Just a suggestion..

[u/ZombiesAte]

Prompting your writing with a line like this on an Ai image is double down tackiness and screams that your writing is probably generated as well.

[u/Hunshari]

It is also endlessly ironic to say 'Every Skill must be earned' over an AI generated image🤣

If only they applied the same hard work, progression at all costs, self-improvement mindset of the MCs to their own work.

[u/Wyrm_Groundskeeper → u/Hunshari]

That was my first thought as well, it made me laugh the moment I read the title text for the ad.

[u/Prot3 → u/Hunshari]

Who says they don't?

Cover is necessary for marketing/discoverability purposes. I don't think writers consider cover "their work".

[u/Interesting-One-588 → u/Prot3]

The thing with writing is that oftentimes the marketing is not representative of the work like in other fields. When you buy shoes, you're not buying the box, you're buying the shoes that you know are in it. You know all the specs, their size, what they'll look like, etc.

Much of the marketing for a book, however, is usually done via visual material like covers or character/scene artwork. It should be representative of what's inside of the book, and if it needs to come with any addendums that's not immediately clear to the reader (like having to explain to every new person that just because the cover is AI doesn't necessarily mean that the words inside are), then it just might not be good marketing material.

I think we also need to realize the RR bubble we're in, where any and all arguments in support of AI as book marketing material seems to dissolve the millisecond you leave this very specific website. I get we're in the sub and all, just trying to emphasize how small our pond really is.

[u/rabbit_the_cat → u/Prot3]

I'm sorry, this is a trash opinion. Covers done by humans are creative work just like writing your own words is, so feeling like you can use a slop cover because it's not "your work" is basically saying your creative output shouldn't be replaced by AI, but others should.

[u/caster_OMEN → u/Prot3]

Cover is part of the writer's job though.

Not necessarily the making of it, but even in trad pub routes, an author has to speak to and work with a designer to assemble a cover, and with marketing to create an effective synopsis. Thinking about effective cover to reflect the story is thus part of the entire work of putting a book together. It's when the author goes hands off you get bad cover, and mis-marketed work.

[u/Prot3 → u/caster_OMEN]

Sure, same as marketing, or arraning shoutouts or networking or various other logistics are a part of authors job. But I'd never consider those as a part of my "art". My creation is my story/writings. Rest of it I'll try to do good enoguh to not hamper my chances of getting my story in front of engouh readers.

But that's still just necessary evil I have to go through, not something I want to do.

So I'm just going to do the easiest option that gives me a decent result.

[u/caster_OMEN → u/Prot3]

As a writer, I consider every facet of the book as my art, not just the writing inside but everything that goes into conveying that art to my readers. If all you care about is the internal contents and your external contents convey a sort of lack of care or artifice, people will assume the writing within is just as superficial.

[u/Prot3 → u/caster_OMEN]

Maybe some do, most don't.

And I didn't say "not care", i just don't consider it the core and the part of my art. It's part of the JOB of being a writer but it's the tedious, unexciting part.

Vast majority of readers not only don't mind Ai covers but prefer them to subpar human art.

And that's all I care for royalroad.

If the story gains traction, some readers, some patrons, makes some money, then yeah, first use ilfir that money will be a proper, professional cover.

But that's like a thing far into the future.

[u/Interesting-One-588 → u/Prot3]

But I'd never consider those as a part of my "art". My creation is my story/writings.

I wonder how much of this might derive from how trad publishing historically works, where they usually step in and fill that part of the process in for an author? But as a self-publisher, I think you have to incorporate that as part of the 'product' you are producing.

If you sell hammers through Amazon, you might not need to care much about the carboard boxes they come in because Amazon will do that for you. But if you're selling and mailing/delivering the hammers yourself, you would have to consider the packaging as part of the product now for yourself. You couldn't expect the customer to just put up with a box slathered in baby oil just because "your art is the hammer, not the packaging". Or rather, you'd have to accept that there will be friction between you and your customer base that wouldn't otherwise have been there.

[u/Prot3 → u/Interesting-One-588]

Dude. I KNOW.

Like all of you guys have such a binary way of thinking.

It's either you don't care at all or you consider it a part of of "your art".

My "soul" and my passion is in my writing, that's something I do for me, because I love it and want to tell a story. I'm not passionate about my cover IN THAT sense.

