Many creatives are still against generative AI. A group of artists even filed a lawsuit against DeviantArt, Midjourney and Stability AI early this year. However, author Tim Boucher is embracing AI as a tool to aid his writing – and it’s paying off. In August 2022, Boucher began using AI tools to assist him in writing 2,000 to 5,000-word books. Since then, he has published 97 titles and made several thousand US Dollars.
Boucher uses Midjourney to generate images and ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude for brainstorming and generating text. The AI Lore Books are dystopian sci-fi titles and each features between 40 and 140 AI-generated images. He created several of the volumes in just three hours.
While some see generative AI as a crutch, Tim believes using it makes him a better writer. “Apart from accelerating my output,” writes Boucher in a blog post, “The sheer act of producing, checking, and editing such a large quantity of text makes you – wait for it – exponentially better as a writer.”
Tim Boucher Sees All Artists Using AI
The author is also using AI to help code mini-applications to aid him in further streamlining his creative process. He feels that all artists will need to use AI tools to some degree in the future.
“Contrary to the popular belief that AI will replace creative jobs, I see AI as a powerful tool to enhance and accelerate our capabilities and capacities and to make us better at whatever we do,” Boucher wrote for Newsweek.
He adds that AI tools do have limitations. For example, creating longer coherent narratives with AI is still a challenge. This is why Boucher tends to publish flash fiction pieces that interconnect through world-building. Most of Tim’s readers are repeat buyers due in part to how the books cross-reference each other.
The books are available for purchase on Gumroad. Each title in the AI Lore series costs between $1.99 and $3.99.
Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.
