As a self-published author, you probably have mixed feelings about AI. You may feel pressure from various tech companies to use AI or risk being left behind. On the other hand, you want to maintain your human creativity and wish to avoid AI replacing your writing process. Fortunately, there are ways to do both: you can effectively use AI tools for self-publishing while staying true to your human voice. At EABooks Publishing, we want to help develop your unique voice and share your story with the world. In today’s ever-advancing tech climate, AI tools can help you in various ways, especially when you’re stuck or need help editing.

Learn more about the best AI tools for self-publishing (that won’t hinder your creativity) below.

Generative AI Chatbots

ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are some of the most well-known AI chatbots. If you haven’t used AI before, chatbots are the most basic and easiest way to get started. You simply type a question or request (called a prompt into the chat), and the chatbot will answer. As you interact with the chatbot more, you can refine your queries to generate more helpful responses.

While some people use chatbots to create long-form text, it’s often bland and wordy, needing extensive edits to become a polished work. We suggest using chatbots to generate ideas, think through various story elements, outline, and create social media posts. You can brainstorm ideas for stories and have the chatbot analyze which ones may resonate best with your target reader. Or, have AI refine your plot points to create a more refined story. Prompting these chatbots is the key to getting useful responses, so provide detailed information before you allow the chatbot to generate a response. A wide variety of integrated AI tools can also help you with research (see Perplextify below). For example, several generative AI chatbots have a feature that provides in-depth, analytical reports about a particular topic.

Grammarly

Grammarly is a widely popular editing tool that has expanded to include a wide range of AI tools for writing, including an in-app AI chat, proofreader, paraphraser, and text refiner. The premium version also includes an AI text detector and a plagiarism checker. With extensions and apps, Grammarly integrates with many web browsers and operating systems, allowing you to use Grammarly on most devices. Recent updates have integrated more AI tools for writing, such as increasing the impact of your text, garnering reader reactions, and creating a specific “voices” to produce text in your desired tone. We caution that Grammarly is not always correct, and it tends to remove your voice if you follow all of the prompts. But it is a good tool to use when checking your work as it will flag passive voice and other mistakes you will certainly want to correct.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is a text analyzer and editor specifically developed for books and writing. Unlike other AI tools such as Grammarly or generative AI chats, it’s designed to analyze large portions of text at a time. With ProWritingAid, you can run up to 25 different reports to analyze your writing, from “echos” and “repeats” (which highlight repetitive phrases) to transitions and readability. You can also create a custom report by combining your favorite reports. AI is also an inherent part of the reports and critiques ProWritingAid generates. Other AI features include Sparks, which allow you to use AI to create ideas or help with a section of your writing. For an additional cost, you can also have ProWritingAid become a virtual beta reader to gain feedback about your writing.

Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI self-publishing tool that allows you to perform in-depth research on a topic more efficiently and quickly than general internet searches. Perplexity is an all-in-one search tool that generates AI responses based on direct queries, without sorting through webpages of data from traditional search engines. Perplexity uses the internet to perform in-depth searches for your query and provides a text-based answer, along with citations and sources so you can fact-check them directly. You can quickly find details about a historical event that pertains to your story, or learn more about specific news events relevant to your book’s setting or timeframe. Using an AI tool like Perplexity for writing a book can drastically reduce the time you spend researching the background information you need to write.

Sudowrite

Sudowrite allows you to fully draft your book with the help of an AI fiction writing assistant. It’s specifically made for fiction writers, allowing you to write, refine, research, and outline your book—all on one platform. The heart of Sudowrite is the ability for you to add details about your book, including the overall story arc, detailed synopsis, character details, and chapter outlines into a “story bible.” The AI assistant then remembers and uses this information when you prompt it to help you with various tasks, such as transitioning the action from one point to another, giving your characters more depth, and refining various story elements. If you’re stuck on a particular section of your story while writing, you can use Sudowrite’s “write” or “beat” feature, which will generate text in 200-300-word chunks, using your storyline and character knowledge as a guide. We don’t suggest this AI writing actually become the words you publish, but it can provide new directions or spark ideas. You can refine and enhance your story with features like Show, Don’t Tell, which will provide alternative text that is more descriptive for a particular section, allowing you to see where you need to rewrite. Similarly, the Senses feature provides more descriptive language that evokes the five senses, creating more vivid imagery. Sudowrite also includes editing features for an all-in-one AI book writing tool.

When to Use AI Tools for Self-Publishing

AI isn’t going anywhere. While you don’t need to cave into the hype, there are ways to use AI to help make your work better without AI doing it for you. You can use AI to help you expand and refine your ideas, like brainstorming additional plot points or diving into the mind of your main character. AI is also great at refining and editing existing content. AI is not a replacement for a real editor, but it can make your manuscript better before sending to an editor. It can help you generate short sections of text when you’re stuck and need help beating writer’s block, act as a beta reader, and provide constructive feedback to make your story better. Once you’re ready to launch your self-published book, AI can help you create marketing materials based on your work, especially if you’re hesitant about sharing your book with the world.

Self-Publish Your Book With EABooks Publishing

We believe AI for book writing is excellent for getting unstuck in your writing, editing, and reviewing your book. Nothing replaces the authentic human touch of an author who is genuinely passionate about telling their story. Nothing replaces having a team of professionals, such as those at EABooks, going to work for and with you.

We’d love to partner with you to share your story with the world. Schedule a consultation today to speak with a team member to discuss how we can help you self-publish your book and finally become the author you always dreamed you’d be.