Bill Conrad's Blog - Posts Tagged "publishin"
Duplicated Books Are Now for Sale
I recently read this article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...
In it, an author warns everybody about a disturbing new trend. Unscrupulous individuals are downloading copyrighted works, feeding them to an AI chat box, and publishing the results as their own. This new trend is only going to worsen, and readers, authors, copyright holders, and publishers are already suffering the consequences.
This is not the first time technology has had a significant impact on the job market or society. A good example is computerized cash registers. Before this invention, cashiers were required to memorize hundreds of prices and know how to operate a daunting mechanical device. Suddenly, anybody could do this job with only minor training, resulting in reduced wages and limited job security.
How does a person use AI to rewrite a book? After obtaining the raw text, the “author” sends it to an AI chat box with a simple prompt like, “Rewrite the following book to be livelier.” “Enhance the following document.” “Alter the following novel to obscure the original writing style.”
Suddenly, BAM! Anybody can be an “author” of an astounding work. Harvy Pots and the Magician’s Rock. Catch 23. The Good Gibspy. The Tiger, The Sorceress, and the Closet. Tim Climpsy’s Search for the Green November. Dang, writing those titles upset me.
So, now what? Obviously, publishers like Amazon are tackling this issue with gusto! Yeah, typing that last sentence made me laugh. Well, at least if an author finds their books have an AI-generated version, Amazon has an easy way for the genuine authors to eliminate them. Wow, I am on a comedy roll.
Companies like Amazon aim to generate revenue. They do not care if a book came from a chat box, a ghostwriter, a computer hacker who broke into an author’s account, a cut-and-paste party, an illegally recorded interview, fake news, a random number generator, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, state news, alternative facts, or the real author. There is no incentive for Amazon to investigate all incoming books. According to this article, Amazon gets 900-1200 new eBook titles daily. Where would the money come from to pay for a detailed screening?
https://www.quora.com/How-many-eBooks...
But authors could sue Amazon! I am on the biggest comedy role of my life. Well, authors could band together in a class-action lawsuit. I was part of a $95 million lawsuit regarding my smartphone and have been promised $20. So… I could spend two years writing a book, spend $$ editing, and get $20? Yay???
Well, there are copyright laws. The problem is that there are no copyright police. It is up to the author to locate the work, file a complaint, and hope some prosecutor has the time to take the case. And if the offending “author” is in a different country or has provided a false address? Then nothing. Thus, the best-case scenario in a major AI copyright case is that the offending “author” receives a fine.
Alas, readers must accept this new reality, but authors may have an ace up their sleeve. Readers are becoming increasingly adept at identifying AI-generated content. The sentences have a distinct flow, and chat boxes habitually use certain words. Most importantly, readers tend to dislike AI-generated works. Why?
There is nothing technically wrong with AI-generated material. It is grammatically sound, usually correct, and focused. The problem is that readers are people, and people want to read what other people have written. They feel cheated when they read something “genuine” only to find AI duped them. Even if a talented author uses AI in brief areas, readers still dislike the result. To me, the experience is like drinking diet soda when I wanted the sugar. “I did not ask for diet!”
Now hold on. Who is buying this AI junk? Lots of readers. I have found many recent books to be either partially or wholly written by AI. Why? Readers enjoy well-written material, and AI certainly delivers in that department.
These generated books feature fantastic cover art created by AI, along with a well-written description also generated by AI. So, let’s say that an unscrupulous author took The Great Gatsby and passed it through a chat box. What would I see if I were unaware of the original book? It would be a great story set in the roaring 20s about a complicated man. And the writing quality? Well, not the best, but certainly good. What about the guts? That is where AI falters.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is a celebrated author, and, more than any other story I have read, the symbolism in The Great Gatsby takes center stage. In short, a lot was going on, and the diligent reader would have grasped the nuances of the characters, scenes, and motives on multiple levels. Would all of that be present in an AI version?
I suspect those complex elements would be washed away. So no, the result would not read nearly as powerful. I think this would be like the comic book version of a classic story.
There is more bad news. AI chat boxes are dramatically improving. Soon, the generated sentences will be challenging for readers to identify, and they might prefer these polished gems. In fact, this is now possible with a prompt like: “Improve the following book and make the result read like a human wrote it.” Will AI be able to improve The Great Gatsby? Will readers prefer AI-updated books over the originals? Will readers soon demand AI-generated content? Reluctantly, I feel the answer will be yes.
Do I fear that somebody will feed my book into a chat box and then publish it under their name? Even though I have been writing about this topic for the last twenty minutes, in the back of my mind, I had not confronted this reality. So, I took a moment to ponder this concept. Yeah, that would suck. My answer is that I do fear it.
What would happen if I discovered that AI had altered versions of my books? After an unsuccessful attempt to get all the works taken down, I would stop writing. Why? What would be the point? Heck, the “author” could generate ten sequels in ten minutes and then publish them in twenty. I cannot compete with AI and do not want to.
Will this AI perversion make authors obsolete? Unless there is a significant backlash by readers, I cannot conceive of a way to avoid the AI title wave of books. This is a daunting prospect for both me, as a reader, and an author.
