authors.ai

I searched the authors of The Bestseller Code and within seconds came across the website: authors.ai. The site offers a service for authors based on the work detailed in The Bestseller Code. It’s been a few years since that book came out and the algorithms have been further refined and updated to be even more accurate. I was pumped. 

I confess that I have an issue with editors. I know. That’s on me. I get caught up in the “ohhh, they just don’t like science fiction” or “they were in a bad mood when they looked at my stuff” or “they needed more coffee when they looked at my stuff.” Is that psychological projecttion/a defense mechanism on my part? Perhaps. Probably. 

But I think there is some kernel of truth to it. As Lincoln (perhaps, but probably not really) said, “For people who like that sort of thing, this is just the sort of thing they’d like.” In other words, I am forever suspicious that editors/beta readers are more influenced by their already established preferences as they read through a text than they are aware of. They like what they like and if the text isn’t something they like then they won’t like it. I admit to that bias myself. There are some books, movies, etc. that I hated the first time I read and/or watched them. The book or movie wasn’t what I wanted/expected it to be. But later, in a more open minded state, I came across those same books and movies and found them to be delightful. 

Authors.ai provides a service that – at least for me – gets around that bias. The machines/algorithms assess the text. Not a person. No mood questions. No lack of coffee doubts. No invisible, personal preference hurdles to jump over. Also, no, the process isn’t the same as an editor. But it could be – I surmised before I signed up – very helpful. 

I signed up. I had just started a book, a science fiction epic that would most likely become a trilogy. Space travel and dragons and teleportation and weird aliens. It was going to be great. But then…

Well, that’s the next post.