Write your book with AI

The perfect combination: the Reverse Writing method with ChatGPT, Claude or your favorite AI

When you want to write your book with AI, I suggest starting with a clear question: what do you want your reader to take away? You can generate a lot of text very quickly. But if you haven’t decided what your book is about, who it is for and what belongs in it, you have simply created more material to sort through.

I recognise that problem from my first books, long before AI existed. I had a contract with a major publisher and a story I wanted to tell. So I started writing. At first, it went well. Then I got stuck. I had plenty of material, but had to go back and change the structure. That experience led to my Reverse Writing method: start with the back cover, then the table of contents, and then the chapters.

In this interview, I explain how I combine Reverse Writing with AI. Below the video, you’ll find the main steps, examples and a prompt you can use to get started.

Start with the back cover of your book

When you pick up a book in a bookshop, you often turn it over. The back cover helps you decide whether it is for you and why you would want to read it. Yet many authors leave that page until they have finished the entire manuscript.

I start there. Your back cover makes the promise to your reader clear. Who do you want to help? What are they struggling with? What will they know, understand or be able to do after reading your book? And why are you the person to tell this story?

That one page helps you choose an angle. A book about a campervan trip could focus on travelling with children, practical routes or what happens when you leave your home and familiar life behind. It could be the same trip, but each angle calls for a different book. Your back cover gives you that direction.

Turn your promise into a table of contents

If your back cover promises to take readers to a result in seven steps, those steps will probably form the basis of your chapters. If you are writing about your life before a major event, the event itself and what happened afterwards, you already have three possible parts.

Then put bullet points in each chapter. Which examples, experiences and tips belong where? Moving a few bullet points around is much easier than moving ten pages you have spent days writing.

Once the overall structure works, you can start developing the text. Begin wherever your energy is. Have you just had a conversation that fits perfectly into chapter three? Write about it. You don’t have to write your book in page order.

Ask AI to ask you about your book idea

AI can be a useful sparring partner while you figure this out. Tell it about your background, your experience and the book you have in mind. You don’t have to know exactly what the book will become. Ask it to help you find the missing information.

Here is a starting prompt based on the exercise I share in the interview:

You are my writing coach. I want to write a book, but my topic and angle are not completely clear yet. Help me create a back cover first. Ask me questions about my background, my experiences, who I want to write for and what I want my readers to take away. Ask follow-up questions when information is missing. Here is what I have in mind so far: …

Then share what you already know. Read the suggestion and respond as you would to a human writing coach: this is right, I mean something different here, I would never use those words, this example belongs in it. With each round, the back cover becomes closer to your idea and your voice.

Try speaking your prompts

One practical tip: try speaking your prompts instead of typing them. When you type, you often start selecting and organising your thoughts immediately. Yet a stray thought, a detour or an example can provide useful context.

You can say: ‘I was thinking about this topic, but there is something else too. And something happened yesterday that relates to it…’ AI can help organise those thoughts. You don’t need to structure everything perfectly before getting a useful first version onto paper.

Write the book you needed a year ago

‘Who am I to write a book about this?’ I hear that question often. People want to take another course, get another qualification or wait until they know everything. Meanwhile, they already have experiences that could help someone else.

My question is: could you help yourself from a year ago with what you know now? What would you have liked to read when you first started this experience? There may be a valuable book in that. Be clear about who you are writing for and honest about what you know from your own experience.

Your personal stories make the book yours

AI can help you structure a chapter or make a passage clearer. You need to provide the experiences that make your story yours. What happened in the grocery store where you couldn’t speak the language? What mistake did you make along the way? Which conversation changed the way you saw your business?

Those specific moments make your book personal and recognisable. Share them with your AI, then check that the text reflects what actually happened and what you want to say. You decide what goes into the book and remain responsible for its contents.

Talk about your book before you finish it

Your back cover gives you something to show people. Ask readers in your intended audience what interests them and what questions they still have. With that campervan book, you could test different angles before spending months writing travel advice, only to discover that people are most interested in your personal transformation.

Talking about your idea also lets you practise your book pitch. You discover which words people understand and what gets a response. That gives you useful input for the writing and helps you connect with future readers.

Write one back cover this week

Have you been sitting on a book idea for years? Start with that one page this week. Talk through your idea, let AI ask questions, create a first back cover and discuss it with someone you want the book to reach.

Have three ideas? Write three back covers. You may discover where one book ends and another begins. You will have something concrete to work with.