Should I Use AI to Write My Book?

As an editor, I hear some version of this question over and over: “Can’t I just use AI to write my book?”

In short, yes. You can absolutely use AI to write your book.

And it will be a bad book.

Here’s why.

AI (artificial intelligence) serves as a fantastic tool for mining data and completing repetitive tasks. It’s not great for creativity.

Okay, now for the long answer…

I work as editor in chief at Streamline, overseeing new manuscript submissions. That means I’ve seen a lot of books come in from a lot of authors over the past few years. We’re talking hundreds.

Coincidentally, ChatGPT was released the same year I started with Streamline. Interesting.

As a career writer, I had worked for a decade helping authors hone their writing, and I had seen both good and bad writing. But now something different appeared—perfect writing that said nothing.

Imagine if AI were a person. Let’s call him Billy the Bad Writer. Billy stands on a corner at the edge of a dark alleyway and whispers, “Hey, I’ll write your book for free.”

An aspiring author walks past. He pauses and turns. “For free?” the author asks, incredulous.

“Yep,” Billy replies, leaning against the brick wall and nodding slowly. “Totally free, and better than you could ever write it. And you’ll hardly have to lift a finger.”

“Great!” the author replies, and away they go into the dark alley. A few minutes later, the author returns with a full, finished manuscript in hand.

But it’s bad writing.

Minutes later, another author walks by, and the same scene goes down. Over and over, day after day.

Would you hire Billy? He’s free! (Or low-price, depending on the software.) He’ll write your book for you. He’ll edit your book for you. But he will consistently take whatever you give him and turn it into bad writing. Guaranteed.

That is AI. You can absolutely use AI to write your book. You can use it to edit your book. And it will ruin your work, guaranteed.

I’ve seen it over and over.

You Are More Creative than a Robot

Now, don’t get me wrong. AI comes in handy. AI excels at completing simple and repetitive tasks. I use AI to transcribe my recordings of interviews. The AI transcriptions don’t come out perfect, but they’re good enough, and much more affordable than hiring a transcriber. I use AI grammar software to double-check my writing. (It’s about 70% accurate, and those 70% of correct flags are oh so helpful!)

Here’s the catch, though: AI can never replace your experience or your unique voice. Using AI for writing takes away the life of writing, the essence, the humanness.

Compare these two examples. First, here is ChatGPT responding to a prompt about growing up in a big family with a small income:

Growing up in a big family on a small income taught me the value of resourcefulness and togetherness. With so many siblings, there was always a sense of shared responsibility—whether it was helping with chores, looking out for one another, or making do with what we had. We learned to appreciate the little things, like a home-cooked meal or finding creative ways to have fun without spending money.

This paragraph could be about anyone. The writing is perfect, but I’ve fallen asleep by the second sentence.

Now, here’s a real person’s story:

We shopped at thrift stores and garage sales, and gratefully accepted hand-me-downs from friends and relatives. However, once a year came the rare treat: a back-to-school outfit. At age seven, I followed my family through the double-glass doors of K-Mart, and for the first time I fingered the glorious supply of T-shirts, jeans, and skirts. After much deliberation, I finally selected a hot-pink shirt with buttons down the front, and a light-pink skort to match, complete with tiny strawberries printed on the thick canvas. I wore that outfit every chance I could. Surely it crested the height of fashion if it was brand-new from K-Mart.

It's not perfect, but it’s real. It’s a real story from a real person. You can see it and feel it.

I tell people all the time, I would rather receive a poorly written human manuscript than a “flawless” AI manuscript. Why? Because the human one will have substance. It will contain real thoughts from a real person. It will have a message behind it. Even if the writing is rough, I can easily whittle away the rough edges to reveal the essence.

The AI manuscript, however, will have technically flawless sentences but no substance. Editing AI writing feels like trying to build furniture out of cotton balls. There’s no meaning to it. The words are strung together, but they don’t say anything real.

I promise you, your writing is intrinsically better than AI writing. Your writing has real thoughts behind it, coming from a real mind.

That’s something AI can never match.