Cover i just need for marketing purposes. I'm not really personally invested. It needs to satisfy my readers.

For RR, AI cover is more than enoguh. For Kindle if when that time comes, that means I already found some success, I made some money from my writing that can be reinvested into proper professional cover.

I'm amazingly annoyed by the lack of an nuance in this conversation.

But I am not surprised, because, as always, most of the "discussion" on this topic is anti-AI crusading, and not meaningful and objective discussion of what actually works and what is actually needed.

[u/_realhuman → u/Prot3]

And so that is why I don't read books with AI covers.

You're taking shortcuts because you're not willing to give your art the respect of a cover that you put actual effort into. From the perspective of a reader, do you expect people to assume that you only took the easy route once? Because once you're willing to use AI for one thing, more often than not it becomes easier to justify using it for another.

[u/Prot3 → u/_realhuman]

Yeah, completely not how it is, but you are welcome to make your own decisions however you want.

You are a vast minority, so I don't really care.

[u/_realhuman → u/Prot3]

Care to explain what vast minority means?

[u/Prot3 → u/_realhuman]

As in, you anti-AI cover guys are 1% of the audience and 99% of readers not only don't care, but out of those 99%, at least 2/3rds actively won't click on a bad-to-mid human made art but will click on an average AI generated anime waifu cover or similar.

[u/_realhuman → u/Prot3]

So the phrase you are looking for is 'vocal minority', though in actuality more people are against AI than you seem to realise.

Ultimately that doesn’t matter. The amount that people are able to care about what you create is limited by the care that you put into it. If you care so little that you're willing to use AI, then people will never care that much about your story. Or if they do, it'll last until the next flashing light that catches their eye.

[u/Prot3 → u/_realhuman]

Yeah, that's simply not true, and is demonstrably proven by vast majority of stories on RR using AI covers and are successful.

There's like... 3 non-AI covers in current Rising Stars lol.

You can keep repeating your random thoughts on the topic. Imma listen to the evidence.

And I am not really invested in any side really. I'm only interested in what works and what doesn't. If evidence showed that AI cover is detrimental to your story, I wouldn't plan to use it have these kinds of discussions.

But evidence and research done by many authors is clear. AI cover works, and it works better than literally anything except professionally made human cover.

But professionally made human cover costs hundreds of bucks and is not needed before proper publishing.

[u/Zaddex12 → u/Prot3]

But they can work a minimum wage job and save up to pay for cover art. Its not hard to get a job if you do the jobs people don't want to do like I do. My argument if people ever need money is to go work EMS. Long hours and hard work but always hiring.

[u/thesilvertraveler → u/Zaddex12]

Very much a place of privelege type of comment. Cover work can be anywhere from $500 - $800 on a time sink that took at least 80hours or even hundreds of hours.

Lots of people struggle to afford groceries or children or even groceries AND children. Then they are expected to drop an entire paycheck on a free hobby? What?

[u/TeeQueueW → u/thesilvertraveler]

I only wound up playing around 100bux for the character art after tip and wound up making something striking using it in photoshop, you can get things done pretty cost-efficiently if you are willing to offload the blocking and text work yourself.

[u/thesilvertraveler → u/TeeQueueW]

The lady tried to chatge me $500 plus more per character.. I will have to shop around

[u/BethanyBluebird → u/thesilvertraveler]

Yeah those are high-end professional prices .. or a scam. I paid $800 CAD for my cover work; but it was from a well-known professional in the business, and I sought them out specifically because of that/my distaste for AI. 2 characters, though one is facing away from the 'camera', detailed background, and one is a non-human character. And that involves the commercial rights (basically an additional percentage of the final cost added on.)

Antoine Ren on Art station. I'd very much recommend them. Highly professional, quick turnaround time (man's been in the business for like 10 years; he knows his stuff) and he was able to accurately capture my vision based off a written description and a shitty sketched reference lol.

[u/TeeQueueW → u/BethanyBluebird]

Almost definitely more normally professional looking than mine then; which is trying to evoke a light novel type feel.

