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Comment by BarryMilo | Hacker News Reader

To me this brings back the need for publishers as content curators. If, as you say, the act of writing itself loses inherent value, or at least the inherent filter of effort, then people will stop reading... Unless someone can guarantee actual effort went into the book.

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The thing is, folks were already churning out junk for Amazon and getting robo reviews. Some made/make a lot of money doing this.

AI just makes the task of curation all the more important.

Traditional publishing, due to the AI crapflood, is going to become even more inaccessible and exclusionary than it already is. You thought querying was the worst nightmare it could be before November 30, 2022? You sweet summer child.

I don’t think anyone has a good sense of how this problem will be solved. It’s possible that commercial writing is done. True literary work will still have a chance if it spreads by word of mouth but I don’t know how society will pay for it.

Trad pub isn’t likely to save us. There will be more profit in gaming these new capabilities than in trying to protect elitist literary sorts, most of whom don’t make any money.

> True literary work will still have a chance if it spreads by word of mouth but I don’t know how society will pay for it.

I don't understand, this seems like a leap in logic I am not following. Assuming a good book is identified by it's target audience why wouldn't people pay money for the book?

Yeah, I think most literary authors in North America string together teaching gigs along with grants and fellowships.

I'm more interested to see what happens to authors like James Patterson, who doesn't even write his books, but instead gives an initial idea to another writer and then acts more as an especially opinionated editor and taskmaster (and, eventually, a famous brand). Maybe that sort of author will thrive?

We need to solve online reviews. How can we make them credible? This alone could fix so many problems.

My not wholly pessimistic (I guess) take is that the market both for books and content more generally is already so flooded with crap that LLMs may not make things much worse. There's at least an argument that publishers remain relevant as a brand and if you need to have lunch with the right person in NY or London to cut through the noise? <shrug> (And, admittedly saying this as someone who wrapped a book outline in London with an acquisitions editor.)

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