We’ve had an influx of authors enquiring about how AI may play a role in the publishing industry as we roll (or are dragged kicking and screaming) into the future, and today we thought we’d take the time to explore that topic.
The foremost question people may have about AI’s growing role in the publishing industry is simply- or perhaps not so simply- is it good or bad? That’s quite a loaded question, and the answer, truly, is both. On one hand , whilst AI is becoming more refined and more reliable than it was ten years ago when you could hardly get Siri to call your mother without screaming at your phone, there are still bits and pieces that need ironing out that make it less reliable than an adept human employee.
Furthermore, coming from the perspective of a publisher writing directly to the author like an exhausted English teacher sitting down with a student who has lifted an entire essay from a Wikipedia page with all the hyperlinks still attached- please, we implore you, DO NOT submit a manuscript that was written- wholly or partially- by ChatGPT. Thus far, there have been several books written by AI since 2017, and the language is jarring and uncanny in a way only artificial intelligence could conjure up. Basically, if we received a manuscript penned by an AI, we’d likely know.
Let’s examine AI’s growing role in publishing!
#1: Translation
Starting with a service we actually do not offer at Olympia, there has been considerable progress in the last few years with the creation of reliable AI translation services. The benefits of this are that it minimises (and potentially completely removes) the possibility of errors in the translation, and of course can speed up the process. So, could we at Olympia see translation services in our future? Who’s to say.
#2: Detection of Plagiarism and Grammar Analysis
You may already be familiar with AI text analysis if you’ve used popular tools such as Grammarly. One aspect of a commissioning editor or proof-reader’s job that can be very arduous and time consuming is scanning a manuscript to weed out plagiarism or copyright infringement, and this is a process that could be sped up exponentially by the implementation of AI. There are also AI tools that can provide feedback on language and grammar, however these should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt. It should also be noted that the all-too-important role of an editor is really not something that can be replaced by AI.
#3: Marketing
Marketing is a critical part of the publishing process (trust us, we know), and when utilised correctly, AI can be a wonderful ally to any marketing team. For example, in the context of emails, it can be somewhat disheartening to receive a generic email in response to a question that you have poured over for a long time, but sometimes, people are unable to dedicate enough time to craft a truly personalised response. With the aid of AI, a higher volume of personalised emails is a possibility! Furthermore, AI helps with content personalisation- something you’ll have seen on your favourite streaming platforms in the form of algorithmically generated playlists and film/TV recommendations. In publishing, AI can customise content within marketing materials such as newsletters, allowing audiences to receive content and books that relate to their interests.
#4: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO refers to the process of improving a webpage to increase its visibility in search results, through the use of things such as keywords. AI can help improve and speed up this process by automating aspects such as keyword determination and performance optimisation.
