Some people say that publishing has already been disrupted, that this current state is the new model. But I don’t think the disruption has even started yet. As Jeff Bezos says, “it’s always Day One.” In the last ten years, we’ve seen the rise of digital publishing, print on demand, and the independent author movement, as well as the growth of streaming audio and the use of internet marketing tools like Facebook and Amazon Ads to sell more books. In this episode, I'll talk about some of the possible disruptions to come for authors and the publishing industry due to the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the next 10 years.  This episode is sponsored by my Patrons, authors who are passionate about the future of publishing and help support my time in producing episodes like this. If you find this information useful, you can support the podcast at www.Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Why write about AI now? Ten years ago, when I started self-publishing, I was over-the-top excited about the potential of ebooks (see my embarrassing video here!). I could see the incredible possibilities as a creator to reach the whole world with my words. Since starting out in 2008, I have built a multi-six-figure business as an author-entrepreneur, taking action on that feeling of optimism and learning everything I needed to know to write, publish, market, and make a living with my writing. [See my timeline here]. I started blogging and making money online in 2008 and self-published on the Kindle as soon as it became available. I started my podcast in 2009 before it was even called podcasting and jumped on Twitter around that same time. I’ve adopted new tools over time — like Scrivener for writing and Vellum for publishing — as well as working with new partners like Ingram Spark for print and FindawayVoices for audio plus the incumbents like Amazon, Apple, and Kobo — but I haven’t really seen a significant change in my business model over the last ten years. Then, in 2016, I talked on my podcast about Alpha Go Zero beating Lee Sodol at the game of Go and I had an aha moment similar to the one I had when I read my first ebook on the Kindle. Since then, I’ve been devouring books, audiobooks, and podcasts about AI and also attending events about AI developments, sharing thoughts in my futurist segments every Monday. In the last six months, I’ve felt a significant acceleration — a shift from AI being a thing of the future to it becoming very much of the now. It feels like 2009 all over again in terms of the level of excitement I feel and the new tools that are emerging are both exhilarating but also terrifying for those who don’t embrace the change. Before you start to envision anything too dark about our future, I am even more excited about the future for authors and publishing in a new world powered by AI tools, and I am determined to be part of the next shift.  Humans are innately creative and in this new AI-powered world, we can create even more than we ever dreamed possible. In this article, I outline the ways in which AI might impact the business model of authors and the publishing industry over the next ten years and how we can surf the change rather than drowning in the deluge to come. I've built a new business plan based on these possibilities because...