Verified purchaser
A great start but not quite ready
Pros:
--The top tier deal is a no-brainer if you plan to start a publishing empire or provide ghost-writing for clients as a service or a foot-in-the-door value add.
--For my first book, the AI produced over 140 pages of content which is a feat in itself if you've ever tried to get the major LLMs to do the same. All the more impressive when you copy and paste that content into a 6"x9" book template for publication (my preferred format) it comes out to almost 350 pages.
Cons:
--While the generated text is quite well-written, its rhythm is monotone and has little cadence. All paragraphs tend to be about the same length; all sentences have little variety, so it may not be as engaging as it could be. The ample generated text ends up being too much, so a good deal of editing is required. If you're using one or more pen names, then it might not be so concerning. However, if you're using the book as a business card, you'll definitely want to spend enough time in editing mode to make sure it gives the best impression of you and the material. At this point it's debatable whether writing from scratch would be more expedient.
--Providing anecdotes in the template is a great feature, but you should be able to input them into each chapter, so that the same anecdotes don't get sprinkled throughout the entire book. In a book about seniors (60+) starting new businesses, I provided anecdotes of two of my clients (Rob and Jim). As first, I was very impressed the way the AI added them to the manuscript, providing all the pertinent information in a proper context. However, I began to notice how often the same two anecdotes appeared. A search showed that Rob was mentioned 29 times and Jim clocked-in at 23 mentions. Some of the instances are written as though it's for the first time, not acknowledging that this person was mentioned multiple times already. You quickly realize that you're going to have to spend ample time going through the manuscript with a fine tooth comb to pull out repetitive phrases or points that have been mentioned before.
While I think this is a great first release of such a powerful tool, I think there really needs to be more customization functionality to be a true book-writing powerhouse. I've considered keeping this deal to see where the developers go with it, but their tentative responses to roadmap issues doesn't give me a lot of confidence that any major changes are in the works for the near future. I would love to come back to this deal seeing that some implementation of the major points reviewers have left here. I would even pay more for the top tier deal as the value would be there--but not in its current state (IMO). I hope you polish this gem of a project very soon...!
Casper_FirstBook.ai
Apr 22, 2025Thank you so much for the thoughtful and detailed review — this kind of feedback is incredibly valuable, and we truly appreciate the time you took to share it.
First off, we’re thrilled to hear that you see the potential and value in the top-tier deal, especially for authors, ghostwriters, and publishers. It’s great to know the content volume and structure delivered a strong foundation, and it’s impressive how quickly you moved your manuscript into a ready-to-publish format!
You're absolutely right about areas we need to keep improving — especially rhythm, sentence variety, and the repetitive use of anecdotes. These are known limitations with long-form AI generation, and we’re actively exploring ways to improve content flow and allow better placement and variation of user-provided inputs like stories. We agree: Rob and Jim shouldn’t be showing up quite that often.
As for your note on customization — spot on. We’re currently working toward offering more flexibility and control, especially in how the outline and chapter content are shaped. These types of upgrades are part of our Q3/Q4 roadmap, and while we don’t want to overpromise, we’re serious about building something long-term and powerful for authors like you.
Thanks again for your honest words — and if you ever want to share more, we’d love to hear from you directly at hello@firstbook.ai.
Best regards,
Casper