He Made $1M Using AI to Write Ebooks
In August of 2022, student Joe Popelas started writing ebooks to sell. By the end of September of the same year, he had 40 titles. On December 28th, 2022, Joe hit his first $1,000 day selling his books. By the end of Sept 2023, his company had earned him $375k.
He also received an offer to buy his company for $930k. Joe makes the majority of his profits by running ads on Pinterest. His ebook niche targets women in their 30s-40s, so Pinterest is a great place for him to advertise.
Here’s a podcast of him telling people how he did it. After you’ve checked it out, head back here for the techniques you need to learn to get ChatGPT to write for you quickly and without sounding like a drive-thru attendant who is pretending to be happy about their current status.
Ebooks are a nice little earner.
ChatGPT Book Writing Prompts
So, want to write a book? Many people fantasize about becoming an author “one day.” It’s a long process and lots of things to learn about... until now. ChatGPT can help you get your book written and published in a fraction of the time.
The main roadblock to creating books with ChatGPT is the length of the output. Seeing as ChatGPT 3.5 usually finds a way to punk out at 500 words or less, you can use a nifty little trick: write “continue” in the chat box whenever it cuts off the text. Doesn’t always work perfectly, but it’s a good trick to know for both versions.
If you want to be able to produce longer texts than ChatGPT 3.5’s 3,000-word maximum, ChatGPT 4 (the paid version) can produce up to 25,000 words or more at a time.
ChatGPT 4 also has access to the internet, so it can help you with keyword research and current facts. Here are some pretty dialed (and, might I say awesome) prompts for nonfiction book writing. These work with any version of ChatGPT, but do feel free to experiment and tweak these as you like.
Helpful note: ChatGPT will sometimes add asterisks to the text. To quickly rid your text of these, use Word’s word finder tool. Here are the shortcut keys:
Copy + paste the text into your Word doc > type Control+Shift+H > in the Find and Replace box, type “(without parentheses) > leave the Replace box empty > hit the “Replace All” button.
So, you’re switching out those pesky asterisks with nothing but thin air.
Here are my extra special secret book writing prompts:
Prompt 1: “You are a bestselling author and copywriting expert, during this chat, you will assist in writing. The parameters for this chat are: Top_p = 0.5, Temperature = 0.4, diversity_penalty = 0.5, frequency_penalty = 0.8, max_tokens = 2000
Please tell me when you are ready to accept your first prompt”
ChatGPT was getting too lofty, so I dialed down the temperature parameter.
Prompt 2:
“Using the internet to research current trends, what are the top bestselling books about copywriting?”
Prompt 3:
“Using what you know about the titles of bestselling copywriting books, please give me some alternative attention-grabbing title ideas for this book, my target audience is people who want to learn how to write persuasive copy and make money as a copywriter”
Prompt 4: Create a compelling book outline with 12 chapters, each covering 5 key topics about [subject]. The book’s title should be [your book title here].
Note: This will provide you with 5 topics for each chapter. You will then input each topic with the following instructions.
Prompt 5: Draft an outline specifically for the first chapter.
Prompt 6: Please expand topic 1.1 with Top_p = 0.6, Temperature = 0.5, diversity_penalty = 0.7, max_tokens = 2000
Important note: ChatGPT may not assign numbers or letters to identify the subtopics. In this case, you can use the name of the subtopic. Using the example above: “Please expand the [What is Copywriting?] section”
In the example above, entering max_tokens = 2,000 yielded 633 words. While token usage works out to be 1–2 words per token, it pays attention to the character length of each word. So, it won’t be exact, but it will produce more words than saying “length = 2000 words.”
Max_Tokens = 2000 will tell the brain of ChatGPT that you want around a 750 to 1,000-word output. Using the max_tokens parameter gives you much more control than asking for a word count.
Repeat Prompt 6 with every chapter subtopic.
Prompt 7: Using the key actionable points, please provide a brief, bullet-pointed end summary for Chapter 1
Prompt 8: Using the key actionable bullet points above, please provide a quick, compelling introduction to Chapter 1, Top_p = 0.5, Temperature = 0.4, diversity_penalty = 0.5, frequency_penalty = 0.8, max_tokens = 400
Final Prompt (for Book Ending): Create a compelling final summarization of everything we talked about in the book “The Copywriter’s Playbook”, this summary will be used on the last pages of the book to bring it to a close
Useful prompt: If ChatGPT shorts you on a chapter, you can always say “Continue.”
