Fantasy Author David V. Stewart Predicts AI Will Transform Indie Fiction Into A Reader Services Industry

Fantasy author David V. Stewart offers his vision for how AI will reshape independent publishing in his latest video analysis, arguing that current AI adoption represents just the beginning of a transformation that will benefit both creators and readers. Rather than viewing AI as a threat, Stewart sees it as the natural evolution of an indie publishing market that has always prioritized efficiency and direct audience connection.

Stewart begins his video by acknowledging why authors gravitated toward AI tools so quickly, explaining that "the indie author space has always been about how to pump out as many books as possible with as little effort as possible to make as much money as possible." He contrasts this business-focused approach with his own artistic philosophy, noting, "I've never been about that. I've been about me as an author, me as an artist doing the things that I love and producing art that I think is really cool and I'm excited to do as a writer."

The author identifies a crucial cultural dynamic driving AI adoption in publishing: "Indie authors don't get a lot of cultural recognition, right? We're not getting write-ups in the New York Times or anything. Because we don't get that, then what's the reasonable metric for quality? It's money. Did you make money? Are you making your living doing this? And if you are, then you're successful and therefore good and therefore real and therefore worth admiring."

Stewart traces the evolution of indie publishing strategies, observing, "I've seen many ups and downs over the last almost 10 years that I've been in the business about how you make money, how you be an indie author, how you be an entrepreneur, how you release books, what covers are supposed to look like, how you release books in order to make money." He positions AI as "just sort of the last gasp of that slop carnival that is Amazon indie publishing."

However, Stewart's most fascinating prediction involves the next phase of this evolution. He envisions a future where AI eliminates the middleman author entirely: "We're in a transitional period where authors using AI will get replaced by services that just make content directly for people. And this will probably spill over into music, maybe video, maybe there'll be AI, some AI version of YouTube that makes AI content for people based on algorithmic recommendations rather than recommending the next video. It just makes it for people."

Stewart describes this future service in detail: "It'll be like Hollow Live AI. They'll get AI video content just kind of shot into their brain based on their interest. Just like how the algorithm suggests videos based on your interest, it'll just make new content for you based on your perceived interest, how you interact with the book. It can track like what parts you read and where you slowed down. And it'll maybe ask you a survey afterwards, and then it'll make you a new book."

The author sees this as a logical progression: "If Chat GPT can write the books for you or whatever, new AI can write the books for you, then we'll just take the author out of that. Why not have the reader directly prompt for the book? That's what it'll be. And in fact, it won't even need to be a prompt. It'll just be kind of like the algorithm."

Stewart acknowledges that current AI adoption has already disrupted traditional indie publishing: "If everybody's doing that or any sizable number of people doing that, it just destroys the market. People can't find the books they want anymore. There's just oceans, title waves of AI slop now." However, he frames this destruction as clearing the way for something better.

Regarding the ethics of AI writing, Stewart takes a pragmatic stance: "If you're an author and you're using one of these large language models to actually generate the text of your book, you need to put that on the cover. It needs to be by ChatGPT, edited by author name here. If you're really honest and upfront about it, I don't think there's an ethical question about it."

Stewart's vision suggests that traditional publishing may experience a renaissance as readers seek human-verified content: "In the world of infinite slop garbage where readers can't find the books that they want or trust that authors have written them when they want to read something from a human, publishers will take on a lot more importance. Traditional publishing will have a little bit of a comeback because they are putting their seal of approval on it."

For authors like Stewart who prioritize craftsmanship, the solution involves embracing quality over quantity: "My way is not to try to rapid release slop garbage, but to make handcrafted quality books that are really reflecting my values, my heart, my thoughts, my ideas, my style, everything."

David V. Stewart’s latest fantasy book, The King Leper is available on Amazon.

What do you think of Stewart's prediction about AI replacing authors with direct reader services?

NEXT: Alissabetta Rossi Launches Multilingual Children's Book About Saint Henry II On FundMyComic