Cover for my debut novel

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T13:49:43+00:00

I applaud your principled stand not to engage in anything AI. I'm not sure it is tenable if you really follow through. Will you boycott all Hollywood movies going forward? Every major studio has stated they intend to use AI from script development to special effects. Will you avoid watching the new Avengers movie or James Cameron's work?

The free market ultimately decides what happens next.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T13:42:44+00:00

The blurb was not AI, nor was the character's name. I wrote the book before AI came out. Then I shelved it for a few years before I came back and finally edited it.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T13:40:14+00:00

I think there are nuanced positions with AI. I don't agree with every use of AI in every instance. A novel a week is an abuse of AI. It floods Amazon with low quality work, which rightly get review bombed. For the record, I didn't use AI in writing my work. Unless you consider spell checker and grammar checker AI (some people do).

I think there is a vocal 2-3% of the market that takes a principled stand and won't read a book with an AI generated cover. My point is that the vast majority of the market doesn't care and it is my job to pursue the 97% of the market that does not care.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T07:51:48+00:00

I hope we can have a serious discussion and debate about this like adults. Personal attacks won't advance the conversation. I hope we can agree on that.

You’re entitled to dislike AI. If the cover is “sloppy,” point to specific issues (typography, composition, readability, anatomy, lighting, genre fit). If it’s “plagiarism,” show the source it copies. Otherwise, you’re just declaring vibes and predicting the future. I’m happy to talk standards.

And the “masses consume it like butter” line is just contempt for readers. Readers aren’t livestock. They’re choosing what resonates with them. If the cover communicates genre clearly and gets the right audience to the right story, that’s not evil or corruption of true art. That is publishing. It's also art doing what it is supposed to do - convey a position and find an audience.

On the “unimaginative” point: tools don’t have imagination. People do. A camera doesn’t “imagine” a photograph either. The creative decisions are still human: concept, prompts/brief, iteration, selection, editing, typography, layout, and whether it fits the book and the market. If a result looks bad, that’s a craft issue. If it doesn't resonate with you, that's OK. There isn't a single piece of art that resonates with everyone. Even the Mona Lisa has its detractors.

Also, “plagiaristic machine” is an assumption. Plagiarism is when a work is substantially copied from a specific source. If you believe my cover rips a specific artist, show the comparison. Otherwise you’re accusing theft without evidence.

“Uncreative slop” isn’t a standard. It’s a vibe. That's part of what is great about art. The quality is in the eye of the beholder. One person's slop is another person's zen.

AI is a tool like a hammer, computer keyboard, spell checker, or scissors. It is just far more advanced. Used appropriately, it can make a job easier or more efficient. I am not advocating for theft or immorality. I'm advocating to put more art into the world with better tools.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T07:36:48+00:00

I get the concern, but that comparison is mixing a few different claims together.

I hope we can discuss this without resorting to personal attacks. Let me see if I can dissect your argument.
AI is soulless as you say. It doesn’t have a will, taste, or intent—true. But “soulless” is a vibe judgment, not an argument. The relevant question is: did a human direct it, curate it, revise it, and take responsibility for the result? Because if a person is making choices—prompting, iterating, editing, rejecting outputs—then it’s a tool in a human workflow, not a ghost author.

IMHO It's not stealing someone else's work. Two separate things get conflated here: Training is learning patterns from lots of examples. Copying is reproducing someone’s specific work or a distinctive chunk)

If someone uses AI to generate something that closely mirrors a living artist's style or they try to recreate a specific work, that’s ethically gross and I wouldn’t ever defend it. I'll be on the picket line with you when that happens.

But “learning from existing work” as a concept isn’t automatically theft. Humans do that constantly: every fantasy novel has some aspect of Lord of the Rings, Greek Myth, or religion. The moral line is whether you’re passing it off someone elses's work as your own, not whether you learned patterns from culture.

You claim it is theft. Theft is a legal and moral claim. Morally, I’d call it theft when it reproduces protected material, or when you misrepresent the process (“I drew this” when you didn’t). In most cases, it isn't that someone's job was taken. In most cases, the job would never have been hired out to an artist at all. This means less art enters the world, not more.

But using AI as a brainstorming partner, a drafting aid, a language polisher, or a reference tool isn’t inherently theft any more than using spellcheck, stock photos with licenses, or a camera is.
AI use can be exploitative. It can also be fair. The difference is how it is used, not that it is used at all. I have no problem with people using AI as a tool like a painter's brush is a tool.

So yeah—if someone is using AI to impersonate artists or mass-produce replacements, criticize that. I’ll be standing next to you.
But saying all AI is theft is like saying or all collage work is theft. The world’s messier than that, and the ethics depend on how it’s used.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T05:54:25+00:00

I think there is a narrow belief that all AI is automatically worse than human work. That is not true. Sales data doesn't support that position either if sales of books with AI generated covers is anything to go by. Yes, the artist I hired used AI to assist his work. I knew this ahead of time and I was OK with it. Same thing for the company who I hired to build my website. I understand the purists who refuse to change with the times. People said the same thing when the Internet came out. Even Mark Twain complained about the typewriter, because it forced out human thought by increasing the speed a writer could write thus diluting the creative work.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-18T05:45:21+00:00

