Dear tracyabell.com,
Do you know that the children’s book market is an untapped gold mine? According to recent data, it’s a booming $4 billion industry in the US alone!
Did you also know that an increasing number of parents and educators are turning to online platforms to find engaging and educational children’s books? Over 60% of children’s books are now purchased online!
Now, here’s the real kicker: with the brand new A.I. Children’s Book Maker, you can easily tap into this lucrative market: https://www.moregold.xyz/aichildrens
This innovative web app uses artificial intelligence to write and illustrate high-quality children’s books in just minutes. No need for writing or illustrating skills.Just input your idea and let the AI bring your story to life.
Imagine creating a unique product for this thriving market, without the traditional overhead costs of book publishing. This could open up a significant new revenue stream for you.
Don’t miss out on this. The launch special will be ending soon:
https://www.moregold.xyz/aichildrens
Try the A.I. Children’s Book Maker today and take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level.
To your success,
[name redacted]
Me again. You can probably guess what it felt like to pivot from working on the second draft of my own children’s book to reading this message that proudly proclaims there’s zero need for writing or illustrating skills in the children’s book market. Ugh. As if this journey to traditional publication doesn’t already offer just slightly better odds than winning the lottery and as if those of us who write for children aren’t already subjected to the attitude that we obviously don’t write well because otherwise we’d be writing for adults, I then discover I’ve been going at this writing endeavor all wrong!
Silly me! Instead of doing research, creating a rough outline, lying awake thinking about plot and characters, writing an entire first draft, soliciting feedback from my critique group, taking a whole bunch of notes, reworking my outline and tweaking the characters, and then beginning the second draft, I could’ve just plugged my story idea into an app!
Except, right after reading that spam I remembered seeing something a while back about A.I.-generated children’s books. Let’s see what Sondra Eklund, librarian, has to say on the topic: Beware AI-produced Children’s Books! I recommend reading her entire post, but here’s a sampling of what she wrote after ordering a children’s “factual” book about rabbits for her library system:
The book starts out extremely repetitive and very poorly worded. There’s no logical progression between sentences, and some sentences repeat on later pages, except often with contradictory information or in a slightly different form. It’s got stock photo images and clip art text pages.
Here are quotes Sondra provides from the final spread in Rabbits: Children’s Animal Fact Book:
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of feeding a rabbit, you’ve probably wondered how they reproduce. The answer is simple: they live in the wild! Despite being cute and cutesy, rabbits are also very smart.
They can even make their own clothes, and they can even walk around. And they’re not only adorable, but they’re also very useful to us as pets and can help you out with gardening.
Apparently, not only do you NOT need any skills to write for children, you also do not need to be factual or even reality-based. If A.I. (which does include the word “Intelligence,” after all) says that rabbits make their own clothes and will refrain from eating all the lettuce in your garden, who am I to argue?
Image by freeillustrated from Pixabay
And then to add insult to injury, this article came out today, quoting the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment:
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) CEO Tony Vinciquerra does not mince words when it comes to artificial intelligence. He likes the tech — or at the very least, he likes the economics.
“We are very focused on AI. The biggest problem with making films today is the expense,” Vinciquerra said at Sony’s Thursday (Friday in Japan) investor event. “We will be looking at ways to…produce both films for theaters and television in a more efficient way, using AI primarily.”
Yippee skippee! Let’s cut all humans out of the creative process! I mean, what could possibly go wrong there? But please don’t think widespread use of A.I. will only impact art, literature, and jobs. There’s also a grave environmental impact: AI Is Accelerating the Loss of Our Scarcest Natural Resource: Water
This state-of-the-art web app allows you to create captivating children’s books using advanced AI technology. It takes care of both the writing and illustration, and all you need to do is input your ideas (or let the app come up with the idea too, LOL). No writing or illustration skills needed!
Tracy Abell 
You’re spot on, Tracy!
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Unfortunately, I think I am. Here we go, circling the drain….. 😦
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Is it me or is that one creepy looking rabbit…
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It’s not you, that rabbit is very creepy which is why I chose it for this post. I think it’s AI-generated and a great example of what’s in store for us. 😦
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I was looking into where that rabbit illustration came from and the first definition that popped up when I Googled “freeillustrated” was a definition generated by something called AI Overview, Google’s new feature for summarizing search results into short paragraphs. According to the linked article, it offers advice and answers that are not just wrong, but often bizarre. Call me old fashioned but technology is not always a good idea.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/national/2024-05-31/googles-new-ai-overview-feature-shows-the-techs-weaknesses-bu-expert-says
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Ugh, it’s such a bad path to be on. Google is all-around garbage now, even without the AI. Search results are already very poor and now we add in the nonsense “facts” and we’re really in a bad place, especially since there seems to be a large population that will believe just about anything. Fun times on the planet! 😦
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I would like to piss in someone’s coffee on your behalf! I say this because I’m slightly jealous of what wild foxes can get away with while wishing them nothing but the best of luck in reminding humans that they persevere despite us. I consider this push of AI into the artistic realms the “Fast Fashion” of art and literature. It makes me sad, frustrated and angry in so many layers. I’m about done being civilized! I think I’d like to be more feral and inconvenient. Hrmpf!
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I admit to wanting to piss in certain people’s coffee most days, Melanie. The powerful rulers are making one bad decision after another. Your “fast fashion” comparison is apt and I grieve for what we’re losing and where we’re headed. I also resonate with your inclination to be more feral and inconvenient, and believe that approach may be our best hope. Sand in the gears!
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Yay! To sand in the gears!
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I feel the same way, Tracy, and share all your concerns!
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And what a laundry list of concerns…. ☹️
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I absolutely agree. It’s bad enough that people use AI to create for them, but to do so when it comes to educational books or books for children… It’s somehow even worse. And then there’s the rise of “AI artists” who type in prompts and make money off of AI stealing art from artists… Yeah, people keep telling me to be positive when it comes to AI, saying it could turn out okay in the end but I… Even if there’s apparently quick money in generating something of abysmal quality and selling it to people before they notice said quality, I can’t get behind that. It’s all over Etsy and similar platforms right now. As a writer and an artist, I know how much work goes into creating. And I think using AI to create writing, art or any other emotional crafts and selling it cheap to earn passive income is effectively diminishing the work, passion, emotions and talent that goes into creating something from scratch. Artists, writers included, leave shards of their souls in their creations. You can’t create something that makes people feel without being vulnerable and giving something in return. Something from your heart. Chasing profits and replacing the human element with AI doesn’t sit right with me. The industries are essentially pissing on the people, claiming profit is more important than doing what’s right or being a good person. It feels like we’re very close to entire industries replacing as many human workers as they can with AI and other technology. It’s scary and sad. I wouldn’t be surprised if entire movies are created that way in the future. That will be the day I stop watching new movies.
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Thank you so much for weighing in on this issue! You make so many good points and this, especially, resonated with me: “using AI to create writing, art or any other emotional crafts and selling it cheap to earn passive income is effectively diminishing the work, passion, emotions and talent that goes into creating something from scratch. Artists, writers included, leave shards of their souls in their creations.” I’m sorry you’re also feeling the oppressive weight of AI and hope you can continue creating and sharing yourself with the world. Solidarity!
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Add to every other problem you’ve already articulated, the notion that writing children’s books is the path to great wealth. Excuse me while I pass out from laughter!
–Jenn H
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Hey there, Jenn! Thank you for adding this note that made me laugh out loud!! I hope you and yours are doing as well as can be expected in these hard days.
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