Statistics are a good thing for writers!
I know you’ve been pushing down the intrusive thoughts you’ve been having about the AI armageddon.
But it’s impossible to ignore because AI is everywhere.
It’s a tough time to be a writer, isn’t it?
Especially when the tech bros are releasing shinier and shiner versions of our new ‘messiah’ with unrelenting glee.
Heck even companies that don’t need AI are putting terms like AI powered into their products.
It’s stuff like this that will make you spiral and convince you that you are obsolete.
Writing and graphic design are the first professions on the chopping blocks.
Even with the writing clearly on the wal, is your thinking about writers becomin obsolete correct?
Let’s do a deep dive and separate fact from fiction.
What Do You Bring To The Writing Table That Makes You Different
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the changes taking place.
You’ve seen the rise of AI experts across social media educating you on how to profit of AI tools. This happened from day one of the release of AI tools such as ChatGPT. You have to wonder how they were able to make so much money
In order to figure things out for yourself youshould ask questions.
What is a writer? A basic definition is anyone who produces written content.
This definition makes everyone a writer. This questions correctly identifies that everyone can become a writer
The next question you should ask yourself is, what makes your writing so special that it shouldn’t be replaced by GPTs?
This question established your Value Proposition.
Most writers don’t ask themselves this question enough. Some do ask but their quests hardly scratch the surface as they give superfluous answers being consciences of the world or voices of the voiceless.
This sounds great in theory, however, in the business world these philosophical statements don’t cut it because commerce relies on statistical proofs.
If you don’t provide a value proposition you’re grouped alongside everyone. Your value proposition must separate you from everyone.
There are a few writers who answer this question well and they get all the money.
Second question: Why does AI doing your work terrify you?
This is a creativity and innovation question. However, it still connects to your value proposition and identity.
When writing is taken away from you, what remains? It’s easy to understand the world when we have categories to help us think.
When AI takes over your job does it change you as a person?
Questions provide a critical thinking framework that help you think with clarity about what is happening within the writing industry.
Innovation helps you showcase your value.
You should know where you are in your industry. You should study the trends created by AI.
If you see yourself as a writer just because they string words together for comprehension then your career as a writer is going down the drain.
It’s not the end of the world if you can keep your wits about you when everything seems to be falling apart.
Why am I selling you my own opprobrium filled ‘hopium’ ?
You’ll realise that there are some things that AI tools will never do well.
Even with the promises of AGI they will never get emotion. Emotions play an important part of creating audiences, building brands, capturing and retaining customers
However, you must quantify all these factors such as emotions even though we have been told its not quantifiable.
What is Generative AI doing that Writers were doing and What isn’t it doing?
Generative AI is a tupe of artificial intelligence that can create text, audio (music) , image and video that looks like it was made by a human.
Using appropriately tuned prompts Generative AI can help you :
1. Generate ideas: AI can suggest topics, article and book outlines, themes, and concepts for writing.
2. Assist with research: AI can help gather information, data, and resources for writing.
3. Write first drafts: AI can create initial drafts, such as articles, blog posts, or even entire books.
4. Improve grammar and syntax: AI can refine writing by correcting errors and enhancing clarity.
5. Optimize content: AI can suggest improvements for search engine optimization (SEO).
6. Translate content: AI can translate text from one language to another.
But it can’t help you with:
1. Original creativity: AI struggles to replicate human creativity, nuance, and emotional depth.
2. Contextual understanding: AI may not fully grasp context, leading to misinterpretations or inaccuracies.
3. Tone and voice: AI can struggle to replicate a specific tone, voice, or style.
4. High-level editing: AI may not catch subtle errors or suggest significant improvements.
5. Fact-checking: AI can perpetuate misinformation if trained on biased or inaccurate data.
6. Emotional resonance: AI-generated content may lack the emotional resonance and empathy of human writing.
The AIs have access to tons of information and compared to you will take mere seconds to dig something up and make it look comprehensible. It has us beat on that score.
In other words they are:
- Generating content quickly [some of it is repetitive]
- Accessing a larger trove of information [sometimes leads to so called hallucinations]
- Reducing the amount of time you spend on research and writing
And the innovators are promising it will only get better from here.
However, for all their impressive features. There is still stuff that humans do better.
In a twist I believe that AIs will optimise you as a writer and bring to the fore your most valuable skills.
Generative AI is taking away the basics that everyone can do. You have to raise the bar as a writer of the future.
What Do Writers Do
Take a look at writer salaries on job listing sites and you’ll see that most writers don’t make a lot of money.
