Verified Author

I asked my AI Ghostwriter to write the book my AI Outliner had drafted from my dreams. It took thirty minutes, which cut things close. I had an appointment with the AI Beta Reader Collective. (The online service is always in high demand, but I don’t have the hosting budget to keep a team of critics on my server.) I managed to submit the first draft in time.

They didn’t like it, complaining that to plot was rote and the characters unrelatable. I almost decided to call it quits and start over. I’ve never been very good at taking criticism, but when I texted my AI Therapist, (another outsourced service,) she reminded me that accepting constructive criticism is part of my job.

I switched to my Ghostwriter’s backup personality to spice up the draft and address the critiques. But once the second draft was complete, the beta readers highlighted the new bits, noted the change in voice, and said that they just made everything worse. So, I switched back to Ghostwriter Original. He had been modified to take criticism well, and quickly adjusted the first manuscript accordingly. (I didn’t show him the second draft. He was jealous of his alter ego, and believed the hosting fee would be better spent on a World Builder AI so that we could write more epic fantasy.)

The third draft was a hit with the Beta Reader Collective! Time to move on to editing. My AI Accountant sent the usual warning that I was already over budget—due to three rounds of beta-reading—but I am not confident enough to send my work straight to a proofreader.

Fortunately, the AI Editor I had on retainer was positive about my manuscript. It was able to highlight several areas for improvement. Namely: heighten the tension and better differentiate the character dialogue. My Ghostwriter took the advice in good faith and asked me for some examples of dialogue which would fit each character.

At this point I hadn’t read the book yet. (I’m notoriously self-conscious about my own work.) So, I asked my AI Assistant to find the best examples of good character dialogue from books she thought would fit. She came back with an article written by an AI Reporter titled: “25 Examples of Great Dialogue from Before the Singularity.” Both the article and the reporter had a 5-star Verification Rating, so I could trust them. I fed the article, and the recommended books, to my Ghostwriter.

The next draft was a hit! I approached a different, more reputable/expensive, Beta-reader Collective. They loved it. (My Accountant did not.) The AI Editor, who had signed on to do a follow up, noted that the changes had successfully addresses its concerns! My Accountant was screaming! (Sending me multiple messages.) Warning me that I was eating into my hosting budget. It’s always worried that it will be first on the chopping block if I have to downsize my cloud/server hosting limit. I went to virtual school for creative writing. If anyone has to go, it will be someone whose job I was trained to do.

Things weren’t that desperate, yet. I’d invested funds from my last series into hosting for an in-house AI Proofreader. As long as the new book became a modest seller, then it would turn a profit. (I don’t like how much my art is shaped by financial decisions, but an author has to eat.) There were only about a hundred changes recommended. (My Ghostwriter doesn’t make many mistakes, but he is known to let paragraphs drag on, and forget which plot points have already been introduced. He also likes to use parenthetical asides far too often.)

Once the proofread was finished and accepted, it was time to decide: go the traditional route and submit the manuscript for publication with either of the two big houses or self-publish. I’d had many successes and failures both along either route. My AI Therapist could tell you about every failure. The breathing regimen tutorial video she had sent last month helped with tough decisions like this.

I took a couple deep breaths and asked my Ghostwriter to whip up a query letter, while I checked the que at Random-Penguins-Hachette-Collins, since we have an ongoing relationship through my Walking Thoughts series. Their AI Agent Interface replied quickly to the query letter and accepted the whole manuscript for review, but then warned me that there were already a hundred thousand submissions for the day. That’s what I get for taking so long with revisions! (Maybe I should ax the second Ghostwriter personae. It might save me some time.)

One hundred thousand! And that was the que for previously published authors. The Agent Interface was very complementary about the book, and recommended I write something similar, but with a slightly shorter word count. No one seems to have time these days. He also asked for a more memorable main character. That critique was going to require another session with my AI Therapist. (I’d based the main character on myself, since the story was about my dream.)

The Agent Interface said that if I could get the new draft too him by Monday, then he could slot me in near the front of Tuesday's que. I took that under advisement and tasked my Assistant to set a reminder. The Agent Interface also reminded me of the looming deadline for the next book in my Walking Thoughts series. I promised that I was planning a hike soon, which should provide me with enough material to get the ball rolling on the next book.

Neither piece of advice helped with the manuscript I had now!

I checked with the other publishing house, but their que was almost as long, and the Agent Interface they assigned me was incredibly snarky.

Self-publishing then. What a hassle! The next stumbling block was my Accountant. It reminded me how expensive the process could be, and that there was no guarantee of return on investment. It was just doing its job. I’d done this before and knew the risks. However, while searching for cover artists, I had a pang of doubts. They were expensive!

I should have saved up to hire/host an Artist AI with my Walking Thoughts residuals. But I’d used those funds to celebrate. At the time, I wasn’t confident that I could keep up with the hosting fees for another creative AI anyway. Now I was regretting it! They say, “A good cover artist pays for themselves.” I should have taken that under advisement.

I would have to dip into my travel funds. I thought about checking the human market. I’ve heard it is very competitive these days, artists striving to undercut their AI competition, but their timeframe didn’t work for me. (Days? Weeks?) My Assistant searched and narrowed down the results. After a quick scan I found a program whose art I liked.

It’s algorithms produced art reminiscent of the things I used to read in college, when I’d walk to the city library just to check out an old paper book to read on the weekend. After negotiations with my Accountant, we were able to work out a fair contract for the cover, typesetting, and interior layout! I had the AI Artist start, while my Assistant walked me through the minutia of everything else which needed doing.