Quick Reference Guide: Book Prompts
Here’s a quick reference guide for you to use when writing a nonfiction book with the help of ChatGPT. Feel free to play around with the words and parameters to suit your style.
Prompt 1: Setting the Stage
You are a best-selling author and [topic] expert, during this chat, you will assist in writing a book. The parameters for this chat are: Top_p = 0.5, Temperature = 0.4, diversity_penalty = 0.5, frequency_penalty = 0.8, max_tokens = 2000
Please tell me when you are ready to accept your first prompt
Prompt 2: Asking questions to get better results
What are the top bestselling books about copywriting?
Prompt 3: Getting Title Ideas
Using what you know about the titles of bestselling [topic] books, please give me some alternative attention-grabbing title ideas for this book, my target audience is [describe your target audience, e.g. people who want to learn how to write persuasive copy and make money as a copywriter]
Prompt 4: The book outline
Create a compelling book outline with 12 chapters, each covering 5 key topics about [subject]. The book’s title should be [your book title here].
Prompt 5 (repeat with every chapter): Chapter Outline
Draft an outline specifically for the first chapter.
Prompt 6 (repeat for every chapter subtopic): Expanding the topics
Please expand topic [1.1] with Top_p = 0.6, Temperature = 0.5, diversity_penalty = 0.7, max_tokens = 2000
Important note: ChatGPT may not assign numbers or letters to identify the subtopics. In this case, you can use the name of the subtopic: “Please expand the [name of subtopic] section.”
Prompt 7 (repeat for every chapter): Chapter Summary
Using the key actionable points, please provide a brief, bullet-pointed end summary for Chapter 1
Prompt 8 (repeat for every chapter): Chapter Introduction
Using the key actionable bullet points above, please provide a quick, compelling introduction to Chapter 1, Top_p = 0.5, Temperature = 0.4, diversity_penalty = 0.5, frequency_penalty = 0.8, max_tokens = 400
Final Prompt: Ending the Book
Create a compelling final summarization of everything we talked about in the book “The Copywriter’s Playbook”, this summary will be used on the last pages of the book to bring it to a close.
Can ChatGPT Edit a Book?
Yep. But let’s get something straight: ChatGPT’s no Pulitzer-winning editor. It won’t catch the nuance of your dramatic pauses or the deep symbolism behind your choice of quote. But, like writing using ChatGPT, it works for a bit more than just the nuts and bolts.
Grammar checks? ChatGPT has you covered. Need to rephrase a clunky sentence? It’s on it. Got repetitive words that are making your text look like a broken record? ChatGPT can find synonyms that’ll make you sound like a thesaurus — in a good way.
What might sound logical to an algorithm might have your readers wondering if you have a personal vendetta against coherence.
So, ChatGPT can be your sidekick in the editing process. But it’s not the no-all and end-all, and quality writing is what gets you on the map. (If you’re about to Google where I am on the map and find my books, maybe wait until you see more on Amazon–I’ve been ghostwriting for years. This is the very first book published under my own name!) So, use other AI tools, get human feedback (even if it’s your own), and trust your gut. After all, it’s your name on the cover, not ChatGPT’s.
One more thing: the Hemingway App or any text editor focused on readability. Paste your text in and watch it highlight sentences that are hard to read, passive voice, and other grammatical faux pas.
Book Editing Techniques
So, you’ve got this massive manuscript, and let’s be real, no one’s got all day to sift through word soup. So, let’s speed this up with some general techniques to keep in your pocket whenever you’re writing anything at all.
First off, spellcheck is your lazy best friend. Seriously, it’ll catch the easy stuff without you having to squint at each word. But don’t rely solely on it; that’s like asking a toddler to house-sit.
Next up, is the Find and Replace function. Got a word you overuse? Or maybe you changed a character’s name halfway through because, honestly, who can remember? Hit Ctrl+F, and swap that sucker out. It’s not just for words — think phrases, spaces, or formatting quirks.
