Amazon is drowning in AI-generated business books.
You’ve seen “10 Leadership Principles” and titles like it: advice that could apply to anyone, written by no one, churned out in a weekend by someone who prompted ChatGPT and hit publish.
I’m a ghostwriter, and these books are an insult to the trade. Somebody typed a prompt, stuck a leadership title on the result, and put it on the same shelf as books built from months of interviews and hard memories. AI is a fine tool in the right hands. Used as a substitute for having something to say, it’s filling Amazon with books nobody finishes.
Readers are catching on. They flip through the preview and something feels off, because there are no specific stories, failures or hard-won lessons that could only come from someone who did the work. Those are the things I build your book from.
They close the tab. They don’t buy.
AI can’t fake thirty years running a company. The client who almost bankrupted you. The decision that saved everything. The moment you realized everything you believed was wrong.
AI can write A business book. It can’t write YOUR business book. That flood hurts real authors. The people pumping out these books borrow the look of expertise without doing any of the work, and they make it harder for an executive with thirty years of real material to get noticed. Readers have every right to be suspicious, and the people who taught them to be deserve the blame.
The market is flooded with forgettable. Generic is everywhere. A real book, with a real human behind it, stands out more than ever.
Your competitors are publishing AI slop. Let them.
You publish something with your fingerprints on it. Your stories. Your scars. Your specific expertise that took decades to build.
That’s the book people remember. The one that builds authority. The one that outlives you.
| Factor | Generic AI business book | Your business book |
|---|---|---|
| How it’s made | Prompted and churned out in a weekend | Built from interviews and hard memories |
| Content | Advice that could apply to anyone | Your stories, scars and decades of expertise |
| Stories | No specific stories, failures or lessons | The client who almost bankrupted you, the decision that saved everything |
| Reader reaction | Preview feels off; they close the tab | Stands out in a market flooded with forgettable |
| What it builds | Nothing; books nobody finishes | Authority, speaking invites, board seats, consulting contracts |
| Lifespan | Forgotten a month later | Outlives you |
Why Can’t AI Write Your Business Book?
You know things worth preserving. For more, see business gurus are after your money.
Client patterns nobody else sees. Industry shifts you predicted years early. Frameworks you built through trial and error. For more, see virtual assistant business miscommunication disaster story.
Where does all that go when you retire?
It walks out the door with you. Your replacement starts from scratch. Your grandkids never know what you built or how you thought.
That loss is worse than almost anything else in this business. Thirty years of judgment walks out at a retirement party, and a year later the company can’t remember why anything was done the way it was.
Unless you write it down.
Not a LinkedIn post. Not a keynote deck. A book. Something permanent. Something that captures how you think. The executives who get this book written are the ones who noticed they were running out of time to do it. I wish more of them started earlier, while the details are still sharp and the people who were there can still fill in what they’ve forgotten.
Quick Hits
Thirty years of judgment walks out at a retirement party, and a year later the company can’t remember why anything was done the way it was.
The authority gap is real. Put two people with identical expertise side by side, one with a book and one without, and the one with the book gets the speaking invite, the board seat and the consulting contract. I tell clients they’re very unlikely to earn their money back through book sales. The return comes from using the book as the foundation of their marketing, and that only works when the book sounds like them.
AI made “author” cheaper. Anyone can publish now. Being a published author means less than it used to, unless the book is good. Quality is the new differentiator.
Your stories are fading. Every year you wait, details blur. Clients blend together. Capture it while you still remember it clearly.
LinkedIn Spotlight
Barbara Hazelden just launched Pelican Photo Solutions to rescue people’s mountains of photos before they deteriorate into oblivion.
Her point hits home: “Your print photos keep deteriorating more every day. Before too long, your treasured family members and favorite pets may fade into the oblivion of time.”
Same principle applies to your expertise. Your frameworks. Your hard-won lessons. They’re fading too. Not physically, but in your memory. Every year you wait, context disappears. Sharp lessons become vague. Barbara digitizes photos before they’re gone. I capture expertise before it walks out the door. The medium is different and the urgency is the same, and I’d hate to watch anyone’s best lessons fade the way those old prints do.
My take
Generic business books are worth nothing now that anyone can prompt one. Machines can’t fake the client who almost bankrupted you or the call that saved the company. Those stories are your book. Capture it while the details are sharp, because lessons fade in memory the way old prints fade in a box. Quality is the differentiator now, and lived stories are how you get there.
Your Book Is Waiting
I’m a book ghostwriter, and I’ve published 113+ books under my own name. One client’s book helped raise $30 million in venture capital, and my clients have landed traditional publishing deals and built authority that outlasted their careers.
Done-for-you: I write your book. You talk, I listen, I turn your expertise into a manuscript you’re proud of. Schedule a conversation
Done-with-you: The memoir system. A clear path from “I should write a book” to finished manuscript. See the Memoir Bundle
Either way, your book exists. It’s a grim racket that people get paid to flood Amazon with books nobody remembers a month later, and the best answer I know is a book with your stories, your mistakes and your name on something you said.
Your Story Matters publishes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. thewritingking.com
Your expertise belongs in your book, and The Ghostwriting Advantage covers how to get it written for you without losing your voice. It draws on the 54+ books I have ghostwritten.
- UPDATE: Amazon Adds to KDP Generative AI Policy, Caps Daily Self-Publishing Uploads, The Authors Guild
- ChatGPT launches boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon, Reuters (via Kitco News)
Frequently Asked Questions
Executive Ghostwriting
Your expertise deserves a book that builds authority while you keep running the business. I ghostwrite executive books from interviews in your voice. Explore Executive Ghostwriting.