You’re the best -Bill
June 25, 2025
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...
In it, an author warns everybody about a disturbing new trend. Unscrupulous individuals are downloading copyrighted works, feeding them to an AI chat box, and publishing the results as their own. This new trend is only going to worsen, and readers, authors, copyright holders, and publishers are already suffering the consequences.
This is not the first time technology has had a significant impact on the job market or society. A good example is computerized cash registers. Before this invention, cashiers were required to memorize hundreds of prices and know how to operate a daunting mechanical device. Suddenly, anybody could do this job with only minor training, resulting in reduced wages and limited job security.
How does a person use AI to rewrite a book? After obtaining the raw text, the “author” sends it to an AI chat box with a simple prompt like, “Rewrite the following book to be livelier.” “Enhance the following document.” “Alter the following novel to obscure the original writing style.”
Suddenly, BAM! Anybody can be an “author” of an astounding work. Harvy Pots and the Magician’s Rock. Catch 23. The Good Gibspy. The Tiger, The Sorceress, and the Closet. Tim Climpsy’s Search for the Green November. Dang, writing those titles upset me.
So, now what? Obviously, publishers like Amazon are tackling this issue with gusto! Yeah, typing that last sentence made me laugh. Well, at least if an author finds their books have an AI-generated version, Amazon has an easy way for the genuine authors to eliminate them. Wow, I am on a comedy roll.
Companies like Amazon aim to generate revenue. They do not care if a book came from a chat box, a ghostwriter, a computer hacker who broke into an author’s account, a cut-and-paste party, an illegally recorded interview, fake news, a random number generator, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, state news, alternative facts, or the real author. There is no incentive for Amazon to investigate all incoming books. According to this article, Amazon gets 900-1200 new eBook titles daily. Where would the money come from to pay for a detailed screening?
https://www.quora.com/How-many-eBooks...
But authors could sue Amazon! I am on the biggest comedy role of my life. Well, authors could band together in a class-action lawsuit. I was part of a $95 million lawsuit regarding my smartphone and have been promised $20. So… I could spend two years writing a book, spend $$ editing, and get $20? Yay???
Well, there are copyright laws. The problem is that there are no copyright police. It is up to the author to locate the work, file a complaint, and hope some prosecutor has the time to take the case. And if the offending “author” is in a different country or has provided a false address? Then nothing. Thus, the best-case scenario in a major AI copyright case is that the offending “author” receives a fine.
Alas, readers must accept this new reality, but authors may have an ace up their sleeve. Readers are becoming increasingly adept at identifying AI-generated content. The sentences have a distinct flow, and chat boxes habitually use certain words. Most importantly, readers tend to dislike AI-generated works. Why?
There is nothing technically wrong with AI-generated material. It is grammatically sound, usually correct, and focused. The problem is that readers are people, and people want to read what other people have written. They feel cheated when they read something “genuine” only to find AI duped them. Even if a talented author uses AI in brief areas, readers still dislike the result. To me, the experience is like drinking diet soda when I wanted the sugar. “I did not ask for diet!”
Now hold on. Who is buying this AI junk? Lots of readers. I have found many recent books to be either partially or wholly written by AI. Why? Readers enjoy well-written material, and AI certainly delivers in that department.
These generated books feature fantastic cover art created by AI, along with a well-written description also generated by AI. So, let’s say that an unscrupulous author took The Great Gatsby and passed it through a chat box. What would I see if I were unaware of the original book? It would be a great story set in the roaring 20s about a complicated man. And the writing quality? Well, not the best, but certainly good. What about the guts? That is where AI falters.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is a celebrated author, and, more than any other story I have read, the symbolism in The Great Gatsby takes center stage. In short, a lot was going on, and the diligent reader would have grasped the nuances of the characters, scenes, and motives on multiple levels. Would all of that be present in an AI version?
I suspect those complex elements would be washed away. So no, the result would not read nearly as powerful. I think this would be like the comic book version of a classic story.
There is more bad news. AI chat boxes are dramatically improving. Soon, the generated sentences will be challenging for readers to identify, and they might prefer these polished gems. In fact, this is now possible with a prompt like: “Improve the following book and make the result read like a human wrote it.” Will AI be able to improve The Great Gatsby? Will readers prefer AI-updated books over the originals? Will readers soon demand AI-generated content? Reluctantly, I feel the answer will be yes.
Do I fear that somebody will feed my book into a chat box and then publish it under their name? Even though I have been writing about this topic for the last twenty minutes, in the back of my mind, I had not confronted this reality. So, I took a moment to ponder this concept. Yeah, that would suck. My answer is that I do fear it.
What would happen if I discovered that AI had altered versions of my books? After an unsuccessful attempt to get all the works taken down, I would stop writing. Why? What would be the point? Heck, the “author” could generate ten sequels in ten minutes and then publish them in twenty. I cannot compete with AI and do not want to.
Will this AI perversion make authors obsolete? Unless there is a significant backlash by readers, I cannot conceive of a way to avoid the AI title wave of books. This is a daunting prospect for both me, as a reader, and an author.
You’re the best -Bill
June 25, 2025