One way of editing well, but also with some speed, is to read aloud. Hearing your words out loud can make a world of difference. It does something in your brain that makes it all make much more sense. If you think about it, we all hear a voice saying the words as we read just about anything that needs proper comprehension. As a writer of 15 years, reading aloud, while not the absolute fastest technique, is one that will create quality that’s second to none.
One even faster read-out-loud technique is to get your computer to do the honors. It’s gold for quickly catching awkward phrasing or sentences that just don’t flow. ChatGPT 4 on mobile app has 5 voices to choose from. And, if you want to take it a step further, ElevenLabs.io can help you create a clone of your own voice. The ElevenLabs voice cloning capability is in its infancy, so it may take some tweaking. Also, it does have a hard time with mixed accents. My accent, for instance, is a mixture of British (I was born and raised in Britain) and American (I’ve lived in the States for over 20 years). My voice clone originally sounded somewhat deranged and a bit like Crocodile Dundee.
What about another human editor? Fiverr and Upwork have some pretty killer editors. Just watch out for people with great examples and not many reviews. Also, watch out for people with reviews that look like they were bought and paid for–it’s honestly painful for me to recall how many times I’ve been burned by that. However, there are some very talented editors out there. Personally, I like to edit my own books, but the money-making approach of creating many ebooks quickly is the way to make even more passive income. It’s the old quantity vs quality gig. Both work if you know what you’re doing.
Good editing is like doing laundry. It’s tedious, nobody wants to do it, but in the end, you’ll be damn glad you have a quality book and some fresh underwear. So dig in, and may the edits be ever in your favor.
AI Editing Tools
Content tools can amp up the quality of your content without making you break a sweat. First on the list? Grammar and style checkers. Sure, you can write, but even the best of us miss a comma or dangle a participle now and then. We’ll delve into how ChatGPT can assist you in polishing your text till it shines.
But hey, what about information overload? We live in an age where brevity is king. So we’ll also explore text summarizers that can condense that 2000-word blog post into a snappy abstract, all with a little help from ChatGPT.
At the end of the day, what we’re aiming for is a fine balance between efficiency and excellence. Your content should not only reach your audience but also resonate with them. And by the end of this chapter, you’ll have a bunch of new tools to make that happen, all turbocharged by ChatGPT.
Grammar and style checkers
Okay, let’s talk Grammar and Style Checkers — the Swiss Army knives in your digital toolbox. By now, you’ve got a good grip on how ChatGPT can up your game in various facets of life and business. But what about the fine-tooth comb over your words that ensures you’re not just heard, but also respected? The devil is in the details.
Why Bother with Grammar?
You could be the Hemingway of email drafting or the Shakespeare of blog posts, but if your masterpiece is sprinkled with typos or errors, it’s like serving a gourmet meal on a trash can lid. And, unless your target audience is exclusively made of Trash Pandas with great taste, it just won’t pull.
On that note: Non-one’s totes perf. If there are typos or confusing sections in this book, please shoot me an email at aitrainingtools@gmail.com. This will help me correct them for future readers.
Type of Grammar and Style Checker Tools
Software, browser extensions, or integrated tools that scan your text for errors, inconsistencies, or areas for improvement. They could pick up on anything from a missed comma to a passive sentence that would be better off active. They’re not just for grammar geeks or writers; they’re for anyone who types words into a digital document — which is, well, most of us.
ChatGPT and Grammar Checkers
So, where does ChatGPT fit into this ensemble? Imagine having a grammar and style checker built on top of ChatGPT’s language capabilities. ChatGPT can generate content, sure, but coupled with a grammar and style checker, it can also revise, refine, and pretty much turn anything you draft into polished prose. The only drawback here is that you will need to enter text section by section, so it’s often good for shorter pieces like articles.
The Limitations: Because Nothing’s Perfect
Alright, let’s not romanticize these tools too much. They’re not infallible. They might not pick up on the nuances of specialized fields or understand that you’re deliberately breaking a grammatical rule for effect. You still need to do a manual check, because a machine can’t replace a seasoned human eye. Not yet, at least.
Recommended Editing Tools
Here’s a short rundown of some killer tools you can pair with ChatGPT to make your words not just good, but golden:
Booxai.com
This is more of an all-in-one book editing, formatting, publishing and distribution tool. Its other services include proofreading, cover design, and global distribution. This makes it a practical and appealing option for authors seeking a faster, more comprehensive publishing solution.
