7 Ways Generative AI Use Can Impact Your Book
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After several years in the hands of consumers, AI is transforming the publishing world.
Every week, we receive dozens of questions from authors who have been considering or are actively experimenting with these tools to write, edit, and even design their books. Simultaneously, various facets of the publishing industry itself have formed policies around AI use – oftentimes drawing firm lines. Review outlets like Foreword Clarion Reviews, for example, have publicly stated they will not review books containing any AI-generated material, while traditional publishing behemoth Penguin Random House has relayed out its approach to responsible AI use.
Before we go any further, let’s define what it means to “use AI”. You might be wondering if running a grammar and spelling check through Grammarly is considered AI use, or if using Google Gemini to brainstorm plot ideas undermines human authorship. The important distinction here is whether what you’re using is an AI-assisted tool or generative AI:
AI-assisted tools support your work like Grammarly’s Grammar Checker, spellcheckers, or brainstorming aids without independently creating the final content, and are generally not treated as AI-generated material.
Generative AI, in contrast, creates text or images from user-inputted prompts (like ChatGPT or Grok, for example). Using this material can have a cascading effect on your copyright, awards eligibility, long-term author reputation, and more.
This landscape is still evolving, policies are changing, legal interpretations are developing, and consumer expectations evolve as often as the tech does. It’s also important to note that assistive and generative features may be present within a single program — which is the case with the aforementioned Grammarly, for example. As the author, this means that you are responsible for vetting your creative tools’ generative AI components to ensure that you are the authorial hand behind the work.
With the caveat that what is true today may not be true a year from now, we’ve written a practical overview of seven ways that generative AI use could impact your book and promotional activities. Our hope is that this piece as a whole helps you make informed decisions aligned with your publishing goals.
1. Copyright
Whether it be illustrations, images, or written content, authors cannot copyright any material that is wholly AI generated. Under Canadian law, copyright can only be granted to humans, corporations, or other legal entities — though there is not yet specific copyright language related to artificial intelligence within this legal framework at the time of this posting.
In the United States — long viewed as a leader when it comes to copyright and usage laws — things are a little further ahead. As part of a larger report titled Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, the U.S. Copyright Office affirms that wholly AI generated material cannot be copyrighted.
Their most recent view indicates that the output of an AI prompt cannot be copyrighted and that a human being must be the authorial hand behind a copyrightable work. While AI can help you brainstorm, suggest edits, or generate ideas, any portion of your book that is wholly produced by AI cannot be legally protected as your own. The exception (because nothing related to AI is ever black and white) are instances where “sufficient expressive elements” authored by a human hand can be demonstrated to have been brought to bear on an AI generated work. What are the conditions for these “sufficient expressive elements” to be copyrightable? To our knowledge, that is currently undefined.
The key takeaway: if you are planning to self-publish or submit your book to traditional publishers, protect your intellectual property and avoid future legal disputes by ensuring that the work you claim as yours is genuinely and entirely created by you.
2. Book Reviews
Reviewers – whether book bloggers, social media influencers, or professional review outlets – can play a critical role in your marketing endeavours. In relation to AI, each entity operates differently. Some influencers have a more relaxed view on AI books, while professional outlets tend to have much stricter guidelines that preclude your work from being reviewed.
If you choose to use generative AI in some capacity and reviews are part of your marketing strategy, confirm each outlet’s stance on AI before you finalize your manuscript, cover, or illustrations. A declined review during pre-launch or launch can affect your early visibility and momentum. By that stage, it’s often too late to revise your content or adjust your approach. Planning ahead ensures your review strategy aligns with your production choices rather than working against them.
3. Book Awards
Many literary awards are grappling with AI’s role in submissions. Some book awards, like those run by Clarion (i.e. Foreword INDIES), explicitly say they will not accept or review books that include AI-generated content. Others, like the Canadian Book Club Awards, don’t say it outright, but include a required check box in the submission form stating: “I confirm that I own the copyright to this book and its cover”. Since AI content cannot be copyrighted, you wouldn’t be able to complete the submission.
If your goals include award recognition, it’s critical to research each award’s rules before incorporating AI into your work. Using AI after beginning a submission can disqualify your book entirely, so early awareness is key.
There have already been instances of books being disqualified for AI use, like these two titles in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, which were removed due to their AI-generated covers.
4. Book Covers & Illustrations
AI-generated images can be a fast and inexpensive way to produce book covers, but this convenience comes with a cost. Aside from the obvious, aforementioned legal issues around copyright and ownership, many have raised ethical concerns about the training data used by these AI tools, which are often incorporated without the consent of the artists. On top of that, because many AI tools use similar algorithms to generate the content, book covers end up looking more similar than you’d like – and sometimes with an “uncanny” visual quality that is easy to spot.
