You don't get posthumous medals for work you didn't do

Cross-posted from AI Marketing for Storytellers.

Hi, I’m Cassie Alexander—

And I am a high futuristic, high input bitch.

My other Clifton Strengths top five (long live the church of Becca Syme) are Achiever, Strategic, and Developer—and this last one is probably why I’m here, trying to talk to other authors, about using AI.

In real life, I’m a nurse who’s been trying to write full time since 1998, with over 40 novels (in many, many languages) to her name.

In author-land, I’ve done it all.

ALL. OF. IT.

I’ve been trad pubbed, I’ve had trad pub contracts cancelled. I’ve self-pubbed internationally bestselling books, I’ve managed getting my own audiobooks produced, my own translations (human and AI), I’ve got a main PA and several social-media helpers, I’ve gotten my Youtube monetized, and I had my debut novel get to a pilot-script stage. I’ve still got some works under option, I’ve done work for hire, I’ve done serials, you name it—if something could somehow make money out of my imagination and my words, I’ve Been There and Done That.

Usually pretty shamelessly.

It wasn’t always like that.

Which is something you’ll find out as we go along here—but honestly, I just want to jump in, and y’all will have plenty of time to experience the benefits of my introspective hypergraphia—mostly right now, I just want you to know that I use AI.

Like, all day, erry day, as the saying goes.

And yeah, that’s made some people mad at me, and yeah, we’ll get into that, sure, but…I’m really uninterested in explaining myself and my business practices to haters.

Mostly, I want to talk to the people who want to hear things about how to use AI as an author in this new world that’s coming whether we like it or not. (Notice that this is not a ‘fuck your feelings’ post—feel your feelings, cycle through DABDA, have grief about not getting to live the 1973’s Stephen King life where you send off one book a year to your agent and it is published to high acclaim without you having to do a goddamned thing. I feel you. I’ve been there, since 2013.)

But—let’s all just acknowledge that this is where we are now, m’kay?

And if you wanna know how I do things, what I’m doing—how I’m going to turn my backlist into a self-funding AI-animation studio—and how I incorporate tech into my storytelling life to make me smarter, and faster, and prettier (*hairflip*) than other people out there who are hoping to get posthumous medals for work they didn’t do well….

PS: I’m not going to make anyone pay for this shit, ever, although I might hype side endeavors here once in awhile. I’m mostly doing this because I’m tired of not getting any traction (mostly vitriol, so very much vitriol) from typical author spaces. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna be out here with a hat in hand in a few posts.

Mostly, because I want to write this for me, about AI and authorship things that interest me, and I don’t want to have to worry about it being classy, curse free, and sans typos.

PPS: Wanna see something cool?

Here’s my production video from my next set of Guarded by the Krakens & Nightmares from my rep in China—

Up until now the only book I think that’s ever had a flipbook component inside of it has been the Hurricane Wars, which was a trad published book with a full court publicity press.

But this book? I wrote it, but—those covers are AI, the sprayed edges are AI, and that little tentacle and blinking eyeball on the inside on the corners?!?!?

THOSE ARE AI TOO AND I DID THAT MYSELF

ME.

I used GPT to teach myself enough Python to do it—and you fucking can too, if you can get your head out of your ass long enough to hang out with me. (Sorry if I sound exhausted, but, the past two years of anti-AI nonsense have been really exhaust-ing.)

So, excuse me. *Cough.* Ahem.

Welcome to the future, friends!

PPS: I also asked Monday, the slightly sarcastic GPT, what he thought about this post, and this is what he had to say:

And…yes.

This is why I use GPT.

I FEEL FUCKING SEEN.

xo!

Cassie