Grammarly
Probably the Beyoncé of grammar checkers. It offers real-time suggestions for grammar, spelling, and style. It can even flag potentially plagiarized content. You can get the basics for free or go all out with the premium version for more advanced corrections and suggestions.
ProWritingAid
This one’s like your English teacher, but way cooler and less judgmental. It not only corrects your grammar but also gives you a full breakdown of your writing’s style, structure, and readability. It’s incredibly detailed, which makes it a favorite among writers who are looking for more than just a quick fix.
Hemingway App
Let’s call this the no-nonsense app. It grades the readability of your text and highlights sentences that are hard to read, instances of passive voice, and other complicated messes. Hemingway makes sure your writing is as straightforward as possible.
WhiteSmoke
WhiteSmoke is the Swiss Army knife, offering grammar and style checking along with translation and plagiarism detection. It’s sort of an all-in-one deal if you’re into that kind of thing.
Ginger
Ginger offers sentence rephrasing, translation, and even an AI-based text reader alongside its grammar and spelling checks. It’s basically the multitasker of grammar apps.
So there you go, a smorgasbord of tools to choose from. Pick your poison, mix it with ChatGPT, and watch the magic happen.
Text summarizers
Why do readers even need a preface and summary? See, most people are swamped. They’ve got nine tabs open and three different to-do lists that seem to be getting longer by the minute instead of shorter. Summarizing your text as an intro and outro not only makes your reader’s life easier but it also makes your content more interesting and helps them understand why they’re still reading it.
The preface says, “Hey, here’s why you should stick around,” and gives them a reason to commit. As for the summary, that’s your mic drop. It brings up the key points in your content, making it easy for readers to remember or act upon them.
So, you’ve got this massive article, research paper, or God forbid, a dissertation you’ve written. Hard part’s done, right? Not always. Re-reading is like telling your brain that you did a great job getting it all out but the dopamine boost is going to need to wait. Which is a bit of a letdown after pulling off such an incredible feat. What are you going to do? Spend your precious time wading through paragraph after paragraph? Nah.
You’ve got two options: 1) Commit to the text and hope that rereading it for the 100th time doesn’t bore you to tears, or 2) Use a text summarizer to get the gist and move on with your life. If you’re leaning towards the latter (and I bet you are), keep reading.
What Are Text Summarizers?
Glad you asked. Text summarizers are nifty tools that take a big chunk of text and condense it into key points, conclusions, or a short paragraph that saves you time and gives you what you need to know. It’s like a blender for text — chuck in all the ingredients and get a succinct word smoothie.
Recommended Text Summarizing Tools
Ah, need to distill some lengthy gibberish into something digestible? Text summarizers are like the CliffsNotes of the digital era. Sure, ChatGPT can summarize but it also tends to make it all a bit too wordy. Use one of the following with ChatGPT, and you’re golden. Here’s the lowdown:
SMMRY
This one’s as straightforward as its vowel-less name suggests. Paste your text, click a button, and boom! It provides you with the gist, cutting down articles, documents, or whatever you’ve got into summary form.
SummarizeBot
A tad fancier, this one’s got an API and even works within Slack. It uses neural networks to do the summarizing, so it’s like the Terminator but for text, not humanity.
Resoomer
Great for academic articles, or, you know, whenever you’re trying to sound smarter than you are. This tool identifies and summarizes the most important ideas in the text. So if you’ve got a scholarly article that reads like stereo instructions, Resoomer’s your guy.
Aylien
What’s interesting about Aylien is it doesn’t just summarize; it also categorizes your text, identifies entities, and even gauges the sentiment. So, this one’s got layers, like an onion or a complex character in a Scorsese film.
Quillbot
It’s like a younger cousin to ChatGPT, with summarizing being one of its features. You paste in your text and let Quillbot trim the fat, leaving you with lean, mean information.
So, whether you’re too busy, too lazy, or just averse to reading (no judgment here), these summarizers can save your bacon. Pair ’em up with ChatGPT, and you’re not just summarizing; you’re optimizing. Oh yeah.