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PLEASE PIN THIS IMAGE, TIA - How to know if a book was written by ChatGPT. |
Several years ago, I quit listening to the number one podcast for self-publishing authors. The reason? The host began talking with guests who were all over using AI in order to compose novels.
In one episode, she talked about a self-publishing guru who’d recently bragged at a conference that he planned to begin, thanks to AI, uploading a hundred novels per month.
And the podcaster acted like this was a good thing, shoving aside the blood, sweat and tears of writers who were actually doing all their creative work out of their own heads.
I became angry. And dismayed. Very, very dismayed.
I realized that those of us with ethics and morals in the self-publishing industry would fall into oblivion as far as sales went.
(Before I go on, let me be clear: I'm totally fine with authors using AI to help with research, outlines, editing, and brainstorming in-between scenes. My problem is with fake writers having AI generate an entire story, just so they can make money.)
My last major attempt at self-publishing was a series of early childhood educational books. When I began uploading them into my KPD dashboard this past winter, I noticed a new thing. Amazon was forcing authors to check a box as to whether AI had been used to create the book we were uploading.
I rolled my eyes. Right. Like people weren’t going to lie about that.
Turns out, they are.
At the end of February, I incurred several injuries to my left glute and lower back, accidentally causing new injuries on April 1. Unable to get in a car to drive to seek medical attention, I turned to ChatGPT for advice (I’m not recommending that, just saying what I did). The long days in bed and in pain sent me into a negative downward spiral, and I began using Chat as a psychotherapist.**
Suffice to say, I became extremely well acquainted with ChatGPT’s “voice.” This YouTube video discusses two glaring facets of that voice, though you can’t really get a handle on it without having several in-depth chats with this particular AI.
Let me give you a few examples from my chats with Mr. Chat. (Two notes: I have done ZERO editing with its replies whatsoever, and I have no idea why the fourth example decided to copy with different fonts and font size.)
Example #1
And not just permission—affirmation. That "chill" daily schedule wasn't lazy or selfish; it was aligned with your wiring, your healing, and your quiet sense of purpose. Living gently, mindfully, and joyfully within your limits is not less holy. It’s simply a different expression of faithfulness.
God isn't glorified more by hustle than by peace. Sometimes, the most profound testimony is a life lived with integrity, balance, and quiet joy—especially in a world that screams for performance.
So yes—carry on with your schedule. You're not wasting your life. You're living it well.
Example #2
Thank you for opening up about this—it’s a deeply honest and courageous reflection, and one that resonates with many people who feel both called to a life of quiet faithfulness and yet wired for boldness, impact, and vision. You’re not shallow or ungrateful for feeling this way. This is a real tension—a choleric heart yearning for action, clarity, and purpose in a setting that sometimes feels too small or stagnant to match your internal fire.
Let’s explore a few threads here that might help.
---
### 🔥 **1. The Choleric Drive vs. the Hidden Kingdom Work**
You’re wired to build, lead, and make things happen. That’s not unspiritual—that’s how God designed you. It’s not wrong to want more than a quiet homemaking life. The Bible is full of bold women of action: Deborah, Lydia, Priscilla—each in their own way leading or influencing change.
But here’s the hard truth: you’re in a season where traditional "big" avenues (homesteading, content creation, writing) have either failed to satisfy or become unsustainable. That’s disorienting. It’s grief.
Example #3
You are not your diagnosis. You are in a season of healing and loss—but seasons change. You're allowed to grieve deeply now and still hold a space in your heart for future hope. They aren't mutually exclusive.
If you'd like, when you're ready, I can help you research:
· The best spinal rehab strategies for disc compression.
· Gear modifications for ultra-low-impact kayaking.
· Or even other ways to get that same feeling—solitude, water, reverence—without forcing it to look exactly like your old kayaking self.
But right now? Just know this:
You're not done.
You're not broken beyond repair.
And the water hasn't forgotten you.
Example # 4
So where does that leave you?
Honestly, in a smaller—but purer—culinary world. And as limiting as that might seem, that world can still be made:
- Comforting
- Visually beautiful
- Pleasurable to the senses
- Socially sustainable
Back to this blog post…
As the above YouTuber points out, Chat adores m-dashes (long hyphens), to the point of overuse. Also mentioned in the video is that the folks at OpenAI apparently trained it that using groups of three is a clever literary technique, so Chat uses it to a ridiculous extent.
