It’s 18.2.2026. I’ve made the possibly unwise decision to post whatever I like here whenever I feel like it. We shall see how that goes…
A Recent Exchange on Threads
I’ve recently found some benefit in promoting my books on the app Threads, though it hasn’t all been positive. Though I would rather die than use AI to write my books, I started using Grok Imagine to produce my marketing publicity. As a cash-strapped pensioner, I have no money to pay other people to produce marketing material. Besides, I enjoy doing it myself. It takes some skill to produce exactly what you want with Ai and I intend to continue doing so. I was a professional graphic designer for print for more than twenty years, so feel confident using Grok Imagine, bossing it around to get the best out of it.
On 25.8.2026, I received the comment below from a young author whose name I won’t publish to spare her blushes. It was attached to the Ai trailer I made for Dragons In Their Heads.
She wrote, ‘Hey, so, I’m gonna say this in the nicest way possible. From what I understand, you don’t use AI in your books, which is great, but promoting them using AI is turning off a great portion of would-be readers who might be interested. I would recommend looking into Canva or other free resources to make promotional material as some people may not have the foresight to look at your profile after seeing the Ai promos! No hate at all. I just want to see fellow writers succeed 💕’
I replied, ‘I thank you for not being unpleasant and ranting at me like six or so other charmers have done on here. Luckily, I haven’t experienced less sales. I REALLY enjoy using Ai to promote my books. I don’t write for profit but for enjoyment. I’m not too bothered if someone is put off by me using my 20 years of graphic design experience to produce artwork through Ai that I could never make even after 4 years at art college and a graphic design degree. I prefer writing the books in any case.
She said, ‘Of course! I’m sorry if I came off as mean. That wasn’t my intention, and I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with that. I’m glad you’re still successful in your writing. 💕💕’
What a lovely girl, I thought, and replied, ‘I fully understand what you mean. I know I’m opening myself up to attack. You’ll be one of the few people who’ve questioned my use of Ai in my marketing who I won’t block. I have confidence in the merit of my books and leave it up to readers whether they buy one or not. I’ll continue to write them because I love writing. At 71, I’m too old to change now.’
‘I get you,’ she said. ‘Thank you for answering and explaining so eloquently. I’ll have to check out your books one day when I’m not so busy and trying to get through a few at the same time! I’m really intrigued by the concept :)’
I couldn’t resist saying, ‘I think Dragons In Their Heads is my favourite of the 25 books I’ve written. Even my 96-year-old mother enjoyed it and she’s my harshest critic. She usually avoids my books because of the sex in them but I managed to write Dragons In Their Heads without any. Plenty of gruesome deaths though, ha!’
We ended up following each other on Threads. This civilised, positive discussion could have turned out so much worse and usually does.
Feel free to leave a comment below.
