Happy New Year! Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

Today’s topic is: Do you have any predictions as to what will change in writing/in the world in general in the new year?

And remember to visit my fellow writers to see what they have come up with. You can find their works here!

What a great subject to start 2024 with! And quite timely, as I’ve already observed and experienced a lot of change in the world of writing over the last year or so.

Let’s start with the big hot topic – AI. It’s become a massively divisive area. In some regards it opens up doors to people that would otherwise struggle, such as creating artwork for covers, etc. BUT – it does mean those who have built a livelihood out of creating art will be affected. If their works haven’t been used to inform the AI technology, it will likely impact their ability to do business. Then there are the word-based AI applications. But these suffer the same problems – while they do help, they also take their capabilities from the use of other people’s work without seeking permission. I’ve dabbled in AI, not for material gain, but can see both sides of this argument. One thing that is for sure – it will only continue to grow, as will legislation around it.

Next up is tools that enable independent/self-published authors to make a go of things on their own. With my first book I invested a not inconsiderable sum into a designer to format the book for me and create the covers. It’s sadly unsustainable at present. I had a crack at doing my own formatting using Adobe software including InDesign, but I don’t have the skills for it. I used Scrivener as a means to create my manuscript in a neat and tidy way, something to start with as a basis, but by no means good enough to make a book from. More recently I’ve been using Atticus, a fantastic bit of software. You can easily use it as a word processor to write your book without any difficulty. But the big win for me is that you can format a book and end up with an eBook or print book looking really pretty good by the end of it. You can set up a template and have all books in a series follow the same style in no time. Software like this will be a gamechanger for self-published authors, allowing the time and freedom to be able to design and format for ourselves.

Then there are things like Canva. You can create fantastic promo materials and even book covers in it. They may not be as good as a professional designer might achieve, but the ability to have full control over your design is something to be glad of.

I think there’s a lot to look forward to as a writer in the coming year, and the developments around AI are certainly ones to keep an eye on.