Outside Edge: How I Use AI as an Independent Author

Last week was the one year anniversary of the publication of HUMAN SOFTWARE. It's an anti-establishment and anti-AI book, however just because I take the stance "AI and Data Centres are bad for local communities", this doesn't mean I don't use AI myself. In fact, in my day job as a software engineer, and in my nighttime job as an independent author, I lean on AI to help me with the mundane parts of my job just like I would previously use google and automate tasks before AI.

Creating and releasing a book, either independently or with a publisher, is a lot of work. The launch of HUMAN SOFTWARE marked the start of a few months of promotion for the book for which I was quite frankly unprepared. By the time I'd arrived in London last October for the book launch party, I was already running on fumes. When I got home and saw the sales start to drop off, I manically attempted to bolster them through social media, through blurb changes, through promotions. The reality of the situation slowly dawned on me. Writing books is hard, publishing books harder, selling books harder still. You can have the best book in the world but as a new author, you don't yet have an audience.

Over the last year, I've learnt that all things have their natural cycle. A book launch has a rhythm to it, going to work has a rhythm to it, being a part of a larger system of anything means learning when to go with the flow and when to kick for the shore. While we still see continuous AI-related headlines in our media, we have to remember that we are borne on a tide. AI continues to dominate headlines because it has been decided that this will happen - forces bear us that way - and yet we see it only incrementally improves the way we do work. True, creative work is still safely in the hands of us humans.

And while I know that writing and promoting a book is a lot of work, in the last month I've rediscovered how editing a book is hard work. You think you've done most of it by simply getting the words out in the form of a Shitty First Draft - a phrase made famous in Anne Lamott's brilliant book 'Bird by Bird' - but the edit is where the book really lives or dies.

So I'm very pleased to say that ONE MORE ISLAND is still on track for a January release.

ONE MORE ISLAND takes place in 2014, eleven years before HUMAN SOFTWARE, in the middle of the rumblings that would go on to form Brexit. We discover Peter Watchett living on his Dutch Barge Jezebel in Sandport, doing odd jobs and finding himself at a low point in his life. He's worried for his health, living hand-to-mouth and has started to feel like life didn't go his way. Things change suddenly when his half-brother Zak walks back into town. Zak gives Peter the jump start he needs but also brings trouble with him, dredging up unhappy memories and giving Peter a headache about his future.

During the writing and editing I've been inspired by many wonderful stories I've read this year. Recently Penelope Fitzgerald's 1979 Booker winner "Offshore" has been a great inspiration as has Neville Shute's "Trustee of the Toolroom". I feel that they have both influenced the direction I'm taking at my latest attempt at making a story.

So, beta readers be aware - I'll be asking for your services very shortly, probably in a couple of weeks. I'll also be looking for Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) readers in the run up to Christmas. ARC readers get an advanced copy of the book in December and all I ask in return is an honest review before it goes on sale in January 2027.

And so, the latest breakthroughs in the editing came with patience, keeping my eyes and ears open and thinking hard about the kind of story that feels right. I don't use AI for my writing or editing, but I do use it for easily automated tasks - like coding, or updating my website, or for helping me find a new type of running shoe. Creatively only a human knows when something feels right.

To celebrate the latest milestone, I've been giving away physical copies of HUMAN SOFTWARE this week at the boekwissel stand at Utrecht Centraal station. The boekwissel concept can be found at various stations around the Netherlands - a shelf for books you'd like to share with other commuters. Seeing as I have quite some stock left over I've been giving copies away over the last couple of weeks. I'll also be expanding this promotion to Amsterdam Centraal in the coming months.

Alongside this promotion I've been herding Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot to come up with a some website changes for me. Embracing the bits that AI does well, rather than struggling with HTML and CSS myself, I used Astro theme as my base and describe the changes I want to Copilot. The websites are hosted on Github Pages and I'm pleased with the results. First up is a new landing page for me at richardwbownauthor.com.

And the One More Island website has also had a makeover

Finally I'm also now giving away e-pub versions of HUMAN SOFTWARE in exchange for a newsletter sign-up. If you've not got your copy yet, you can download it for free here.

There lots more to come in the next few months when I'll be teasing parts of ONE MORE ISLAND. I hope you've found this peek behind the curtains useful. Until next time, please enjoy your Sunday, ignore the noise about AI that continues to rage around us and remember to support your local independent bookshops and authors. We're all doing our utmost to bring stories to those who enjoy them the most.

All the best,