Are You Worried About AI Taking Your Book Coaching Job?
Everyone's having the conversation, so we're going to have it, too
We held two Town Hall meetings last week, where Author Accelerator students and coaches all came together to ask questions about the state of the company and the state of the book coaching industry. Some of the most pressing questions people had were around the rise of AI.
To spark discussion, we asked:
Are book coaches seeing writers using generative AI to actually create drafts or portions of drafts?
The majority of coaches had not yet seen this — or at least didn’t think they had.
Will book coaches refuse to coach writers who use AI in a generative capacity?
Some will refuse out of principle; others are okay with it. The split was about even.
Are book coaches guessing about the use of AI or asking about it in their intake processes?
Most coaches were guessing, but after the discussion, a lot of us decided to add it to our intake forms.
Are book coaches using AI in their business to help them organize, brainstorm, or write marketing or other non-book-related tasks?
There was a split here, too, with some using AI in this way and others refusing to.
Do book coaches feel a sense of doom about AI?
Yes they do.
AI is Coming For Us
There is a great deal of anxiety about AI — a sense that it is coming for us: It’s coming to take away our livelihood and the thing we love to do.
There’s a feeling among book coaches that the takeover is inevitable.
To a lot of book coaches, it feels personal.
But mixed in with the fear, I hear a great deal of hope in the idea of resistance":
People believe that writing matters to the writers — that the acts of thinking and imagining and putting words on a page is an important process to the writers who do it. The fact that a computer can assist, or take over, doesn’t take away the power of the creative process to the creator.
People believe that writing matters to readers — that readers want to engage with the work of the human hand and heart, and that they can feel the difference. There is some sense that books written by people will become even more precious if books written by computers flood the marketplace.
People believe that the work of helping writers write matters, too — perhaps more than ever. Book coaches are helping writers raise their voice, organize their thoughts, hone their skills, and create something that they long to create. We are helping them do something that is difficult and challenging, but the difficulty of it and the challenge of it is what makes it so worthwhile.
These are the responses that help me keep doing what I am doing and that give me hope for writers, writing, and the future of humans. I hope they do for you, too.
What To Do About AI Anxiety
If you still feel a sense of doom, I recommend this podcast featuring my client and friend, Dr. Diana Hill. Dr. Hill specializes in helping high achievers of all kinds manage their energy. In this episode of The Anxious Achiever Podcast, she specifically addresses anxiety. I found it enormously helpful and hopeful:
What to Do About AI Anxiety, The Anxious Achiever Podcast.
Open House to Learn About Book Coaching
I will be holding three Open Houses on Thursday and Friday to answer questions about Author Accelerator’s Certified Book Coaching Program. There will not be a formal presentation and there will not be a sales pitch or a special offer or a recording. It will just be me in a zoom room talking about whatever you want to talk about.
You can sign up for the Open House events here: SAVE YOUR SPOT FOR THE OPEN HOUSE