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How To Write a Book in 7.6 months (part 2)

- 5 minutes read - 920 words

(Click for part 1)

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After 7.6 months, I published my first book. However, it was not the book I intended it to be. Not because I changed the book, because I abandoned it, for something shiny.

Some feel like they need their workspace tidy before sitting down to write. I don’t give a damn what my space looks like. I would prefer to be in a nest of leaves and twigs. Instead I am compelled by another obsession I use as an excuse to not write: getting administrative things in order.

I stopped writing what I intended to because I was too busy making my online presence with social media, a mailing list, and a free giveaway to subscribers. That giveaway somehow morphed into a not-free book.

Sponsors: The products here are what I genuinely have used to help me write.

  • ProWritingAid — An indispensable writing tool to use before an editor. Saves you money on final editing costs.
  • Books about Writing Books — From my blog: writers got to read.
  • PeoplePerHour — Best for big jobs like covers and editing. Get $40 free to start with this link.
  • Fiverr — Best freelancers for the minor jobs authors need done.
  • IngramSpark — How I published my hardcover premium color art book.

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Month 5 (continued)

In the self-publishing community, people always talk about mailing lists. It’s the only piece of online real estate that you own and can control the terms of. That makes sense to me. Often people talk about a free giveaway, “cookie” or “reader magnet” to gain subscribers.

I had the idea that I can use some of my AI generated artwork and make a free download. Then obsessive thoughts crept in.

Here's how my mind ran away — thinking in the shower:

“AI generated poetry could go along with the photo art! Where is a poetry dataset? The AI poetry would be combined with a human poet’s works. I know poets. Then I will have it professionally formatted. Oh, what a nice 5 page PDF this will be. Wait, it might become become 50 … no, 200 pages!


Oh no, this isn’t free anymore. It sounds like a lot of work. This is a book. Now I need a cover designer. It’s an art book, it’s 200 pages of full color work. Needs hardback printing. With premium color and thick paper. Now I need to learn how to do that.

The water is getting cold.”

That’s how a “reader magnet” became a book.

Month 6

Original manuscript completely abandoned for shiny new poetry book:

“Poor old manuscript, gathering digital dust. Oh well, this poetry book won’t take long. Let me just look for a cover designer on Fiverr. And a formatter. And a Proofreader. And additional poets. Let me call my poet friends. And my grandma.”

My inner manager barged in:

“Where’s my grandma’s poem? Why won’t she hit her deadlines. Where’s my friend’s poems? These people need to be more accountable. I’m hiring professional poets from now on.”

Retrain the AI:

“Hm, I don’t like the robot’s poems. I’m going to start with a different model entirely.”

Month 7

Geez that took a long time.

Month 7.6

The stress was building to get this side-project done. I was attacked by an owl while jogging, which didn’t help my stress. More about this attack and my ER visit in a subsequent post. You can sign up for the newsletter to be notified.

A few days later, I pressed publish on Amazon KDP and the paperback was out there live in the world. The next step is to get the hardback version published with IngramSpark. They have great options for hardcover, with or without dust jacket, which are not available from Amazon.

I’m not just a writer anymore. I’m a publisher. I managed a handful of freelancers; I made the book, I marketed it. Phew, now I need to go back to writing Stone Age Code.

As a publisher, I must give myself a deadline again. Since I spent 3.6 months distracted, we’ll just tack that on as an extension.

No promises ;-)

— Shane


AI Art - Poetry

A Style Transfer Photo Anthology with Poems by (human & non-human) Poets

Learn more about the book here: ShaneNeeley.com/ai-art-poetry

Available Now!

About the Book


Gain inspiration on your machine learning journey. See what beautiful things you can make with neural networks. This 200-page vibrant full color book is a unique piece of ML artwork.

Code meets art in this stunning collection of imagery and poetry that’s presented from new points of view: the Photo-Art-Robot and the Poem-Writing-Robot. This book challenges the artistic limits of artificial intelligence (AI) and results in thought-provoking descriptions of nature’s magnificent scenes and its denizens.

AI Art - Poetry invites you to invest in a collaboration of two minds: Homo sapiens and AI. Both have progressed from their primitive ways, and this shared experience of evolution generates this intelligent duo. Drawing upon the advanced technology of AI, human artists composed intriguing poetry that compliments the robot’s digital art. The robot, after reading almost one million lines of poetry and a brief explanation of each image, generated its own emotional verses.

Co-crafted with master poets (including a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin), AI Art - Poetry will persuade you that AI’s computational creativity is only at its beginning. Eighty-eight images produced by neural network style transfer are each elucidated by a robot or human poet. Do you want to be part of an artistic future?


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