How Does AI Writing Work and Does Amazon Allow It: A Self-Publishing Guide

AI writing tools have come under a lot of scrutiny lately, and we get it. The thought of human creativity being overshadowed by robots isn’t exactly the prettiest picture. But we’re here to set the record straight. There are two camps of AI use out there: AI-generated and AI-assisted. They are completely different, and contrary to popular belief, Amazon ISN’T against them. In fact, they’re pouring millions of dollars into AI research themselves. 

If you’re looking for doom and gloom, you’d be better off looking to the news. But if you want to know how self-publishers all over the world are using AI for good, then this is the right blog post for you. 

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How Do AI Writers Work?

AI content writers work by leveraging machine learning to create text that closely resembles what a human might write. They are trained on huge collections of text and code, allowing them to grab a hold of the subtle intricacies of human language and adapt their writing across different styles.

At the heart of their ability to get language and write it out like a human is something called natural language processing (NLP). NLP is all about helping computers and humans chat more naturally. Thanks to NLP, AI writers can not just copy how humans write but also understand the context, play with nuances, and even figure out the tone they should use. This means they can create content that's not just well-written but also hits the right notes, making it feel super relevant and varied in style.

Amazon's Policies on AI Writing

Here’s the question that everyone wants to know: Does Amazon allow the use of AI writing tools? 

Review of Amazon's Content Guidelines

Amazon has implemented a new artificial intelligence policy for authors and publishers who distribute their work through the Kindle Direct Publishing platform. This policy requires self-publishers to declare if their content is AI-generated or AI-assisted. When you publish a new title or make edits to an existing one, you'll be asked to disclose either use.

AI-generated content is nearly 100% created by a bot or software with minimal human edits. 

AI-assisted content, on the other hand, is mostly human with bits and pieces of a bot or software’s suggestions. 

The latter obviously tends to produce better results because readers tend to trust humans more and robots just haven’t quite figured out how to tell stories in a way that feels natural yet. 

Implications for AI Writing on Amazon

The fact is, that there are a growing number of AI-generated and AI-assisted books on Amazon. Although neither is explicitly prohibited, AI-generated content is now more closely monitored, and low-quality writing is more likely to be flagged against Amazon’s terms of service and content requirements. 

At the end of the day, Amazon is a business. They know they won’t make money if their customers and readers are unhappy, so they’ve deemed all low-quality content against their guidelines. That stands for AI-generated, AI-assisted, or purely human content. 

Ethical AI Writing 

The process of publishing a book on Amazon is made up of several stages, which is why it used to take people months or even years to get their manuscripts published. The internet and self-publishing helped cut that time in half by streamlining things like brainstorming and customer research. Now, AI can cut months and weeks down into days or hours. 

Here are some ethical ways to use AI that you might not have thought about before: 

• Outline your book's chapters
• Revamp or generate your book’s title 
• Come up with a pen name that you like 
• Enhance your writing with creative suggestions and ideas when you run into writer’s block
• Draf CTAs for a book review request page 
• Draft your author bio 
• Find the perfect keywords to help your book listing appear closer to the first page of Amazon when readers are searching for information 
• Improve the overall quality of your content with automatic grammar and syntax corrections

Pros and Cons of AI Writing 

Ultimately, AI has its pros and cons when you infuse it into the writing and editing process. 

Pros

• Fast content generation
• Unlimited ideas 
• Better time management 
• Ability to find new sources of information
• Fits into most budgets

Cons 

• Limited creativity 
• Struggles with complex ideas. Great for simple things like social media posts.
• You have to get used to prompting 
• Lack of emotional depth 
• Can “crash” or stop working, especially during busy times 

Pros and Cons of Human Written Content 

At the same time, there are pros and cons to human writers, too! 

Pros

• Unique voice and writing styles
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Emotional connection with readers
• Ability to tackle complex topics 

Cons

• Requires more time and effort 
• Human errors in grammar and spelling 
• Inconsistent style and tone
• Much more expensive

Best Practices for AI Writing in Self-Publishing

Here are ten best practices for using AI writing to write your books: 

