My Stance on AI in Fiction

There's a lot of choice out there for people looking to read new fiction, be it eBook, paperback, or hardcover.

Unfortunately, something I and other authors have noticed is the rise in AI assisted, or created, fiction.

As someone for whom marketing is the day job, and has been working in content for almost 15 years, I am very familiar with the way AI works and the tells it gives off.

While I certainly won't be naming names, there are sadly some contemporaries of mine on Amazon whose work -- consisting of 300-400 page books published in rapid time -- features these hallmarks.

Faced with this, I have decided to make my stance on AI very clear and easily findable for anyone wondering how I write my books and the tools I use. This post will go on both my website blog, Goodreads profile blog, and on my Facebook page.

If you're reading this on Facebook, embedded links will be posted in the top comment since Meta only allows a couple of in-post links per month now.

So, here we go.

Writing

Anyone who read the slightly error-prone first editions of The Boar and the Eagle, and more than a few of my friends who have the author's proof copies on their shelves, will be able to tell you that I DO NOT use AI in any facet of writing my books.

This is a story I wanted to tell, and it's a story I have had the immense privilege to be able to share with the people who have bought my books. Caro, Iactos, Gallo, Rufus, Cornelia, Korbis et al. are all my own creation, and the licence I have taken with historical figures is my own.

My research is done using the academic reference books I've had since my university days, some exceptional recent historiography, and too many nights laying up in bed reading Wikipedia entries and their references on my phone.

In terms of tools: I use Google Docs for drafting -- though I'm told I shouldn't due to Google's AI policies and ability scrape data. I've been meaning to move to something else but haven't found the right software yet.

Proof-reading in the initial drafting stages is done with the help of Grammarly and many many many re-reads. The developmental editing of the finished first draft is done by myself to save on costs. Line-by-line edits are done by a rotating cast of editors on Fiverr, and a final edit by me before publication.

Beta reads are handled by some very trustworthy and capable friends of mine.

Cover Design

When I first published The Boar and the Eagle the cover was designed entirely by me in the Paint.Net image editing software. You can still find this cover on Goodreads. If you're reading this on the blog, you can see it in all its glory.

This is why I do have to disclose something. The Roman soldier on the first-ever cover of Boar and Eagle WAS generated by AI. It was ChatGPT to be exact, and created in February/March 2025. I used that image because I didn't have the skills to cut a figure from a proper composite image. This was only ever a placeholder cover.

The second cover design for Boar and Eagle -- which went live in October 2025 -- was designed by a freelancer from Fiverr called Arslan. He also designed the first cover for The Shattered City.

As the books began to sell more copies, I wanted to move in a different direction. I liked Arslan's work, but as AI covers began to appear with more frequency on Amazon I felt like I needed something composite. Something I could be certain (or as certain as possible) that no AI was being used.

I turned to GetCovers, whose policy of 100% AI-free composition was very attractive to me. Since early this year I've been using them for all my cover design work. The models on the cover are real people, captured re-enacting Roman arms and armour.

In fact, to my surprise and delight, someone from the Roman Military Research Society commented on one of posts revealing the cover star of the Boar and Eagle was none other than one of their former members (I am also grateful for them forgiving me the slight anachronism of the armour used).

Interior Formatting & Maps

I use Atticus for formatting my books once I have a full and complete manuscript. The Boar and the Eagle was initially formatted through trial and error in Google Docs and it turned into such an issue that I knew for Shattered that I needed some proper software.

The maps in my books are created entirely from scratch by me in Paint.Net. By "from scratch" I do mean that I copy-paste Wikimedia Commons images of country or city outlines, trace over them in Paint.Net, and then add my own features, shading, and details. The text is added in Canva.

Marketing and Ads

I create my own marketing materials on Canva. On occasion images and ads you see showcasing my books may be augmented or altered by the AI Campaign Management tools on Meta (if you see them on Facebook). The ads I run on BookBub, Booksy, and Amazon are 100% made by me.

A Personal Note

Everyone has their book. The story they've always wanted to tell. Nearly 100% of the people I speak to about the fact I am self-published tell me they've always wanted to do it.

I personally struggle to reconcile my opinion that people shouldn't be blocked from telling their stories. I accept the argument that AI enables people who might not otherwise to share their worlds and ideas with the world.

Unfortunately, in my experience, most of the worst culprits exhibit the same characteristics: AI-generated covers, AI-generated interior design, and text that (in the worst instances) is easy to discern as AI. You begin to wonder if the AI content mills of the world, asking money from people either desperate to write a book -- or desperate to try and make a quick buck -- have finally started production.

This isn't the way to tell your story. There are some incredible writers in the Roman military history section of Kindle+ (Unlimited as was). People like K M Ashman, Jeff Jones, Adam Lofthouse, and Neil Denby. Saturating the Kindle store around these great writers with common-denominator stuff is a great disservice.

It's a shame I felt compelled to write this, but in some ways I'm glad I have.