I wrote and published a Kindle book in one weekend, with GPT-4.

As you can imagine, I’ve been playing with ChatGPT and GPT-4 for a while now.

I’ve been using GPT as a brainstorming buddy, a research assistant, a first draft copy and content writer, a social media writer… and more.

Honestly, it’s incredibly good. Mind-blowing really, when you consider where this technology was just a few months ago.

This time I asked GPT-4 to write me a 40-page Kindle book I could publish on Amazon.

The title of the book is… Brain Sharpeners: 48 Natural Foods That Support Brain Health

If that title sounds familiar, you must have taken my Digital Copywriting Apprentice program. Homework #5 is to write a blog post on this exact topic.

I’ve always wanted to do more with that idea. I even own the domain name BrainSharpeners.com, and have done for years. I’ve just never had the time.

So… at the end of my workday a couple of Fridays back, I sat down with GPT-4 to work on the book.

Mostly I wanted to share those 40 brain foods. But… that makes for a skinny and boring book… just a list really. So I asked GPT-4 to write me an introduction. Then a couple of short intro chapters about how some foods actively support brain health, and can even protect against dementia as you grow older.

Then I asked it to give me 48 foods that had brain-supporting qualities, and to split those up into categories… fruits, vegetables, etc.

The point is, GPT-4 did 90% of the heavy lifting. It did the research, and a solid first draft. Mind you, the first draft sounded a bit stiff and formal to me, so I asked it to do a rewrite in a tone that was a little friendlier and more conversational. Which it did, in less than a minute.

I added a few photos to the book, most of which I sourced from iStockphoto. But there was one image I couldn’t find … so I went to Midjourney.com for some more AI help, wrote a detailed prompt, and voila… the exact image I was hoping for.

While I was there, I had Midjourney.com create a profile picture and header image I could use on my new @brainsharpeners Twitter account. I also used the header image as the background on my book cover.

I put it all together… did some final edits… and then uploaded the text and cover art to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing site, using a pen name, Nick Tapvana.

Take a peek:

Brain Sharpeners: 48 Natural Foods That Support Brain Health

And you would be doing me an enormous favor – if you’re on Twitter – to follow my new Brain Sharpeners Twitter account.

How long did this all take? The book was published on Sunday evening.

So… from Friday evening to Sunday evening. And no, I didn’t spend the weekend at my desk. My wife and I did all the usual family and dog-walking stuff.

Nearly forgot… I also asked GPT-4 to write the description for the sales page on Amazon, and a starter-pack of 20 tweets for promoting the book on Twitter.

Brain Sharpeners was a fun side project idea I had put off for years, because I just didn’t have the time. And suddenly… that kind of project is possible.

On top of that, I believe in it. Natural foods really can contribute to the health of your brain. This is just the kind of short, introductory book I looked for when I first got interested in this topic.

Next up… I’ve almost completed the Brain Sharpeners Recipe Book. And yes, once again, GPT-4 has done 90% of the work for me.

UPDATE: The latest, I just published the Brain Sharpeners website! Most of the content is generated by GPT-4. I’m not recommending you do the same. Definitely not. This is just an experiment. : )