I’m starting to see a worrisome trend in readers’ groups. After being burned by AI books that seemed like they were going to be good before meandering off into trite meaninglessness, readers start to say things like, “I can’t trust self-published books anymore,” or, “I’m sticking to classics from forty years ago.”

And I can’t exactly blame them, but among authors, these words inspire panic. We can’t exactly travel back in time to publish in the twentieth century, and trad publishing is only getting harder to break into. It sucks to be tarred with the brush of AI when we don’t use it ourselves.

The good news is, there are lots of ways to find excellent, human-written fiction in any genre. It just takes different methods than it used to.

1. Abandon the algorithm

I remember when Netflix was new (yeah, when they mailed you the DVDs!) my dad was so impressed with their recommendations. “How do they know exactly what I’m going to like?!”

Unfortunately, algorithms of all kinds can be gamed. That’s why social media feeds are no longer full of your friends, and why books keep getting recommended to you that aren’t remotely the kind of thing you like. AI publishers (I won’t call them authors) are very good at gaming algorithms. All they have to do is make the closest possible replica to a bestseller, or stuff a book full of every trending keyword and release it the same day. (Authors should remember that these are not tactics which work to connect quality work with readers who will love it.)

As a result, you can’t rely on Amazon or any other store to show you quality books, even if they used to. Instead, try more human methods.

2. Rely on word of mouth

People did find books before algorithms! Thanks to social media, you can usually find real authors having real conversations somewhere online. Booktwt, Booksky, Bookstagram, etc., are thriving communities where real humans recommend books all the time.

Obviously spammers can be on social media as well. But by forming actual relationships with authors and participating in the book community, you can usually tell authentic people by the way they actually engage and discuss instead of posting perfectly-phrased hourly sales posts while never replying to anyone.

• Goodreads or Storygraph can help you find people who have reviewed your favorite books, and you can go see what else they like.
• Subscribe to your favorite authors’ email lists. Not only will they let you know when they release a new book, but they also tend to shout out other authors they know.
• Itch bundles are a trend lately—a number of books collected together at a single price. These are organized by humans and tend to include only human-written books. (I’m in a Punk Spec Fic bundle right now!)
• Group sales with no-AI policies happen within the indie book community from time to time. I’m partial to the Narratess Sale, which happens every August and April.

3. Read the sample

Especially when you’re in KU, it can be tempting to just start reading, without flipping through it first. But in most storefronts, you can read a sample chapter first. AI writing isn’t always obvious, but it’s basically never good. If the sample grabs you immediately, with a unique voice, making you curious about what happens next, it’s almost certainly not AI.

This post explains some of the hallmarks of AI. In fiction, I would add that there’s very little movement. A human describing a room will move spatially, or in order of what someone might notice. AI just throws details out in no particular order. Sometimes it will start with a lengthy, overwrought description. Other times it jumps right into action, without explaining what the heck is happening.

But in general, you know what good writing is. Amateur writing is easy to mix up with AI, which is why it’s not good to throw accusations around—we don’t want to discourage beginners. But if the writing is actually good, something you enjoy reading, it’s highly unlikely to be AI.

4. Think beyond Amazon

Of all the possible places to buy books, Amazon is by far the most overwhelmed with slop. They are finally taking action to reduce this…by limiting publishers to uploading two books a week. It’s rather astounding to me that this is even a limit to anybody, but I suppose it must have been needed. (Presses that handle a lot of authors’ work can get an exception to the policy.)

Because Amazon requires exclusivity to be included in KU, and KU is the best way for an AI publisher to make a profit, much fewer AI books are being listed anywhere else. In addition, both Kobo and Draft2Digital ban AI books. The enforcement of this isn’t perfect, but there is some manual checking, especially of nonfiction.

I’ve been reading a ton this year, mostly from Kobo Plus, and I haven’t yet stumbled on a single slop book.

Don’t give up on indie books

I would encourage readers in every genre to keep reading indie books. Authors you know and love are still writing, and more human authors are appearing in the scene all the time. My TBR is only growing, no matter how fast I read—and all excellent, original work by real human beings.

I’d love to hear if there are any more ways to find human-written books that I’ve missed!