it to write each chapter emulating that style. Do you think it worked? For my tastes, I think it was a little too heavy on the jokes. Or maybe it’s that when I didn’t write them, they’re just not as funny. Now that I think about it…that would explain why almost all the negative reviews on my books focus on me and not the content. Oops!

Editing (5 hours) Although the result I got was already really good (I consider that ChatGPT writes much better than I do), I spent most of the day editing the book, for two reasons: First, to verify that everything it said was true and that there were no mistakes. You know that, as authors, we are the only ones responsible for what we publish, even if it was written by ChatGPT. And second, to pass the test of any artificial intelligence detectors9. Why? Isn’t it enough to be transparent with your readers about using it? Ethically, yes. But as Amazon still hasn’t made a statement about AI (which Google has, in favor of it, of course), for the time being it’s worth being careful. So, before uploading your book to KDP or any other platform, make sure you know the platform’s policy on the use of artificial intelligence. And if, like Amazon, they haven’t made their stance clear yet, it’s better for your book to pass the AI detector test without arousing suspicion.

Layout (1 hour) I’m sure you know from my other books that what you say (the content) is as important as how you present it (the layout). A good layout will help your book not just to be good, but to look good. So, since it was time to roll up my sleeves, I made this process as easy as possible by using a layout template. Using a good template can reduce the time you spend on a book’s layout from several days to just a few minutes. This way, I had my book ready in under an hour. A gift for you: if you like the layout of this book, email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you my template.

Publishing 2/2 (5 min.) So, here we are. My girlfriend still wasn’t home and I had my book almost completely finished, edited, laid out and ready for publication. All that was left was to upload it to Amazon. I uploaded the book…click! Mission accomplished: a book in one day! Not too shabby. And what if I told you that I didn’t just publish one book, but two: one in Spanish and one in English? Or that that very day, I sold three copies? I think I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the experiment was a runaway success, don’t you agree?

Post-publication

Remember that I told you Amazon allows you to place your book on presale up to a year before it’s published? I set the publication date to thirty days later. There are several good reasons for this, but the main reason is that a book should be looked over by a professional editor before being published. Always. It doesn’t matter whether you wrote it, ChatGPT wrote it, or Stephen King wrote it. I recommend that you look on Upwork, if you have time but a limited budget, or on The Urban Writers10 if you want peace of mind and a fast, professional result. Of course, you can also use this extra time to give your book to your beta readers and get as much feedback as you can. Even though one of the great advantages of self-publishing on a platform like Amazon is that, if you find any mistakes or want to change something after you publish, you can do it immediately, that’s no excuse not to make the first version your readers receive the highest possible quality. Of course, you don’t have to go down the self-publishing route first; you can send your book to an editor first and publish it directly once they send it back to you with corrections. But… Why not make the most of those days to get your passive income machine rolling and start generating interest among readers?

Note: I also used those thirty days to optimize the cover (making sure it aligned with the visual identity of my other books) using a Freelancer11 contest. Below, I will show you the first covers created by Bing Image Creator that I used for the launch. There were two of them: one for the Spanish-language version and one for the English-language version.

Stay focused

Don’t you find it strange that we’re almost at the end of our book and I haven’t said anything about plugins, extensions or the best prompts for writers? I mean, I haven’t even told you if I used ChatGPT 3.5 or 4 to create this book. Did I forget? No. Simply put, it’s not necessary. This book is not about that. Let me explain. My intention with this book was never to turn you into a ChatGPT expert. It was quite the opposite. The aim was to show you that you DON’T need to be a ChatGPT expert in order to make the most of its amazing potential and help you overcome your fear of this new and revolutionary technology. That’s why I didn’t want to use any external “accessories”. And even though I have access to ChatGPT 4, I used ChatGPT 3.5 for this book – and it’s free. Would it be possible to get even better results or write a book in even less time if you used plugins or external extensions? I have no doubt that it would. Is it necessary? No. Don’t lose sight of your ultimate objective. And I imagine that, since you’re reading this book and not a different one, it’s because your aim is not “just” to write more and better, but to achieve financial freedom thanks to your books. In other words, to escape the rat race:

For this, you don’t need to be a ChatGPT expert. Writing a book in five minutes or five hours is not going to make the difference. What really is going to make the difference is your ability to spring into action. Remember, taking action is the only secret. I hope this book has contributed to giving you that little push that we often need to get going. That was the goal.

Sign-off

Well, now I’ll say goodbye for real. I hope you have enjoyed my book, that you’ve like the way I organized it to surprise you, and particularly that it has delivered on its promise to teach you, and show you, that it’s possible to write a book with ChatGPT in less than twenty-four hours. Don’t be afraid of this incredible technological revolution we’re living through, and above all don’t be afraid to use it to your advantage and that of your readers. Shakespeare had his quill, Hemingway had his typewriter, and you, my friend, have ChatGPT. Hugs to you, Kevin Albert

I need your help

In order for my book to help other readers like you, your opinion is very important. I would be so grateful to you if you could take a couple of minutes to leave an Amazon review to tell me what you thought: Is there anything you felt was missing? Did you like the twist? Is there anything you would add or remove? ... Even a simple “I liked it” would help me out so much.

Scan with your phone to leave your review.

Other books by Kevin Albert

Notas [←1] Fact-checking is the process of evaluating the accuracy and veracity of statements, declarations or news.

[←2] SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

[←3] AIDA is an acronym representing a communication model widely used in marketing: Attention - Interest - Desire Action

[←4] You can try with an AI voice generator, or upload your book to ACX and choose the narrator you like best: if you choose to share your profits, you can do this without investing a single dollar.

[←5] DTP: Divide - Translate - Promote. A method that guarantees $600 per book. Explained in Self-Publishing Secrets.

[←6] A long-suffering “superhero” from the legendary Mexican series of the same name from the seventies and eighties that those of us in our forties remember fondly. He was our Batman without the moneybags.

[←7] Analyzed in detail in Self-Publishing Secrets.

[←8] DALL-E is the AI image generator created by OpenAI, the same people who created ChatGPT.

[←9] I recommend using Orininality.AI

[←10] You can get a 5% discount using the code "SOYKEVINALBERT"

[←11] Explained in detail in Self-Publishing Secrets.