One Author, One Year, One Contract

Charlotte Booth • 21 September 2021

One Author, One Year, One Contract

Back in November 2021 Helen made the decision to commit to writing her first book. She had a fabulous idea for a book examining true crime with controversial legal outcomes. In particular she wanted to explore how these cases were received by the public and why people dedicated their free time to discussing and researching them.

Challenge

It was an ambitious subject, and Helen was feeling daunted. She didn’t know how to start. She had all these legal cases going around her head and knew which she wanted to include but wasn’t sure how to fit it all together.

“Before the sessions I had an idea for a non-fiction book,

but it seemed like a huge mountain to climb to actually write

it and I had no idea where to start.”

So, she enrolled on my 12-week From Brain to Book programme.

The Process

The 12-week programme is all about sorting those ideas into a Ridiculously Detailed Content Page, where all the details, arguments, sources and conclusions are laid out, rearranged and expanded on before starting to write the book.

“Charlotte's no-nonsense approach to mentoring takes away all

of the mystery about writing a book.”

Within four weeks of starting the programme Helen had a content page she was happy with and she was able to see how the book would come together.

As she started writing, we discussed in our meetings every two weeks anything that came up which was relevant such as primary sources, copyright, writing schedules, and creating an angle to give the ‘story’ pizazz.

And pizzazz the book certainly had.

“Just a couple of months on I'd written around 50,000 words due

to Charlotte's methodical and practical approach and advice.”

Within eight weeks Helen had started sending proposals to traditional publishers and was beginning to think like a writer.

Outcome

The traditional publishing process is a slow one but it’s worth it to see your book in the bookshops on the high street.

In September 2021, Helen had received exciting news from a publisher. They loved the idea for her book but wanted to commission a slightly different one. They wanted her to expand one of her chapters into a book within its own right.

Helen was faced with a dilemma. Concentrate on finishing the book she was working on, or take up the publishing offer for the amended book and then finish the other one at a later date.

We had a chat about it, and I was amused to see how much she was now thinking like an author. She was now considering expanding other chapters from the original book into a series, so instead of one book she is now potentially writing two and thinks she could write another four.

This is a huge mental shift from when we started working together less than a year ago. I am so excited at the progress she has made, and that she is seeing the hard work pay off.

If, like Helen, you have an idea for a non-fiction book and don’t know how to approach writing it, why not enrol on the From Brain to Book mentoring programme. This time next year you could be looking at a book contract, and planning book two, three… and four and five.

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Copy of The Similarity Between Generative AI and Mediaeval Lions

by Charlotte Booth • 9 May 2025

There is nothing more amusing than checking out mediaeval artistic renditions of lions and other heraldic creatures. These beasts, grimacing and gurning are a strange juxtaposition of human, animal and demon and as far from the cute image of Alex from the Madagascar franchise or in fact a real lion as you could possibly get. There are three main reasons mediaeval lions are so ‘bad’ and un-representational; The artists were following a very tight brief. Some of the artists may never have seen a lion, and were following the descriptions they were given. These lions were representing heraldic principals of bravery, nobility and authority; all very human characteristics. When viewed through this lens it becomes more understandable why they look the way they do, but they are still ‘not right’ and not a great tool for learning about lions. Generative AI is very similar to an uninformed but talented mediaeval artist. There is a element of intelligence but at the end of the day it is following a brief, with no actual ‘knowledge’ of the thing it is producing. As an example, if you prompt your generative AI (ChatGPT and the like) to produce a blog for your new product or service, aimed at your ideal customer avatar you will in all likelihood get a mediaeval lion out the other end. Sort of recognisable, and sort of not. This is because AI doesn’t know what a customer is (ideal or otherwise), has no idea what your product or service is and does, and has no true understanding of how this service or product will serve your ideal customer and their needs. Of course, AI is pulling all the information available from the internet to help with its answer but there is no understanding there. There is no determining fact from falsehoods or even which websites are trustworthy and which are not. So, it skims the internet and puts together content which suits the brief as it understands it. This is then when the actual work should start as this content shouldn’t be used in the raw. It should be edited and tweaked by a human who DOES understand the brief, has been a customer (ideal or otherwise) and can imagine what your ideal customer will feel when using your product or services. We are in a world now, where we have generative AI promoting products and services to humans, when it has no concept of what a human is and how it thinks, meaning the marketing department are in fact more important than ever for ensuring content and copy is aimed at humans and human emotions. You could argue that the world would be a more entertaining place if there were more mediaeval lions in it, but it wouldn’t be a great environment for learning, or for basing purchasing decisions on. If you want to maintain the human element in your content, then I would love to help . Explain the brief, your CTA and your ideal client and I will know what I need to ask to get a clear idea before writing. Then you can rest assured your content was written by a human for a human and we can leave the mediaeval lions to the museums.

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