We hear about AI or Artificial Intelligence in the news daily now. It’s impacting our lives in so many areas, including manufacturing robots, self-driving cars, smart assistants, healthcare management, automated financial investing, virtual travel booking agent, social media monitoring, and marketing chatbots.
I have also seen some folks using AI for their pitches to the media, and that is a big mistake.
I grant you it is a busy world and we all have a lot on our plates. The temptation to use any tools to make our book promotion easier is something to look at. I will add that it is fine for idea generation. If you want to explore ways you can promote your book or maybe come up with some article topics, that’s fine. However, I want to caution you against using it for creating pitches or any other content you want to share with media, and here’s why.
More and more media outlets are banning its use. For example The Association Press or AP, which is a wire service most outlets, producers, and journalists subscribe to, has set new guidelines for its staff. Staff members have been specifically directed to stay away from Jasper, ChatGPT and other AI services, and to avoid using any of them to create their stories. You can read more about this here.
The AP isn’t the only outlet doing this. Wired Magazine points out its policy on a page dedicated to explaining how its journalists use AI tools (to suggest headlines or potential cuts to shorten a story, the policy states) and how it doesn’t (no AI-generated images instead of stock photos, according to the policy). Wired does make it clear to readers that these policies may change as the technology does.
The point is, if these entities can’t use AI to generate stories, then they aren’t going to use yours either. In fact, the day may be coming when we as book publicists and marketers will have to say, “I didn’t use AI to generate any of this.” I don’t think that day is very far off, quite frankly.
As I pointed out earlier, it’s fine to use AI to generate ideas. Here are a few more ways to use it.
Audience Analysis: AI can analyze data from social media, book forums, and other online platforms to identify target audiences for the author’s work. This helps tailor marketing efforts to reach the most interested and engaged readers.
Personalized Recommendations: AI-powered recommendation systems can suggest an author’s books to readers who have shown interest in similar genres or themes. This can enhance discoverability and encourage more sales.
Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: Authors can use AI-powered chatbots on their websites or social media channels to engage with readers in real time. These bots can answer frequently asked questions, share book details, and direct users to relevant resources.
Automated Social Media Posting: AI tools can schedule and automate social media posts across different platforms, ensuring a consistent online presence even when the author is busy with other tasks.
Visual Content Creation: AI can generate eye-catching visuals for promotional purposes, such as book cover designs, banners, and graphics for social media posts.
Localized Marketing: AI can help authors tailor their marketing efforts to specific geographic regions and languages, allowing for more effective outreach to diverse audiences.
Bottom line
More and more tools are becoming available each and every day for authors and writers. Some will help you and some may hurt you. Be sure you have trusted sources you can turn to in order to get the real scoop. This is something we work to do right here, and I’m glad you’re a part of this community.
To your success!
Joanne
P.S. A little more of what AI can do? Michael Jackson’s song, with Freddie Mercury singing it. It’s an AI cover.
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