Tuts, niche ideas, and is AI setting us up for trouble?

Happy spring! In my neighborhood we have been emerging from hibernation. We hit close to 70 F/18 C last weekend and it’s always hilarious to see everyone in their shorts and tank tops like it’s July already.

In this issue:

• Two new video tutorials for Affinity

• Tips for creating travel journal content

• Niche idea of the week

• KDP tips for 2024

• Using Excel as a printables design tool

• Is AI content future proof?

Recent Video Tutorials

Recently I shared how to make custom picture frames in Affinity. There is a similar function where you can create a text frame from a shape. I posted a video about this a couple weeks ago

Watch Text Frames from Shapes

Another thing you can do is convert shapes into a text path. In last weeks video I turned a spiral (from the new spiral shape tool) into a text path.

Watch Convert Shapes to Text Path

I have a few more videos filmed just waiting for editing, so nothing new has been posted this week yet but if you aren’t a subscriber on the channel, you know, hit subscribe and “smash that notification bell,” haha ;)

From the Blog: Travel Journal Ideas

I wrote this last month but I don’t think I’ve shared it yet. With summer fast approaching now is the time to think about travel journals, planners, and printables. This article explores the parts of a travel journal from a DIY perspective-how to make your own and what you might include.

I also include some ideas for coming up with travel prompts.

I am working on a companion post with more specific ideas for niching down with travel journals. For now, check out this week’s niche idea below.

Read Travel Journal Ideas for Makers and Sellers

Partner Deal: Jayne has updated and re-released her Affinity Photo course. I bought this when it originally released and really liked it. Unlike other Affinity Photo content which is largely aimed at photographers, Jayne focuses on the tools and techniques that book & digital creatives might use. You can read a few more of my thoughts in my testimonial on the sales page 😄 

I am an affiliate for this course and if you make a purchase I may receive a commission:

Find out more about Jayne’s Affinity Photo Mastery. Launch ends March 28.

You make also like

KDP Tips for 2024: This is a great no fluff video with not only some good tips, but great explanations as to why they work and how to implement them.

Printables with Excel as a design tool: People sell spreadsheet based digital products, but did you know you can use Excel (or Sheets) as a design tool too? One of my best selling printable sets was made in Excel. This is an older video, but gives a high level overview of how to do this.

Random Musings: Is AI content future proof?

I have been listening to a few presentations from the Books Sales School Summit (Ray Brehm) this week. One presentation by Marcy Pusey had some interesting food for thought about AI.

She likes using AI as a tool but she specifically recommended avoiding using it to generate book content and even book covers. She feels like the current litigation by publishers, authors, and artists against Open AI and other AI platforms will likely be won by the creators and then what does this mean for anyone who has published AI content using those tools?

I am not quite so doom and gloom, because while I have caught AI paraphrasing content from the web, in theory it does what a human brain does. It takes in a lot of information and then puts that together into a new piece of content.

We learn about something, make new connections, and we write about it.

We admire artists and are inspired to incorporate elements into our own stuff.

We steal like an artist.

Many have said that Amazon asking for AI disclosures was just them collecting data for their own tools and research. I have always believed they are hedging against any future legal issues with AI content.

Marcy Pusey believes that if Open AI and others lose the lawsuits, it will make it easier for Amazon to unpublish AI generated content to avoid legal trouble.

Two other points that she brought up that were interesting:

• People are attracted to AI for content and art because it’s inexpensive, but if you can’t afford a couple hundred dollars for a cover design, can you afford a lawsuit?

• People are attracted to AI for content and art because it’s easy and fast. But how will this affect our creativity and our brains? Will we lose aspects of our creativity because it’s easier to let a tool do it for us? I believe she said she had a therapy background and uncensored creativity like free writing stimulates parts of the brain where “hard things” that we don’t have words for are tucked away. Fascinating. She mentioned the movie WALL-E where humans lose the ability to walk. If we don’t use it we lose it. I have not heard anyone talk about this aspect before and it’s definitely worth considering.

If you are interested in watching yourself, this was part of yesterdays presentations and I think there are still a few hours left to watch Day 4 for free.

Until next time,

Catherine