Today I’m going to give you a simple technique to help you write a book quickly. There’s one prerequisite. You have to have already produced a lot of content on the subject. That content could be blog posts, articles, podcasts – even documentation, or how-tos.
Step 1 is to gather all your material. If it’s available online, you can just get the URLs.
Step 2 may or may not be necessary. If some of your content is audio or video, you might be able to upload those files straight into your AI of choice, or you might need to use something like otter.ai to create a transcript. So this optional Step 2 is to convert everything into text.
Step 3 is to have a preliminary chat with your AI chatbot and explain what you want to do. For example, “I want to create a book about customer data platforms. I’d like to upload everything I’ve written on the subject. Based on that information, and on whatever you know about customer data platforms, I’d like you to create a table of contents. Be sure to point out the areas where I don’t have any original content.”
Step 4 is to upload your information. Realize that you have now fed the LLM with your material, thereby contributing to the fall of civilization.
In Step 5 the AI will give you the table of contents. Review it and see what you think. It’s possible the AI took an approach you don’t like. You can say, “No, I want you to focus on such and so,” and have it regenerate the table of contents. Go through that cycle until you have something close to what you want. Now edit it until you’re comfortable with the language and with the breadth of coverage.
Step 6 – upload your new table of contents and tell the AI to write the first chapter using your content and your voice. Tell it to use your actual words as much as possible. Do the same for each chapter.
Step 7 – Now you have a draft manuscript and the hard work begins. Go through the manuscript and edit it critically. Rewrite anything that doesn’t sound like you.
You’ll find that the AI has dropped some things you wanted to include. Paste them back in. You’ll also find that it’s added some things. Rewrite those from your perspective.
Step 8 – Upload your new manuscript and ask the AI what’s missing — that is, what aspects of your subject matter does the manuscript lack?
AI can be very helpful on this task because it has such a broad collection of content on your subject matter. You don’t have to accept all the recommendations, but it’s good to have them as a check – to make sure there aren’t any big holes.
My experience is that some of the recommended additions will be good, and some will sound like boilerplate, boring nonsense that’s been stolen from somebody’s whitepaper.
Step 9 – Fill in the blanks. You can write this material yourself, from scratch (that’s what I do), or you can ask the AI to write those sections in your voice, then edit it.
Step 10 – Repeat Steps 8 and 9. You might find a few more holes to fill.
Step 11 – Ask the AI to write a glossary of the key terms in your manuscript. Edit it carefully. You want to make sure the definitions in your glossary are consistent with what you’ve said in your manuscript.
Step 12 – At this point you’re done with AI. Now you need to read and rewrite the whole manuscript a few times until you’re comfortable with it.
For me, this is the hard part. Writing is easy. Rewriting is the work. Also, at about this phase you’re likely to get impatient to get the project done and out the door.
Step 13 – Find at least three reviewers. Two of them should be knowledgeable in the subject area, and one should know nothing about it. While they’re reviewing the manuscript, leave it alone. Forget about it. Do something else. Don’t touch it or think about it. You need to get some mental space between you and the project so you can come back to it with a little touch of objectivity.
Step 14 – Try to suppress your ego. The book is about your readers, not about you. If something wasn’t clear to your reviewers, that’s your fault. You didn’t make it clear enough. With that attitude firmly in mind, read the reviews, re-read your manuscript, and incorporate whatever seems helpful.
Step 15 – Now’s the time to think about your title, cover, and so on. (You might re-engage with AI at this point to get some title ideas.)
I know a good cover designer on Fiverr who disproves the old rule. She’s good, fast, and cheap. Look her up under pro_ebookcovers.
Step 16 – Remember that perfect is the enemy of done. You can spend the rest of your life trying to fine tune and sharpen your manuscript, or you can get comfortable with an appropriate level of professionalism and finish the thing. It’s hard to find the right balance.
You should probably have the manuscript professionally edited and formatted, unless you’re pretty good at those things. But remember that it’s hard to edit your own work.
Give it a try. If you need some help with the process, give me a call.