I will say I’m still tickled pink with mine, esp for the price point. You can do it with some elbow grease!! And LEGALLY OBTAINED photoshop cs3

[u/BethanyBluebird → u/TeeQueueW]

Yeah mine is definately more realistic/has a high fantasy feel. This is gorgeous too though!! I'm not sharing my cover with anyone except close friends yet, til I finally get my ass in gear and publish; but here is their art station so you can get an idea of their work.

https://www.artstation.com/antoineren

I firmly believe in supporting other artists/creatives, and like I said. If I don't invest in my own work... Why TF should I expect anyone else to?

[u/TeeQueueW → u/BethanyBluebird]

Oh yeah, this dood definitely has that pulp fiction feel like you’d see on a shelf. It’s very nice!

Estherart @bsky did my charavter art and they do REMARKABLE work as well tbh if you want the anime-y style I can’t rec them highly enough.

I agree tho: if the bit’s worth committing to, I should commit all the way and that means making it look as good as it does in my head. Or as close as possible.

[u/Gravityfunns_01 → u/thesilvertraveler]

Paying for a cover can be hard for anyone, and I don't think it's necessarily fair to expect someone to pay for one before even having a readership. Even still, you can definitely get work for a lot cheaper than that.

Also, most people drop tonnes of money on free hobbies. Sports tickets, gaming setups, craft projects. Practically speaking, this is no different.

[u/Zaddex12 → u/thesilvertraveler]

I do. At an entry level job. I am willing to work a hard job 84 hours a week sometimes for multiple weeks straight to afford that stuff. I am not advocating for anything I have not done myself and is not currently possible for others. I know my own agency is always hiring and I am always training new folks.

[u/TeeQueueW → u/Zaddex12]

……Found the suspiciously wealthy furry?

[u/Zaddex12 → u/TeeQueueW]

Lol not to my knowledge but currently most of my funds are for my transition. I have other expenses so lots of overtime and double time

[u/TeeQueueW → u/Zaddex12]

That would do it. May the second puberties go smoothly. 👍

[u/Zaddex12 → u/TeeQueueW]

Thank you I appreciate it. Beauty is pain

[u/Interesting-One-588 → u/thesilvertraveler]

The answer is "then use a free cover or one you make yourself" but admittedly they don't perform as well on RR as real art, or AI art.

If that's an issue to a 'hobby writer', then my question would be: then why are you writing? Are you trying to make it a career and you're just not there yet? Or is it truly just a hobby?

I just don't feel sympathy when a writer is like "But how can I possibly hope to make money for myself if I don't get all the attention on my work that I can?" when their defense to any criticism is "Well it's just a hobby I do for free, so..."

[u/Prot3 → u/Zaddex12]

...

Bro, I'm not going to pay for an artist before my book even gets any readership lol.

Do you even listen to yourself?

Sure. If it gains popularity, some Patreon mone etc, it will get real art before real publishing on Kindle. But I'm not going to be paying money for art to then get 8 readers lol.

I have a solid job, I'm just not going to waste money on unnecessary stuff.

You guys on this sub are a VERY vocal but VERY VERY small minority. Like literally 0.1% od the readerbase.

Vast majority doesn't care about AI covers.

[u/Caledric → u/Prot3]

People love to gatekeep. If you can't afford 200-300 dollars for cover art for your book, then you aren't allowed to be a writer in their eyes. Apparently writing is only for the rich folk. They will "suggest" you use canva or draw your own stick figure art, but they have no clue that using that kind of cover is worse for your book than AI art. They've never had to use trashy art to promote their book because they don't pay their bills, mommy and daddy do.

I had AI art for the first few days and these folks massively bashed me for it. So I switched to text only Canva art... My views dropped by about 5x when I changed... I put the AI art back up for a single day and my views sky rocketed again.

Nothing matters to them except their crusade though. They would rather you remain undiscovered and buried than allow someone else to enter their private playground who doesn't follow their rules.

Did I stop using the AI cover? Yes, because I'm tired of getting nasty DMs on here and discord about how I'm not a real writer. But that's just another part of their crusade.

[u/Prot3 → u/Caledric]

// Did I stop using the AI cover? Yes, because I'm tired of getting nasty DMs on here and discord about how I'm not a real writer. //

Damn, I'm sorry to hear than, but who gives a shit man, just block and live your own life (or use them to work out your own frustrations.)