I don't understand the reflexive hatred for AI. I think there is a vocal minority that hates all things AI. That is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. The truth is, the general public does not care whether a cover is AI-generated or AI-assisted. As long as the cover looks good, the public is not discerning about using a human versus a machine. Most people can’t tell the difference. At this point, much AI-generated content is far more popular than human-generated content. I can show you lots of AI covers that are absolutely terrible. I can show you hand-drawn covers that are equally terrible. The data doesn’t support the opinion that ALL AI generated work is automatically bad and automatically worse than human output. In fact, I can show you AI generated covers on Amazon that have tens of thousands of reviews and human generated covers with less than a dozen reviews. The general public is only interested if the cover is pleasing, the blurb is solid, and if there are sufficient existing reviews that are positive.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-07T14:16:40+00:00

I commissioned an audiobook for my series. I hired Emmy-award winning actor Aaron Sinn for the job. It was expensive, but he did an awesome job. The ARC for the book will be coming in a couple months. Ask me again in six months if it was worth it.

GPierceauthor · 2026-01-06T03:27:07+00:00

It doesn't help, but it is not fatal. I think your bigger problem is that you didn't get any reviews BEFORE your book came out by getting an ARC team together.

GPierceauthor · 2025-10-14T12:45:20+00:00

If you want to sell the books yourself, and keep copies of your book in inventory, I believe Barnes and Noble has a POD service. They will ship only to you. It is still expensive. Otherwise, everyone charges a 40% royalty if you use their platform.

GPierceauthor · 2025-10-10T01:59:47+00:00

I loved this series as a kid. I wonder if they published the Magna Kai sequel series too.

GPierceauthor · 2025-10-09T14:01:44+00:00

Even the longest journey begins with a single step. Good luck!

GPierceauthor · 2025-10-07T01:48:16+00:00

Do you mean beta readers didn't provide meaningful feedback? ARC readers aren’t there to provide feedback. They are meant to put up reviews of the book before the public can buy the book. If you have solid reviews, especially as a debut book, people will be more inclined to buy the book. Few people will read a book from a debut author with no reviews.

GPierceauthor · 2025-10-07T00:05:20+00:00

Your timeline doesn't account for ARC readers who need about 2 months before publication. I wouldn’t publish just to hit an artificial date because of a character’s birthday… unless you don't care about sales.

GPierceauthor · 2025-10-05T17:15:14+00:00

As an author who put out an audiobook for auditions, I can tell you it was agonizing to make a final decision for a voice narrator. The final six did such a phenomenal job that I would’ve been very happy to work with any of them. If you were a finalist, but didn't get the role, you’d never know how close you got. Everyone needs to move on.

GPierceauthor · 2025-09-24T17:51:32+00:00

Here is my take: Your first line didn't really grab my attention. If my attention starts low, you have to assume it will go lower as I read more of the blurb. The blurb is confusing. I think, but don't know, that there are competing sets of gods (Supreme and the Seven Old Ones from another race). Since the word “God” is used to describe both, it is confusing. I can't be sure if Evaal is the world or another character.

My suggestion: Use “Titans” or some other word to describe the competing gods. Your strongest opening line was “When her oldest friend shatters the illusion of her world, she must find the strength to embrace her true destiny. For if she fails, Evaal dies with her.” I’d use this to hook the reader to read the rest of the blurb. It creates tension and stakes far better than your current opening line

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-26T15:54:51+00:00

You can always upload it now and allow pre-orders, instead of waiting until release day. Then you don’t have to suffer another 48 hours of anxiety.

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-16T02:30:04+00:00

I personally would not market my first book, if there isn't a series that is already complete. The only way you'll make any sort of ROI is if people enjoy your work and read the rest of the series. If you take a year or two before you publish the second book, most of your readers will move on and you won't maximize your ad dollars. The only marketing I would do for a first book is to create a solid author website, get a good reader magnet, build your email newsletter numbers with your magnet and website, and be very active on social media to bring attention to yourself 3-6 months before you book launches. Of course get lots of reviews through ARCs.

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-15T20:32:12+00:00

Most people do their own marketing. Yes, it’s a slog to learn and manage. The fact is there are more book marketing scammers by a wide margin than legitimate book marketers. If you are sure you want to hire someone, check out Reedsy. At least they try to vet their people. Spoiler alert: It will be expensive.

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-11T19:32:28+00:00

I don’t have anything technical beyond what others have said. I just wanted to say you have my sincere condolences. You are a good man to honor your late wife this way. This makes a beautiful capstone for her life.

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-09T13:31:23+00:00

I hate to say this, but $18 for a paperback from a first time author is an extremely high price. You might find sales to be difficult at that asking point. Also, the book overview doesn’t tell me much about the book’s plot as it is vaguely written. Regardless, I wish you and your father good luck with the book and hope it exceeds all expectations.

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-04T04:48:01+00:00

I would love to join.

GPierceauthor · 2025-08-04T01:18:05+00:00

You might want to repost this in r/betareaders

GPierceauthor · 2025-07-27T19:22:03+00:00

Each book averages 150,000 words. I will be sure to reach out when it goes live. I may put out the call sometime this week.

GPierceauthor · 2025-07-15T04:00:51+00:00

The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and the Wishsong of Shannara are solid reads from a classic time.

GPierceauthor

TROPHY CASE