Newsletter #66 — Hype, Hype, Hype!
September 15, 2023
Newsletter #66 — Hype, Hype, Hype!
Siri Seriously Disagrees — So the other day Siri interrupted my thoughts with an admonition. "You," she scolded, "do not appreciate how AI can help you. You have been dissing AI in far too many newsletters."
I tried to dismiss Siri's badgering, but she, being artificial, could keep it up forever, and so I reluctantly succumbed and entered vast cyberspace in search of acceptable AI writing. (Siri favors the word stellar over acceptable when it comes to AI, but I have deep doubts.)
And just by happenstance (so many wonderful things occur by happenstance), I received an email from BookGraphix, encouraging me to try their book-marketing program. I examined this a while and thought about Canva, which I have been using, but which requires some work from me. What if AI could, in fact, do my marketing work?
So, with Siri cheering annoyingly in the background, I signed on to BookGraphix and uploaded the cover of She's on First. Of course, before AI could write something about the book, I had to give it information on the book. [Take that, Siri!] I simply copied the blurb from my Amazon listing and pasted it into BookGraphix. Here's what I pasted in:
This is the story of Linda Sunshine, a young woman coming of age, Linda is a strong female sports hero who overcomes tremendous odds to do what she loves — play baseball for the major league Chicago Eagles. Too long out of print, this novel is a welcome-back addition to the field of baseball literature — don't miss it!
And here's AI's first offering:
Get ready to hit it out of the park with She's on First: A Novel! Join Linda Sunshine on her journey as she bags victory in the baseball world, defying the odds and capturing hearts along the way. This timeless classic is a home run for all sports and romance enthusiasts.
I rather liked this, for three reasons: (1) I cannot get myself to extol my books in such fashion, so I'm glad that AI can; (2) this type of hyped-up advertising seems more au courant than the kind I was creating on Canva. Modern egos can absorb volumes of hype; (3) AI created this copy in about two seconds, three at most. Even if I were able to praise my own works in this manner, it would take me at least five minutes per copy.
And here's the copy AI generated for Guide to Writing the Mystery Novel: Lots of Examples, Plus Dead Bodies:
Check out "Guide to Writing the Mystery Novel: Lots of Examples, Plus Dead Bodies" for an invigorating approach to crafting captivating mysteries. Packed with valuable insights and tons of examples, this book is a must-have for both aspiring and seasoned mystery writers.
The day I shared the above on social media, I sold two copies of Guide on Amazon, and more copies the next day . . . reinforcing my belief that this kind of presentation is what gets people to buy books.
Siri thinks so, too.
Guide to Writing the Mystery Novel: Lots of Examples, Plus Dead Bodies — Speaking of Guide, this book, published in 2014, has been my most popular title on Amazon over the last six weeks. At one point a week ago Guide ranked #1 in "Literary Criticism Reference" and #50 in "Fiction Writing Reference." I'd rather have the rankings in reverse, with a higher standing in "Fiction Writing Reference," but hey, I'm quite happy with these rankings for a book that's been around for nine years.
BTW, each book listed on Amazon is listed in three categories, chosen by the publisher. And then Amazon adds additional categories to those three. Often a book ranks higher in an Amazon-chosen category than in a publisher-chosen category. Such is the case with Guide: I did not choose "Literary Criticism Reference" as one of my three categories.
More Wisdom — My September 15 blog provides more information on Lou Armagno's The Wisdom Within Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan.