AI, assistance, how much is too much

[Bob Parker]

I was going to try the hybrid woute to publishing my latest book, having used KDP for my first two.
THe first book i published was 50 ,000 words, with a cover made by myself from a photo, and fully wrote and edited myself. It was a small book, a memoir of stories. and I wrote it with the intention of donating to a charity. it did ok for a first time author.
It sold a few copies, had a few reviews.
THe second took me 2 years.
I am mildly dyslexix, i transpose letters in words, especially at the time that words are flowing. I have toruble with placement of commas. etc.. and my second book, a scifi based book, has bombed. with one review, complaining about the spelling and grammer. which to be honnest is a fair comment.
I can not afford Proffesional editing.
So i researched, and use Gramerly, and run each whole chapter through Prowriter aid. every chapter. after 70, 000 words I started to use AI.
Not to write, to check. to check on pace, and grammer. to pick up those times when i have mis used character names, or ever explained a concept. where i have transposed letters in words.
And i used AI to create a cover. this was my mistake aparently.
THe use of the AI cover has caused rejections, the fact that i use AI as the tool it is , to asist, not create. has been the primery rejection.
so , are you not allowed to use AI at all now?

 

[pmmg]

No one will stop you from using AI. There is no rule.

But some will not like it, like me.

IMO, any AI is AI use. You say, but i only used it for X, but I am dubious.

If one reaches into the abyss, the abyss reaches back.

 

[ThinkerX]

Aging eyes and stiff fingers contribute to many grammar bugs on my part.

With the first books, I foolishly thought that MS Word would catch most of the bugs. It flopped miserably.

I pulled those books and redid them with the free version of Grammarly. It did way better, but still missed a lot of issues.

Finally, I took advantage of a holiday sale and sprang for the paid version of Grammarly. That catches the overwhelming majority of problems.

That said, I do not use the Grammarly AI for anything creative, going so far as to turn off as many of those functions as I can. To me, Grammarly is a grammar/spell checker.

Covers? I have an artist for that who plays creative mix and match with fonts and purchased images.

Reviews? Reviews are tough for newbie indie authors. I have two suggestions, both of which I have made extensive use of:

First, sign up for one of the Goodreads Reading Rounds. Ten Authors. Round-robin format. You read and review four assigned books, while four of them read and review your book. I picked up about two dozen reviews with this.

Second: Authentic, a point-based review pool with a minor monthly fee to participate. You might also look into Bookroar, though it is clunkier. You select books, read and review them, get points, and put your books up for review. Between the two, I think I have around eighty reviews. There is a thread for Authentic on this site.

Marketing:

I tried all kinds of things: ads with Facebook and Amazon, supposedly reputable promoters, and a LOT of email newsletter promo sites. What I finally settled uponafter watching a pile of cash go up in smoke, was the 'Cheap Lunch Strategy.' This comes down to getting at least 5-10 reviews for a book, and then taking out spots with reputable low-dollar promo sites. Usually, I get 5-15 sales each time for $7-15. If they flop - which does happen on occasion - then I am out the cost of a cheap lunch. I have a long thread dedicated to my marketing misadventures on this site.

Current list:

Bookspry via Cravebooks. Sign up with Cravebooks first and put your book's info on the site. For promos, select Bookspry. The other options are mostly not worth it. ($7)

Booksy Tales. I just started using this one. ($15)

EReaderIQ. You need at least five reviews. My last promo with them flopped, but before that, they would move up to fifteen books. ($10)

Reign of Reads. They used to be good for 5-10 sales, but I now have doubts. Issue with their intake form. ($8 or $10, coupon depending.)

MyBookCave. Ten reviews minimum. I get 15-30 sales. ($33 for $0.99 books.)

Additional: Unsolicited offers for book clubs, Amazon experts, and the like are almost always scams.