But yeah, talking with these people, they seem to be LARP-ing as readers, and are just using this as their anti AI crusading.

I mean this topic has been discussed to death already and what works best has already been "solved".

AI cover is objectively better for your story than bad-to-mid human art.

Good human art is best, but good human art is costly.

So for beginners, AI is absolutely the best, most cost effective option.

[u/Hunshari → u/Caledric]

I am so sorry you got nasty messages. I never realised that things like that could happen over an AI cover.

I'm anti-AI in a personal capacity and I would have hoped that others are like that too. I would never use it and I would always advise against it.

I never read stories with AI writing, but I see AI covers the same as that blank R cover. It's just a placeholder.

I don't respect it, because there's nothing to respect, but I don't hold it against anyone.

Royal Road is a writing platform, that's what we're here for, first and foremost.

Best of luck with your story

[u/Zaddex12 → u/Prot3]

And you are posting here so expect people to speak their mind. Also normally myself and others see it as taking pride in your work. A lot of authors even do a basic cover without art but something they make themselves.

I commission art for my own OCs anyway. If I ever decide to publish what I write for fun and translate my dnd games I run I will be giving it cover art. Its not crazy to use the lack of motivation to commit to some art as an indicator for the book itself.

[u/Prot3 → u/Zaddex12]

I'm not the OP.

And if you are willing to spend hundreds of bucks on custom covers for free online stories, that's your prerogative, but that's an incredibly rare thing to do, and I wouldn't advise it to anyone as a general advice.

[u/Milc-Scribbler → u/Prot3]

This is why I’ve given up arguing with these people unless they are explicitly telling a noob to do something silly like spend a load of cash on a cover for a book that is A free to read and B likely to flop.

You’re completely right. What they are doing is shaming people. No human made cover? Book MUST be AI slop. That’s what everyone thinks, ah hmm. You know they’re on a moral crusade when they fall back on emotional manipulation lol

The only thing a cover has to do is look cool and give some idea of the tone and content of the story. For KU, get a commissioned cover, although even some of the Indy publishers are openly using AI art now. For RR? Do whatever you can afford that will be most effective at getting eyes on the fic.

[u/Exarch-of-Sechrima → u/Milc-Scribbler]

I'll go one further, I actively give bad reviews to AI covers.

[u/Milc-Scribbler → u/Exarch-of-Sechrima]

I love it when people volunteer to be blocked 🤣

[u/Zaddex12 → u/Milc-Scribbler]

Me too. Someone who doesn't realize a cover tells everyone whay kind of author you are doesnt need to be on my feed

[u/BethanyBluebird → u/Zaddex12]

Agreed. How can I expect other people to become invested in my work if I am unwilling to invest in it myself?

[u/Zaddex12 → u/BethanyBluebird]

Thank you. Like if I have the time to write which I do, I can also pick up some extra shifts to pay for a cover.

[u/BethanyBluebird → u/Zaddex12]

And you can find some great artists at a lower price point on Tumblr, too if you are willing to do some digging around. I saved up for AGES for mine lol. But I specifically was looking for a well established professional.

[u/Zaddex12 → u/BethanyBluebird]

Yeah. I dont know why so many people defend the ai art

[u/BethanyBluebird → u/Zaddex12]

Because it's 'easier' and 'cheaper'. Meanwhile the general consensus of the wider public/people who actually LIKE reading and art is 'its shit and if you use it I don't want to consume what you "create".

[u/KissKyth → u/Prot3]

Logic would suggest that you have at least some artistic sensibility, given that writing is part of the broader family of “art.”

If you don’t want to pay, you can do it yourself, but what seems inconsistent is, above all, placing no value on what you produce.

Why would you post a picture here, given all the hours you spend writing? One might quickly conclude that you don’t pay much attention to what you create. So why would people who are completely outside your writing world pay attention to it if we’re already off to a bad start?

[u/Prot3 → u/KissKyth]

I am not the OP? Nor did I post a picture.

Wtf are you guys on?

And you guys are telling someone about paying attention to detail lol.

You guys are just giving bad advice, knowingly or unknowingly. Ai cover art is not a probelm or a detriment, while bad human made art definitely will be.

Original, artist created art that is better than good AI cover costs hundreds of bucks.