If you cross reference that data with what an ordinary family of four needs to live comfortably in the USA you’ll see the stark reality of most writers. Tell us where you live, what your training routine looks like and what matters to you. We'll shape a practical guide around focus and learning.Your gluten-free life isn't generic. Your guide shouldn't be.
Here is the salary scale of different writers. This information is an amalgamation of statistics gathered from different websites such as glassdor.com, flexijobs.com, indeedjobs.com
The average salaries vary across different markets in the USA. I am using the US market as the standard, because it still captures my points regardless of where you’re globally.
Unless you become a famous writer your earnings will be critically low, especially for the effort that most writers put in.
ZipRecruiter says the average salary for a writer is 28500 compared to income needed to live comfortably as a single adult is 116,032 and for a family of four its 235000
Are you ready to put metrics to measure value to an organisation? Writing is said to be subjective. You can have a hit or miss novel, movie or blog. However, this is the mindset of a writer that wants to avoid ‘commercialisation’ of their art.
The refusal to act like you’re a business has gotten many writers into trouble.
- They focus on their ideas and not what serves people (the market)
- They assume noble intentions should be rewarded with adulation.
The painful part most writers miss is everyone has an opinion.
Just because you call yourself a writer, doesn’t mean that your opinions will have more value than those of ordinary people.
All you have to do is have a look across the internet. Everyone is busy sharing their opinions about every subject conceivable. Why should you stand out?
The journalism fraternity has been fighting against the rise of ‘untrained’ people sharing their opinions because they view themselves (journalists) as the arbiters of truth.
That world disappeared a long time ago. The collapse of print newspapers across the globe is further proof that times have changed.
The type of writing that matters to corporations helps organisations achieve growth through customer acquisitions and revenue generation. It is measurable against organisation growth goals:
- Growth
- Customer Acquisition and Retention
- Conversions
- Customer feedback
Your impact should be seen through statistics.
Business is a cutthroat field. Everything is measured. You have to see yourself as a business competing in the global marketplace.
Writers who make money focus on:
Problem solving: Helping their audience reach their goals.
Critical Thinking: Testing and evaluating ideas to determine their value.
Why should a company hire you instead of automating? Do you add critical value to the growth trajectory of the company. Even when you’re freelancing, are you measuring your work through using different metrics?
You need to define yourself as more than a work or a certification identity.
As a writer you’re not writing for writing’s sake. You have an end goal in mind, in order to achieve it, you have to understand people.
Psychology and design are important aspects of writing,
You’ll stay relevant if you understand that writing is a craft that encompasses different skills.
- Sales and marketing
- Psychology
- Persuasion
Everyone can become a writer but a limited number can really master the craft of using words to move the masses.
All the above has emotional value.
- Do you understand your client’s or audience’s needs and motivations?
- Do you tailor content for different audiences and channels [email campaigns and social media content that respond to business goals]
- Do you write a copy that achieves its goals? [Increase conversion rates]
- Do you understand customer intents?
You are writing for the consumer and not to titillate your brain.
If you’re honest you want people to value your work.
Whenever you create ebooks, books, blog posts, poetry, short stories, screenplays, technical and copywriting your goals are:
- To share complex ideas in a simple, educative and inspirational manner
- To share important stories in a compelling way that engages readers
- To communicate ideas and messages that effectively inform readers
- To build, increase and establish brand awareness and thought leadership.
- To drive sales and conversions
This can only be done through:
- Deeply understanding psychology and human (user) behaviour
- Conducting user research
- Crafting a content strategy
- Applying critical thinking and design principles when writing
Break The Rules: What Are You Supposed To Do As A Writer in the AI Age?
It’s time to think differently about your writing.
If the generative tools result in end of the job market this means that
- Writing reached its zenith/Ceiling there is nothing beyond what’s there now.
- AI will end human problems, there are no longer system inefficiencies that need to be solved. In other words, there is no need for work or business.
- Human evolution has ended because the human brain can’t be transformed as its been surpassed
How true are the above?
For example when AI is trained on AI generated data it produces ‘nonsensical outputs’, they call this model collapse. For AI to do what it’s doing now it depends on human data.
This could be a big opportunity for writers because human data is finite.
In order to avoid homogenization enterprises will need troves of human data. Where are they going to get the data from?
You can break the rules with this information and think differently about your writing business and identity.
It’s time to think deeply about what makes you a writer.
Understanding the Disparity in Perception Between Writers and High Paying Careers Through KPIs
As a writer you cannot divorce the perception of ordinary people and business. Value is something that some writers choose to iffy about.