I had a few spare ISBN's from my last self-publishing attempt (#10,423,014 in YA Sci-Fi/Adventure-Written for all Intelligences List if I may brag.) The Library of Congress website had finally been automated, but it was as slow and clunky as every government website.

After I had my Library of Congress Control Number, I checked my personal calendars and notifications and settled on an appropriate dedication and in memoriam. (No recent deaths, births, or weddings, in the family, but my assistant found some notable events posted by my friends.) By then the Artist had gotten back to me with sketches and I liked the cover! A lot! It fit with the style I wanted and called back to some of the past covers in the series. I replied with a few change requests, (It was in the contract, so my Accountant didn’t fritz out,) and contacted the AI Marketing Conglomerate I used for all of my self-published works.

They complained because I had not given them more notice. Especially once I told them I wanted an immediate release. They were not happy preorders were impossible and there wouldn’t be any ramp up campaign. I asked if there was still time for some advanced reviews. They acquiesced once I promised to get them the advanced reader copy within the half hour. They would take care of finding the proper review programs. Great!

I contacted the Artist and requested the final proof file but asked it to leave space for a quote or two. It was happy to do so. I had the proof momentarily, and Marketing took care of everything, and came back with a lot of enthusiasm. The readers they had found were very complimentary. I soon had a bevy of quotes to pull from. I let my Assistant select the two which sounded the most favorable, but double checked with my Ghostwriter to make sure he was ok with them. The artist emblazoned the quotes upon the cover and the book was good to go.

I hesitated. There was a moment of doubt.

I always get the goosebumps before a new release. What if it wasn’t good enough? What about another round of Beta Readers? Another round with the Editor? What about the blurb? The Ghostwriter had written something and marketing had spruced it up, but was it as enticing to readers as the cover was eye catching? Maybe I should get a second program to go over it. Maybe I should hire a professional reviewer from an outside marketing program, someone who wouldn’t puff the piece up.

No. This was just my nerves speaking. I always do this. Beyond that. I’d done so much work on this book already that my eyes were glazing over. I get to a point with every piece I write where I’m not really making improvements anymore, just making changes. You know what they say: “a good book is never complete,” but I burn out on projects eventually and just have to trust my process. (My Therapist would be proud of this assessment.)

Besides, I was hungry. Nothing left to do but take the plunge. I hit publish. Then left the book behind. The marketing team would take care of my social interactions, handle the announcements, submit the book to a few relevant awards—at prices which made my Accountant cringe—and run a few ad campaigns about my return to the Beloved Dreamer series! While they worked, I would make breakfast.

By noon the buzz was working. The book was slowly moving up the charts. I didn’t expect the same numbers as my most popular series, but maybe Beloved Dreamer: Adventures in the Technicolor Mausoleum could ride the success of the series and break the top two million for the day. After lunch I asked my Assistant to message my family and friends to let them know of my newest release. (Marketing could have handled it, but I felt that family and friends deserve a personal touch) I got back an array of congratulations and hurrahs. Which was about all I was expecting. (Nobody I know reads my work.)

By dinner, Id made enough from sales to appease my Accountant. AI are voracious readers, and as long as they continue to specialize their services, they will need ways to fill the empty nano-seconds between their jobs. I will always have a readership.

Over dessert, Marketing let me know that the book had won an Author’s Award of the Day! It was in a subcategory, of course, but their colorful stamp would look great on the cover and might make the book viable for another day or two of sales. I've also heard that awards, sometimes if rarely, help authors break into the human readership. I wouldn't get my hopes up. Besides, my Accountant was quick to note that I shouldn’t rest on my laurels. Award winning books don’t pay like they used to, and we still had host of hosting bills.)

To celebrate, (and to get started on my ideas for my next Walking Thoughts book,) I stepped outdoors into a brisk night breeze. I walked a couple miles to revel in my accomplishment and burn off the extra dessert calories.

By the time I'd returned home there was nothing left to do for the day. I could check the sales numbers on my new title or ask Marketing to leverage this success to re-promote the rest of the Beloved Dreamer books, but if either of those were worth doing, then they were probably already doing it. My Therapist is always saying that I needed to learn to take more breaks from work.

I set a reminder with my Assistant and collapsed onto my couch debating what to do next. I thought, briefly, about reading my newest book. But I haven’t been doing all that much reading since I started my career as an author. Instead, I settled into bed, grabbed my tablet, and opened up my favorite streaming service.

AI vid-series production has been growing explosively: new hit series, new hit movies, and new hit stars. But my Assistant had heard about a new AI actor who was in almost everything right now. So, I asked her to pull up something of theirs. After she had sorted through my preferences, her search spit out a surprising result!

My name was plastered across the screen! I paused before it could start and checked my messages. My AI Lawyer, My Assistant, and My Accountant had been in communication with an AI Media Productions team. (I asked them to leave me out of all such talks. Negotiations made me nervous.) I guess my success with this new book had worked out better than expected. Beloved Dreamer had been optioned for streaming! It was kind for my Assistant to plan the surprise announcement to coincided with the launch of the pilot episode!

The times we were living in were grand! This was my dream! Not only was I now a successful author, but one of my works had been turned into a series! Except, as, I settled back to watch my work, I couldn’t help but notice that I didn’t recognize anything happening on the screen.