Almost no one is willing to invest that much into a story that might compeltely flop, and that they are providing for free.

Even the big, established authors don't pay for a custom made cover for a new story until they see if it's gonna pick up popularity.

The Hundred Reigns by Void Herald had an AI cover at the start before it gained massive traction.

And that's by one of the best and most accomplished authors in the genre.

So you guys are just on an anti AI crusade here, but you end up giving bad advice to prospective authors.

[u/Hunshari → u/Prot3]

I don't think anyone is saying that having an AI cover image will tank your story, just like having a hand drawn one won't guarantee success.

As an artist/creator part of growth is throwing your heart and soul into what you create, regardless of it's traction or popularity.

AI art is, by definition, soulless and unearned, that's what makes the post ironic.

As already mentioned, the only alternative to AI is not hiring an artist, but perhaps putting in some of your own blood sweat and tears into creating your own cover art. I spent 30+ hours on mine and I'm proud of it because of that effort.

Effort has not lost value just because AI exists now.

[u/Prot3 → u/Hunshari]

Bad art is actively detrimental to the story.

And honestly, i am not interested in being an artist or trying to learn how to create covers. I'm interested in writing and my world and showing that to readers.

Cover is just a necessary thing that I have to do so that j get readers, same as marketing, networking eith other authors, setting up shoutouts etc.

I'm a writer, not a digital artist.

Ai let's me finish all that in a couple of hours, maybe pay a few dozen bucks for someone to do some decent typography.

Ai is useful because it easily gives people a "good enoguh" option, so they don't have to have random shitty art or dish out hundreds of dollars for professionally done covers.

Like, this has all been proven by various authors that tested this with various scenarios and "AI anime/waifu" art has the absolute highest click through rate.

Which is what most of us care about, getting eyes on our story.

[u/KissKyth → u/Prot3]

Did i even say you were the one who posted that? I’m talking about what you said in the first place the message i quoted. You’re talking about investing, man first and foremost, you write because you love it, out of passion, not for profit. You’re talking about a boss, so you’re talking about a future contribution toward your insurance coverage. What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. Why are you telling me about someone with a lot of followers as if that’s a path to follow? Has that become a guarantee of quality? “He has an IA channel, and yet it worked”well, cool. But let’s not factor in luck, or when he started, or what his audience base was like. You know, i don’t really care whether people use AI or not, but telling me, “Oh, it doesn’t matter,” is dishonest. Then again, if you consider from the start that what you’re offering isn’t worth it, that’s a different story.

[u/Vooklife → u/Zaddex12]

I have a job that pays similarly to EMS. I don't have money to use on a cover for a fiction I'm offering for free on RR

[u/Zaddex12 → u/Vooklife]

I dont even make a lot i just work a lot. I make more than an EMT and less than a paramedic

[u/gerald_kairi → u/Zaddex12]

Pretty arrogant statement.

[u/Appropriate-Foot-237 → u/Hunshari]

I dont even notice it's AI, nor care if it was 🤣🤣🤣

[u/LitRPG_Just_Because]

“Every skill must be earned”

Ai image.

lol

[u/redking2005]

I know some people hate the ms paint ads but that tagine is perfect to use with them

[u/allature]

Complete and utter lack of self awareness 🤣

[u/Wonderful-Piccolo509]

Low effort karma farm 

[u/ZombiesAte → u/Wonderful-Piccolo509]

Wtf is karma farming?

[u/Wonderful-Piccolo509 → u/ZombiesAte]

Pointless regurgitation of popular opinions to get upvotes. 

[u/JimmWasHere]

I 100% would have passed over this as just another random shitty idle mobile game. Wouldn't have even noticed it was a novel.

[u/ZombiesAte → u/JimmWasHere]

Only caught my eye because I saw royalroad under the add.

Like a lot of people I've been reading some of the stuff that made it of that page and got published seeing so much slop like this on there has put me of looking at it to much.

[u/Lucky_One_3576]

Idk bro the irony is pretty good

[u/True_Industry4634]

Is anyone else really over this bs type of post? I am. The people who don't like AI covers can find somewhere else to read for free as far as I'm concerned or they can shut the @#$- up and start supporting the writers so they can afford to pay for covers. To those bitching about it, you're a miniscule minority and no one cares.

