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Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

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Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#301

Post by digitaltrees »

haritha-j wrote: post #292

Humans already know what's good for them. Self-help books rarely contain new information. All they contain is motivation, depending on how well it's written. People could substitute it with chatGPT, but its unlikely to provide the same motivation. That's why you could ask chatGPT for the 10 most important lessons in the 4 day workweek, but that won't get you anywhere.

I disagree. There are a lot of counter intuitive things we’ve learned from psychology, and early childhood development. And I have learned some of them from books or in person training courses that made a difference.

Humans have know blocks for their own well being. Most struggle with probabilities or long term planning. But they are teachable skills.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#302

Post by AgentMasterRace »

sanswork wrote: post #146
jasonfarnon wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"because of what I learned." Do these books/seminars actually teach you something new about being married or a father, that you didn't know before? Like what? I always figured they were more about coaching, persuasion, convincing. To the extent I've scanned them, I never saw any kind of new fact, definitely not about something like being married.

I'm definitely a better father because of a bunch of the self help books I've read. Things like better ways to communicate with my son, more effective ways to transfer knowledge, encourage independence, etc. Other areas of my life have definitely improved too though I agree when people say most self help books could be a blog post and in cases where it's an expansion of a blog post I'll generally just go read that. W…

[flagged]

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#304

Post by digitaltrees »

throwawaypub wrote: post #122

I work for a large online news publisher, one of the oldest in the US. Our traffic is down 50% in year. We likely won’t survive for much longer.

What do the AI vendors think is going to happen when the content creation ecosystem drops off a cliff? Do they realize they will drop with them?

We are heading for a future where the internet is frozen in time with a cutoff date created when the LLM summaries started.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#306

Post by digitaltrees »

DocTomoe wrote: post #247

None of Ferris' books is younger than 10 years. Used copies are plentiful, hardly a library who has not been touched. At some time, the market has been satisfied.

That might be true but why the steep drop rather than a slow decline?

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#307

Post by thomassmith65 »

__alexander wrote: post #50

Personally, I see the self-help industry dying because people are starting to realize that it’s just a network of individuals selling products, promoting each other’s products, and creating new avenues to sell more products. I refer to it as the “self-help mafia.” Tim Ferriss kind of created it.

There was a self-help industry long before Tim Ferriss.

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" is still popular today. Dale Carnegie wrote it in 1936.

Back in the '80s and '90s Tony Robbins infuriated millions of North Americans by spamming late television with his obnoxious self-help infomercials: https://youtube.com/watch?v=gUczh_vsRUI

As long as there have been dissatisfied people, there probably has been someone promising to be a deus ex macchina with the secret to turn their lives around.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#308

Post by TeMPOraL »

jasonfarnon wrote: post #128
digitaltrees wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard disagree. I have read lots of books, participated in events and training seminars and had profound results in my life. My marriage is better because of what I learned, I am a better father and leader because of what I learned. And the fact that people sell things as part of that growth journey is how they support their ability to share the lessons and techniques.

"because of what I learned." Do these books/seminars actually teach you something new about being married or a father, that you didn't know before? Like what? I always figured they were more about coaching, persuasion, convincing. To the extent I've scanned them, I never saw any kind of new fact, definitely not about something like being married.

Knowledge has to come from somewhere. Not everyone has perfect parents to couch them on marriage and parenthood.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#309

Post by l23k4 »

I love books, but I could never understand self-help nonfiction books. What's the point? Just about any idea which these books may communicate can be better communicated through fiction.

There's no life lessons you'll learn reading self help-books that you won't get by just reading the classics.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#310

Post by keiferski »

Yes, but only for people that don’t already have an audience.

If Famous Athlete/Entrepreneur writes a self-help type book, people will buy it, because the fame lends legitimacy. Even if the book itself is obviously written by AI.

With an additional caveat: the person needs to have some real, demonstrable authority. Tim Ferris doesn’t really have authority in the sense of “I am a professional athlete” or “I am billionaire startup founder” does. He does have authority as a podcaster and digital products / books creator, but that isn’t what the 4HWW is about.

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