Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Since late 2022, the number of new ebooks published on Amazon every month has TRIPLED — from 100,000 to 300,000 — and researchers say the rise tracks almost exactly with the adoption of AI. One author admitted to publishing 200 AI-generated novels in a single year, under 21 pen names.
So is this judgment day for writers? Sort of. But not in the way you think.
In this video, I look at what the AI flood actually does to authors and readers: why discovery is about to get harder, why being unmistakably YOU is becoming the only marketing that matters, what happens when AI starts training on its own output, and the strange future of stories generated just for you — perfectly pleasurable, impossible to share, and maybe the end of culture as a campfire.
SOURCES
The NBER study (Reimers & Waldfogel): nber.org/papers/w34777
Jane Friedman on the "200 novels" story: janefriedman.com/imho-why-im-grateful-for-the-new-york-times-article-on-ai-romance
WORK WITH HUMAN PROFESSIONALS —
Meet 3,000+ vetted editors, designers, and marketers on Reedsy: reedsy.com
CHAPTERS
00:00 – 200,000 AI books a month
02:40 – The flood: why nobody will find your book
05:30 – Weird is the new cool
07:18 – The editor question: would you work for free?
09:35 – When AI eats its own homework
10:44 – Books as drugs: the personalization problem
13:49 – The death of the shared story
14:55 – Things to keep close in the AI future
FIND REEDSY HERE:
Blog: reedsy.com/blog
Facebook: facebook.com/wearereedsy
Twitter: twitter.com/ReedsyHQ
Instagram: instagram.com/reedsy_hq
Discord: discord.gg/CwPeJ3U5jQ
Since late 2022, the number of new ebooks published on Amazon every month has TRIPLED — from 100,000 to 300,000 — and researchers say the rise tracks almost exactly with the adoption of AI. One author admitted to publishing 200 AI-generated novels in a single year, under 21 pen names.
So is this judgment day for writers? Sort of. But not in the way you think.
In this video, I look at what the AI flood actually does to authors and readers: why discovery is about to get harder, why being unmistakably YOU is becoming the only marketing that matters, what happens when AI starts training on its own output, and the strange future of stories generated just for you — perfectly pleasurable, impossible to share, and maybe the end of culture as a campfire.
SOURCES
The NBER study (Reimers & Waldfogel): nber.org/papers/w34777
Jane Friedman on the "200 novels" story: janefriedman.com/imho-why-im-grateful-for-the-new-york-times-article-on-ai-romance
WORK WITH HUMAN PROFESSIONALS —
Meet 3,000+ vetted editors, designers, and marketers on Reedsy: reedsy.com
CHAPTERS
00:00 – 200,000 AI books a month
02:40 – The flood: why nobody will find your book
05:30 – Weird is the new cool
07:18 – The editor question: would you work for free?
09:35 – When AI eats its own homework
10:44 – Books as drugs: the personalization problem
13:49 – The death of the shared story
14:55 – Things to keep close in the AI future
FIND REEDSY HERE:
Blog: reedsy.com/blog
Facebook: facebook.com/wearereedsy
Twitter: twitter.com/ReedsyHQ
Instagram: instagram.com/reedsy_hq
Discord: discord.gg/CwPeJ3U5jQ