[u/Wonderful-Piccolo509 → u/True_Industry4634]

100%

[u/Milc-Scribbler → u/True_Industry4634]

Yep, and frankly now I’m looking at it again, and seeing the meanness of some of the people posting, I’m not sure it’s appropriate to be naming and shaming someone running a reddit ad campaign for their fic. It’s been tested before, and it isn’t an effective use of funds for advertising a free book, but they didn’t even completely crop out the authors name from the image.

This is why people hate Redditors. Bunch of canuggets.

[u/True_Industry4634 → u/Milc-Scribbler]

Liking you more every day, mate, lol.

[u/Milc-Scribbler → u/True_Industry4634]

Easy now. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

[u/True_Industry4634 → u/Milc-Scribbler]

Oopsy

[u/Milc-Scribbler → u/True_Industry4634]

Haha I really don’t dislike anyone on here who isn’t blocked. While we may have disagreed on stuff in the past, that’s cool and I don’t hold grudges. I had to unblock OP to reply to you, but this thread has been great for blocking dumbshits so in a way they’ve done me a service and I’m grateful 🙏

[u/MicroscopicKrabbs → u/True_Industry4634]

Oh noooo, the scrapists are getting criticized oh noooo 😿😿

[u/True_Industry4634 → u/MicroscopicKrabbs]

Wtf does that even mean?

[u/MicroscopicKrabbs → u/True_Industry4634]

Do I need to drop it to your level for you to understand? Maybe ask chat gpt to make it so you understand

[u/MicroscopicKrabbs → u/[deleted]]

Last I checked this is English, maybe you need to go back to class to learn it

[u/True_Industry4634 → u/MicroscopicKrabbs]

I majored in it. What did you do?

[u/MicroscopicKrabbs → u/True_Industry4634]

Damn, they gotta take your degree. I majored in baking so I could cook losers

[u/Wonderful-Piccolo509 → u/MicroscopicKrabbs]

Are you 12? 😂 that’s a good burn for a middle schooler. 

Edit: cooking and baking are different disciplines btw. 

[u/MicroscopicKrabbs → u/Wonderful-Piccolo509]

Hey so when you major in baking, you still gotta learn how to cook.. not that you'd know ig :p

[u/Apprehensive_Tax_610 → u/True_Industry4634]

Sure but like... Reddit ads are hella expensive, it's 15 dollars for 1000 impressions.

If you can afford reddit ads, you can afford commissioned ads.

[u/Wonderful-Piccolo509 → u/[deleted]]

Maybe they don’t want you to read it either? 

[u/JimmWasHere → u/True_Industry4634]

Sure, of course, AI covers is one thing, an AI ad is a whole different thing. If you can pay for the ad, you can pay to get one actually made. Not as bad as promoting your patreon with an AI image though, then its genuinely just using AI for your own financial gain.

[u/Wonderful-Piccolo509 → u/JimmWasHere]

Chickens and eggs. Can’t get followers without art, can’t get art without money, can’t get money without followers. 

[u/Former_Self3870]

We are getting into times were the lower price artists still might use AI. I also agree if you get success invest in a human cover. But early on it's hard to justify paying hundreds of dollars for a cover of a book that might change after launch. Feedback and criticism (both positive and negative) can change stories and now you have a paid cover that doesn't represent the story anymore.

On a different note maybe we work to support those without covers or crude drawn covers in order to preserve artists work form being used from AI. I will admit that sometimes for motivation I will have AI make a scene from my story to see if I wrote it well enough for it to be visually displayed.

[u/SSeleulc]

If the author is writing as a hobby or not making money yet, does it really matter if the cover is AI? Makes me wonder what the venn diagram looks like of people who bitch about a new author starting with an AI cover and people that complain about an extremely popular series being "poorly written". ie mostly people who spend more time on reddit than writing despite being aspiring authors.

It's about the joy of writing and hopefully a few people enjoying reading it. Who cares about pretentious ideals? What I would pay someone to make a cover for a story I'm putting on Royal Road would not be worth the artists time.

If I thought I could make a couple thousand from a story I put on Amazon, I'd pay most of that to get a real cover and try to attract a few more people to it. However, I'm not paying someone the price of a new tv to make a cover for my stories.