A cover is often the first impression a reader has of your book, and how you represent yourself matters. If you prominently feature AI-generated artwork, it’s natural for potential buyers to wonder where else you may have cut corners. Furthermore, generative AI often lacks the nuanced “literacy” required for truly effective book cover design. It’s not up on current trends and can struggle to execute the subtleties of genre and tropes needed to hook modern readers. Your cover is, ultimately, an advocate for the quality of your work, and AI use puts you at risk of being instantly dismissed.
If you use a human illustrator, be sure to credit them and consider providing them a space for a short bio and possibly photo as well (especially for picture books). Books with uncredited human illustrators can be flagged and discussed as potentially AI, even though they’re not. Now more than ever, it’s beneficial to clearly share and credit human collaborators on projects.
Also, consider utilizing your illustrator and their social media accounts in your marketing endeavours! The crossposts and collabs you can do on social media are a great promotional tool – the support of fellow artists is a bonus.
5. Reader Reception
Readers are not neutral on the topic of AI. At the time of this publishing, most readers (and publishing industry leaders) find the negative impacts of generative AI outweigh the positive. If they detect the uncanny imagery of an AI cover or stiff AI prose in your pages, it could affect your long-term author reputation and, ultimately, your sales.
One reason for this is because AI is such a pervasive tool among scammers. When a reader sees something AI generated, they may make this negative association and assume this is a scam or the product was AI created as a money grab. Even if it’s only the cover, it could bring into question whether everything about your book is AI. In recent years, readers have noticed the rise in these types of low-effort, AI generated books. As a result, platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing require authors to disclose AI-generated content after complaints about large numbers of ‘AI slop’ books on the site; selling books that provide real value to their customers is just good business.
At its core, a book is a work of art – the writing of which is an innately human endeavour. What is art without a human hand involved at every step? No matter the answer, you need to weigh the perceived efficiency gains of AI against the potentially icy reader reception.
6. Sales & Distribution Channels
Retailers and distribution partners are now paying closer attention to AI-generated content. While policies vary, some stores and sales channels may choose not to carry books that rely on generative AI.
Professional editing reduces distractions that diminish your book's readability, such as convoluted content structure, incorrect grammar, and persistent typos. From developmental editing to proofreading, our vetted editing team will match you with the editorial services you need to create the best book possible.
At the retail level, individual bookstores – especially independent or specialty shops – may have their own standards. For example, a local indie bookstore might decline to stock a book if it discovers the cover art or interior content was AI-generated. Even a single retailer opting out can affect sales potential (particularly in niche or regional markets).
At the distribution level, certain platforms require authors to disclose AI involvement during submission. While identification as an AI book is not public on listings at this time, as awareness of AI in book creation evolves it could be made public on listings, and failing to be transparent could create complications later.
Before committing a print run or finalizing distribution of your AI-generated book, it would be wise to confirm policies with your intended sales channels. Proactive planning ensures your production choices support, not limit, your access to the market.
7. Editing Quality
Finally, AI-generated text can present unique challenges when it comes time for professional editing. Human writing has a natural voice, emotional nuance, and a personal style, while AI material often lacks these qualities. That means that there’s no consistent “author voice” for an editor to refine, making it difficult to shape the work into a polished, engaging book without rewrites to make them read naturally and better convey emotionality.
While AI-assisted tools used for brainstorming, outlining, or suggesting edits often integrate more smoothly into the editing process (since they supplement rather than replace human creativity), you should consider how these tools might impact your ability to achieve a high-quality and efficient edit.
A manuscript generated via AI in significant proportion may save time initially, but it can create significant downstream effort and risk, affecting the quality of your final book and its reception by readers and reviewers.
While polarizing to many, AI is a tool. And like any tool, how you use it matters.
Using AI for brainstorming or editing ideas may be fine at initial stages, but once a manuscript, cover, or illustrations incorporate AI-generated content, there are unfavourable consequences associated with copyright, award eligibility, reviews, and retail access that you need to be aware of. And if you decide to use AI tools, understand the distinction between support (AI-assisted) and substitution (generative AI). Writing is about connection. Readers want to invest in books with a human voice, perspective, and authentic experience.
AI is still in the nascent stages of development and will continue to expand what it can accomplish. Laws and policies will continue to develop. But one thing remains constant: thoughtful, original human authorship and storytelling is still at the heart of great books.
If you have any questions about AI use in modern bookmaking, please leave us a comment below! We’d love to hear your thoughts and perspectives.
