From conception to publication in just a few hours
Amazon is by far the largest seller of both physical and e-books, accounting for more than half of sales in the United States and, by some estimates, more than 80% of the e-book market. Its Kindle Direct Publishing service has spawned a cottage industry of self-published novelists, carving out niches for enthusiasts of erotic content and self-help books.
Amazon founded Kindle Direct Publishing in 2007 to allow anyone to sell and market a book from their couch without the hassle or expense of finding literary agents or publishing houses. Normally, Amazon allows authors to publish quickly through the entity without any oversight, divulging what is generated.
This has attracted new AI-assisted authors like Kamil Banks, whose primary job is to sell fragrances online, who bet his wife that he could create a book from conception to publication in less than a day. Using ChatGPT, an AI image maker and prompts such as “Write a bedtime story about pink dolphins that teaches children to be honest,” the bank published a 27-page illustrated book in December. It took Bank about four hours to create “Bedtime Stories: Short and Sweet, for a Good Night’s Sleep,” available on Amazon, he said.
Consumer interest has so far been piqued: the bank said a total of a dozen copies have been sold. But readers rated it as worthy of five stars, praising its “wonderful and memorable characters”.
Banks has since published two more AI-generated books, including an adult coloring book, with more in the works. “It’s really really simple,” he said. “I was amazed at how quickly it moved from concept to publication.”
Not everyone is blown away by the software. Mark Dawson, who has reportedly sold millions of copies of books he’s written through Kindle Direct Publishing, was quick to call ChatGPT-assisted novels “dull” in an email to Reuters.
“Qualification plays a part in recommending books to other readers. If a book gets a bad review because the writing is dull, it’s going to sink to the bottom quickly.”