So it’s important to stay on top of the AI developments to ensure that we know how to work with AI and apply it in our own process.
Not only will this make us a better and more productive writer, but it will also make us more attractive to employers.
So in this article, I’m going to walk you through how to use AI, specifically ChatGPT, to write a book, along with my review of the platform as an AI writing tool, and what sets it apart.
ChatGPT is one of the leading “chat bots” that use AI to produce content, answer questions, etc.
It was first released in late 2022, and is basically responsible for launching AI written media to a whole new level, with big tech companies like Microsoft and Google engaging in a hot race to see who could win the “AI wars”.
Yep, ChatGPT started all that.
But for authors, ChatGPT is a valuable resource for brainstorming, outlining, helping you when you get stuck, and even producing prose for your book (although it will likely need to be heavily edited).
As of this writing, ChatGPT uses two different AI models:
GPT 3.5: a faster but less advanced model, available for free to all users
GPT 4: a much more advanced model, only available through ChatGPT Plus
There are two ways to use ChatGPT. You can use the free version or subscribe to ChatGPT Plus.
The free version gives you access to the basic GPT 3.5 model, which is what ChatGPT launched with in 2022. It’s not bad, but it’s not nearly as useful as GPT 4, which you only get with ChatGPT Plus.
ChatGPT Plus costs $20/month and gives you access to a lot of other features, including GPT-4 (most notably), Code Interpreter, various plugins, and access to any new beta features as OpenAI develops and releases them.
Is ChatGPT Plus worth it? If you plan to use the AI for advanced plotting or prose writing, then yes, I recommend ChatGPT Plus. However, if you’re just occasionally using the AI to brainstorm, summarize long passages, or to get some ideas, then it’s not necessary.
That said, if you plan on using ChatGPT extensively in your process, ChatGPT Plus is well worth the cost.
ChatGPT has emerged as a frontrunner among many AI tools and models. However, there are other tools like Sudowrite, Claude, or even OpenAI’s Playground that all have different and unique offerings.
Well, after having written tens of thousands of words with a variety of tools and platforms, I have several unique strengths that I’ve seen in ChatGPT that keep me coming back.
One of ChatGPT's standout features is its ability to follow directions. While many AI tools can process instructions, ChatGPT does so with a precision and context-awareness that is hard to get with other tools like Claude (even though Claude is better at other things, like the quality of the prose).
This means fewer errors, more accurate outputs, and less chance that the AI will wander off of the guardrails you’ve given it.
This is a little harder to pin down, exactly, but those who have been using ChatGPT for a while, and comparing to other platforms, will agree that ChatGPT is much better at structure, and providing structured answers.
Again, it’s hard to find a way to say it better than that.
ChatGPT usually provides answers that are easier to scan, are broken down nicely into a format, plus it’s also much better at following directions when you provide specific frameworks or examples to follow.
Code Interpreter is a feature that ChatGPT Plus users can use. It’s actually kind of mindblowing.
Basically, you can ask it to perform any reasonable task, and ChatGPT will write the code it needs to perform that task. It actually writes its own code.
For authors, this is particularly useful if you have some documents to upload to ChatGPT, then ask it to perform a specific task with those documents. The possibilities are quite extensive.
Every user is unique, and so are their requirements. Recognizing this, ChatGPT offers the ability to provide custom instructions. This means you can tailor the AI's responses to fit specific needs, ensuring personalized and relevant outputs.
It does this by giving you a field where you can input your custom style or information you want the AI to know, and it will remember those things for the entire chat, no matter how long the chat continues.
This is great, because previously it would eventually forget the things you told it in your initial prompt. With Custom Instructions, that doesn’t have to happen.