• Define Your Goals: Start by clearly defining what you need from the AI—whether it's generating marketing content, writing assistance, or data analysis. Knowing your goals helps tailor your prompts more effectively.
• Be Specific: The more specific your prompt, the more accurate and useful the AI's response will be. Include details about the tone, style, and specific information you need.
• Use Keywords: Incorporate keywords that are relevant into your prompts to guide the AI towards the type of content or assistance you're seeking, such as "engaging book description" or "author bio for a middle-aged female author passionate about yoga for women and traveling."
• Provide Examples: When possible, give examples of what you're aiming for in your output. This could be a sample paragraph, a style reference, or a structure outline.
• Iterate and Refine: View the first response as a starting point. Refine your prompts based on the initial output to get closer to your desired result. Don’t be afraid to start over, either!
• Clear Formatting: If you need to create content that is structured (like lists, headings, or bullet points), specify this in your prompt to make the output more usable.
• Ask for Suggestions: Use AI to generate creative suggestions for book titles, marketing angles, or even plot ideas. Ask it to help you make it “funnier,” “more casual,” “more mysterious,” or “more academic.” 
• Seek Feedback: Prompt the AI for feedback on your written content, asking for suggestions on improvement or identifying areas that might need clarification.
• Explore Diverse Applications: Beyond writing and marketing, explore how AI can assist with other aspects of self-publishing, like market research, reader demographics analysis, or even generating visual content for your book covers.

Bonus: One of our coaches created this unofficial ChatGPT cover designer to help with the book cover ideation process. Play around with it and have fun!

Can Books Written By Artificial Intelligence Be Legally Sold on Online Marketplaces?

Yes, it’s legal to sell books written by artificial intelligence on online marketplaces as long as the content meets the respective platform's guidelines and policies. In the case of Amazon, authors must follow the updated AI writer's policy and declare if their book is AI-generated or AI-assisted. 

Anytime you use AI, you are also responsible for checking that the output it generates is free of plagiarism, but this is just as true if you are using a human writer to ghostwrite for you. If something does get flagged, make sure to click on it and investigate. Sometimes, in niches like cooking, silly things will get flagged that aren’t actually plagiarism at all—like “three tablespoons.” You should be able to see which other website the highlighted portions matched to, and then you can decide whether it’s worth rewriting or if it’s a false positive. 

As long as you’re making significant contributions and edits to AI-assisted content, you shouldn’t have any issues getting the copyright necessary for your book. 

How Can You Determine If a Book Was Written by AI, and Does Amazon KDP Check for This?

Amazon doesn’t directly disclose whether its algorithm is scanning books for AI, and it appears that the platform is currently operating on the honor system, which means it expects authors and publishers to be honest about their AI usage. 

Although there are some “AI content detectors” out there, the truth is that most of them aren’t any good. Several universities ran tests where they had professors write papers from scratch and then run them through the AI detector. The AI detectors ended up producing a false positive and said that AI had been used, even though the content was 100% produced by a human. 

Still, most of the time, you can detect when something is 100% AI-generated because it just sounds a little off. The paragraphs tend to be overly repetitive and generic. An AI writer says a whole lot without saying anything at all. 

Will There Be Any Restrictions from Amazon on Selling Books Authored by AI in the Near Future?

It’s possible that Amazon may change or update its policies in the future, but for now, AI content is fair game. The thing is, as long as you keep trying to do right by your readers, these types of debates won’t matter at all. The second you go looking for shortcuts to a quality manuscript is the second that things are going to go wonky. 

Read about some of our biggest self-publishing mistakes (and how to avoid them) here. 

How Much Is Amazon Investing in AI? 

Back in September of 2023, Amazon announced that it was going to pour $4 billion dollars into AI research to keep up the pace with companies like Google and Microsoft who got a head start in the AI race. Love it or hate it, AI is here to stay. Just like lightbulbs, computers, and sliced bread. The thing is, AI needs to be trained on human data, which gives US the power to shape its future. 

Publishing.ai Is the Self-Publishing Co-Pilot of the Future 

Finding a profitable niche can take hours, days, or even weeks when you factor in all the competitor and keyword research that needs to be done. But who has the time to pour over every competitor’s book reviews one by one? 

Publishing.ai is an ai writing tool that automates the research portion of the manuscript process to give self-publishers more time to work on the creative process instead. Our AI content generator can produce full-length research reports with all the things your readers liked and didn’t like about your competitor’s books, so you can take that information and produce something that people will actually want to read. 

Although it’s only open to students at the time of writing this post, the initial feedback has already been incredible: 

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• Absolutely mind-blowing tool for cutting off unexpected surprises from a ghostwriter, expenses of a book creation and time consuming on the overwhelming customer research. Must-have tool.

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• The ease at which I was able to go from a topic idea to a well-thought-out and targeted manuscript was mind-blowing. I have all the confidence in being able to spruce up this first draft and QUICKLY be on to publishing. This tool is a game changer.

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• Publishing.ai is revolutionary in seeing a book published in record time. They took what was already an in-depth program and made it so the publisher has even more control over the quality of the book that is created; not to mention the amount of money you can save in the process. There are no more excuses to publish once you make your initial investment into the Publishing.ai program.

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Stay Tuned!