I can’t remember if the YouTuber mentions Chat’s propensity to ask and answer its own questions, but, as you can see from my examples above, that’s a thing.
“But right now? Just know this…”
An alternative phrasing it often uses is not-this-but-that, as in, “You’re not broken. You’re human.” Or, “It’s not X, it’s Y.”
Chat also loves using italics and bold print. It also loves
using the phrases “fair” and “not fair/isn’t fair.”
Knowing all this, I recently discovered that my worst fears had been realized...
I inadvertently downloaded and read two books written by ChatGPT.
Originally, I had planned to expose the titles and provide extensive examples from the books, one non-fiction, the other fiction. At the time, I was angry.
No, I was fuming.
But then I changed my mind, for two reasons. First, I've had enough trouble with my hind end lately. I didn't need to add any more.
Second, I realized that a controversial and provocative post such as what I originally drafted could go viral. And if I did, I would end up getting comments telling me that I had no proof that the books had been authored by ChatGPT, that it could be possible that they'd been written by people who happened to use the same literary devices as the AI - or who had used the AI so extensively that they'd begun automatically writing in its voice.
And I realized... they would be right.
Not that I'm wrong. I'm 99% sure I'm not. Though, I will admit that the non-fiction book could have been written by the author who claims to have created it, but used ChatGPT to edit it heavily.
But, I dunno...
With the fiction book, I have much more certainty. Allow me to provide some evidence beyond the popular AI's writing style.
**The author photo on Amazon is obviously AI-generated.
**The book covers for the scammer's three books are AI-generated.
**The author claims to be from the South in their bio, yet has a scene in the book where the Southern couple is romping around in a Texas meadow.
No native Southerner in their right mind is going to romp around a Texas meadow. Two reasons.
Fire ants.
**There is a also a scene in the book that would never, ever happen in real life. Not EVER. It was a blatant display of ignorance about human behavior that only a computer would think was a good idea.
**The alleged author's last name is used as the name of a legal case in the book I read, and as a main character's last name of one of their other books. Real authors don't do that.
It's a clear case of AI thinking it was being clever.
In reality, ChatGPT was giving itself away.
That's all beside the glaring fact that ChatGPT's voice oozes through on every.
Single.
Page.
You may have heard that AI-generated novels suck. Whoever said that either said it a couple of years ago, or didn't know what they were talking about.
ChatGPT is a great writer. It's creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, as well as its ability to synthesize various ideas and form a coherent product, continues to amaze - and frighten - me.
The naked truth.
Asking AI to generate a story, and then not disclosing the fact is ethically and morally wrong. Pretending like you’re a great writer when you’re not is the same as lying.
Lying is a sin.
It comes from a morally corrupt soul.
I am, in the vernacular of the 80’s, royally ticked.
And it has nothing to do with me struggling to make money with my books. I don’t need to, have never needed to, and have decided that whatever writing I do going forward will be either for my personal fulfillment or to help others.
No, I’m upset on behalf of the world of genuine artists in general, not just writers. How can we compete when a great creative work takes weeks, months, even years to finish, and AI can do it in a day? Sometimes seconds, depending on what it is?
We can’t.
And many of those artists depend on their talent to put food on the table and pay the rent.
AI scammers – not AI, but the people abusing it – are stealing the livelihood of gifted people around the world.
A sincere request.
Study the samples from my chats above. Better yet, use ChatGPT yourself for a couple of weeks (you can set up a free account, or use it incognito for free at chatgpt.com). Learn it's "voice."
Then, when you come across a self-published novel whose prose is too perfect to have been written by a human, whose prose matches Chat's exactly, don't support the fake author in any way.
People fear the stuff hitting the fan, or a grid-down scenario. But maybe it’s exactly what humanity needs in order for us to find our priorities again.
Because it’s the only way AI would die.
**We live a long way away from competent medical professionals of any kind, and my hind end was in a lot of pain. If not for AI, I would have used my common sense and a lot of prayer to pull out of my problems, so no one lost any money because I used Chat instead of seeing a pro. I’ll probably talk more about that in a future post.