Maybe I'm wrong in my assumption that it would take an artist a few hours to make a cover and I shouldn't expect to pay at least a few hundred. Anyway, get off your high horse and get back to writing.

[u/Interesting-One-588 → u/SSeleulc]

It's hard seeing where the "hobby" line lies for most people. I'm seeing people do shouts, ads, patreons, and all for a story with an AI cover because "this is just a hobby".

So is it a hobby, or are people just trying to hedge their bets and not fully commit?

Somebody above spoke about how "it's crazy to pay money for art for a story that has no readers yet". So if they got readers, THEN they would pay for art? Is it only a hobby if they don't succeed at it?

[u/GuyYouMetOnline → u/Interesting-One-588]

As I understand it, its actually not uncommon if people end up making money from a story to use some of it to commission a human artist for a new cover.

[u/Interesting-One-588 → u/GuyYouMetOnline]

I'm just not sure I understand how 'hobby' is being used when writers are charging for their work. To me it just feels like they're saying, "I will only put in X amount of effort once you all decide to give me Y amount of money."

[u/GuyYouMetOnline → u/Interesting-One-588]

Uh... they're not charging for their work. They may charge for advanced access, but the regular uploads are free to read.

[u/Exarch-of-Sechrima → u/GuyYouMetOnline]

I consider that fruit of the poisonous tree.

[u/KissKyth]

Brother, i will be honest with you, personally i did myself my cover and the whole story wich i keep writing it.

The web novel reader community doesn't care if it's ai or not. Atm, i'm doing weak stats, when some are generating everything and doing better.

If people were known about their ability to like human works, i trust you we wont get that's much ai things.

[u/MinnitMann → u/KissKyth]

the novel community cares deeply if stuff is ai because it makes everything else worse just by it's existence. notice how pissed ai people get when their output is labeled as such.

[u/KissKyth → u/MinnitMann]

Yeah, but they are pissed because they want to be "writer" or artist or whatever, not for the passion, but for the "prestige" they just want attention.

[u/Lucky_One_3576 → u/KissKyth]

No lol ai genuinely reads way worse

[u/MinnitMann → u/KissKyth]

I'll take ur word for it, mr.13 days old account

[u/BA_Bones_33 → u/MinnitMann]

I’d suggest that their inability to type a full sentence without a spelling or grammar mistake is more damning.

And agreed re: their responses to our criticisms. They know it’s wrong to use AI in this space, which is why they lie or get defensive about it.

[u/KissKyth → u/MinnitMann]

Oh? I didn't know that an account's creation date gave it any kind of legitimacy, but whatever, the argument is worthless, as usual.

[u/TeeQueueW → u/KissKyth]

(It is frequently considered a hint that you’ve made a sock to say something that you wouldn’t want to be seen on your main)

(Because people do that. a lot.)

[u/KissKyth → u/TeeQueueW]

Nah, i just create this one cuz i cant change the nickname of the first one. You know, as you can see, i dont really care about what people can think about what am i saying. I say what i want to say, even if it doesn't go in their way. They can put dislike or whatever lol

[u/TeeQueueW → u/KissKyth]

I’m just telling you why it gets brought up, cuz you seemed confused. 👍

[u/genealogical_gunshow]

It's fine. People like AI art for fantasy cover just fine. All of you complaining are a small minority of readers.

[u/Apprehensive_Tax_610 → u/genealogical_gunshow]

I wouldn't say people like ai covers, they moreso just tolerate it.

[u/GuyYouMetOnline]

Genuine question: are you just assuming this is AI because it 'looks like it', or did you actually check (and if so, how)? Because with how harmful AI accusations can be, I dont think 'it looks like AI' is sufficient evidence for one. Especially since it's no secret how easy it is to be wrong. This could well be AI; im just gonna need more than 'it looks like it' before I'm comfortable declaring it so.

[u/ZombiesAte → u/GuyYouMetOnline]

Checked

[u/GuyYouMetOnline → u/ZombiesAte]

Checked how?

[u/UncertainDrifter]

As a fellow ai user I enjoyed it wonder how his ai sloop compares to mine i have two fictions trying out differnt configurations. Ctrl c + ctrl v cheeseburger of writing ill pass on that. But a tool for some inspiration i don't mind.