Commodification is seen as corrupting artistic work. When written work is commodified it loses its value according to some writers.
If you choose to be lofty by worrying about creative freedom and artistic integrity you’ll struggle to make money.
You can still retain creative freedom and artistic integrity without selling your soul, and still make money. Writers are the ones who are driving the perception that their work has no monetary value.
Let’s look at the perception matrix that affects writers contrasted with the highly regarded career of a doctor:
The Tangibility of Outcomes
- Doctors: Saved lives, cured illnesses, and reduced pain are quantifiable metrics that directly impact patients. These outcomes of a doctor’s work are often immediately tangible and measurable.
- Writers: The impact of a writer’s work is often more subjective and delayed. While a successful book or film can have a profound influence, the metrics are often softer, such as reader reviews, sales figures, or critical acclaim.
The Nature of the Product
- Doctors: The product of a doctor’s work is a service directly addressing a physical or mental health need. This is generally perceived as essential to human life.
- Writers: The product of a writer’s work is often seen as a form of entertainment or intellectual stimulation. While valuable, it’s often categorised as a luxury or discretionary item.
Societal Perception and Value
- Doctors: Society often places a high value on those who directly save lives or improve physical well-being. This is reflected in societal status, compensation, and respect.
- Writers: While valued for their contributions to culture and knowledge, writers often face challenges in achieving the same level of societal recognition and financial reward as doctors.
Measurable Outcomes and KPIs
- Doctors: Have a clear set of KPIs, such as patient survival rates, recovery times, and complication rates. These metrics are easily quantifiable and comparable.
- Writers: While KPIs exist (sales, readership, awards), they are often more varied and subjective. Additionally, the impact of a writer’s work on society is often harder to quantify directly.
You can chew my head off for an over simplified comparison which doesn’t take into consideration different challenges each face. Many writers have a significant impact on society, and many doctors face challenges beyond the scope of this analysis.
However, the disparity in perception is what I needed to point out.
Writers are guilty of not putting value behind the work they do. You’re not doing neurosurgery, however, writing generates billions in direct and indirect revenue to corporations annually.
Purists writers hate the commodification of society. They see it as their duty to be untainted by monetary reward because it will make them corruptible
They don’t want their ideas to be influences by advertising dollars
I can understand this class of writers, however, their goals and values are different from the rest of the writers.
Look at different careers compared to writers. You should understand the skills matrix that gives people in these fields their monetary value.
When we are talking about writing we are not talking about something that everyone can do.
It takes training and time to be a skilled ux or copywriter. In these cases you have to learn other skills like design and psychology.
All in all there are some writing tasks that you don’t have to struggle with in order to be considered a writer. AI can help you automate some processes that will give you power over big publishing giants.
I get the biggest challenge that you have is it’s not just writing jobs that will be taken away but a whole slew of jobs are on the chopping block.
In this scenario who will writers be writing for and who will be the audience? For the purists writers this shouldn’t be a problem because their motivation wasn’t monetary.
Who will be your clients and audience when the economy transforms?
I don’t have a firm answer beyond encouraging you to stay in the game because the outcomes are not set in stone. It’s also easier to see opportunities.
There are many possibilities. You could see a rise of new business models, which could see a need for new types of writing being deployed. I know I am reaching but that’s the best answer I can give for now.
Final Thoughts: What Are Companies Looking For
If you take writers to be the same across the board without accounting for skillset you can miss the writing intense roles that corporations depend on.
The economic reality is that companies are looking for talent that will:
- Drive revenue growth
- Contribute to their market valuation
- Increase their reputation amongst investors, clients and the general public
Everyone can write.
You have to offer more than an ability to string words together.
Writing is seen as a supporting function rather than a revenue generating role.
It’s up to you to demonstrate that your type of writing is doing what your targeted audience wants.
You have an understandable fear that AI generated content will create a glut. However, truly creative work will be limited.
The very things that make writers squirmy are what will get them noticed and valued:
You need to quantify the impact by not being afraid to show how your written work is driving customer engagement, conversions, web traffic and lead generation.
You should document case studies/success stories that will highlight how your writing has driven business growth, solved problems and or improved organisational culture.
Companies want to know what ROI their workforce is bringing in. You can demonstrate this by customer satisfaction, increased sales and improved brand reputation.
Numbers are very important. Even if you’ve chosen to be a novelist your success is measured by statistics.
Don’t forget that you’re now a company thanks to the internet. In other words you should also be measuring your work according to the three metrics given above.
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