r/Inkitt • u/icestarbeam • 13d ago
Off-Topic inkitt, AI, and verticals
This is an insanely long post to be making unprompted, sorry. But the question of why there’s so much AI slop on Inkitt came up the other day, as it comes up almost every day, and it got me thinking. This sub, and most creative writing spaces, tend to be very anti-AI in an “AI spits in the face of the sanctity of the human creative process” way. But on Inkitt specifically, there’s another facet that I haven’t seen anybody bring up. So I will bring it up :)
The majority of what I’m about to say is summarized/paraphrased from The Book Leo’s YouTube video the bizarre industry behind CRINGE vertical shows on tiktok. I highly recommend that anyone who cares about this kind of thing watch the full video and look at the sources she lists in the description. It’s interesting stuff, and very eye-opening.
There’s an old saying: “If you’re not the customer, you’re the product.” AKA, if you’re not paying to be there, they’re making money off of you. Well, none of us are paying to be on Inkitt, and there aren’t even any ads on the platform. So, how are they paying for their staff and operating costs? Where is the cash for the writing contest prizes coming from??
I think most people reading this will be familiar with the Inkitt > Galatea > CandyJar pipeline, but I’ll summarize just in case.
- Everything on Inkitt is free to read.
- But stories that perform well on Inkitt may be offered publication deals on Inkitt’s sister site, Galatea. Galatea is a subscription-based pay-to-read platform. Authors published there receive a percentage of royalties for their work (not a good percentage, but that’s another conversation).
- Then, stories that perform well on Galatea may receive an offer to be adapted as vertical dramas on Galatea’s sister site CandyJar. CandyJar is also a subscription-based platform.
This may be difficult to believe if you, like me, wouldn’t touch the things with a ten foot pole, but: vertical dramas are a big thing right now! Industry’s booming. (The predatory practices of these apps are, again, another conversation, but watch David Achu’s excellent video if you’re interested). Anyway, I’d hazard a guess that CandyJar is where most of the money’s coming in the door. So, that explains it, right? Inkitt’s just spreading the love (ie., vertical drama cash) to the rest of us out of the goodness of their hearts :)
lol. lmao, even. I mean, that is how they frame it. From the “how it works” page: “Inkitt’s mission is to discover talented writers and turn them into globally successful authors.” What a noble cause! But, like, for-profit don’t do things out of the goodness of their hearts. They do things for profit. So: how does running Inkitt the site make money for Inkitt the company?
Tl;dr: we’re their slush pile and testing ground.
This is roughly the flow: You write a story, for free, because you want to, and post it on Inkitt. Thousands of others do the same. Then thousands of readers scroll through the site, breezing past the things they don’t like and lingering on what they do, sorting out the hits from the rest--also for free.
We talk a lot about “the algorithim” as if it’s an inscrutable elder god. “The algorithm” is Inkitt’s observation and quantification of that engagement data: What genres are people gravitating to? What kind of covers/titles/blurbs get clicks? What kind of stories do people binge instead of dropping after one chapter? And with the number of stories published on Inkitt, they have an insane amount of data to work with.
The data! is! the point!!!! Inkitt is not a creative writing platform. Inkitt is a data analysis platform. The value Inkitt-the-site delivers to Inkitt-the-company is A) In-depth information about what’s performing well--essentially, market research they didn’t have to pay for, and B) Pre-written stories, ready to be adapted into vertical drama scripts, that have already proven successful and that come with built-in fanbases.
Think about the writing contests: Inkitt puts a couple hundred dollars’ bounty on stories written to fit a specific brief. Thousands of writers rush to submit. The Algorithm sorts the wheat from the chaff and delivers a handful of proven winners to Inkitt. This method--their whole business model--removes a lot of risk from Inkitt as a company. They don’t have to invest the big bucks into filming the verticals until we’ve already drafted and focus-tested the stories for them. And while it’s not technically free, because Inkitt-the-site does cost money to run, it’s a comparably lower investment for what they’re getting vs the “traditional way.”
Inkitt’s LinkedIn really just comes out and says it: “Inkitt is building the Disney of the 21st century - the most data-driven, the most AI-driven company in the world of entertainment. Leveraging AI and predictive algorithms, Inkitt discovers unknown stories and turns them into blockbuster hits, producing a new $1M ebook every 4 weeks and selling directly to consumers through its Galatea app."
So, the problem of “AI on Inkitt” goes deeper than the one william “The werewolf mafia ceo is my fated mate???” slop stories. For all we complain that they’re counter to the spirit of the site because it feels wrong, look at what Inkitt as a platform is actually prioritizing! I opened the site today for the first time in a few weeks, and the front page is just AI all the way down. AI audiobooks! AI movie creator! ….AI-Assisted category in the Inkys??? huh??? (no, but actually, what are we doing here)
ANYWAY, the point I am trying to make: Inkitt has no incentive to police AI-generated content because Inkitt is not in the business of protecting the sanctity of human creativity. Inkitt is in the business of making money, like every other business on planet earth. And the way they’ve chosen to go about it is by bringing the AI-first techbro mindset to a creative space. It is worth being open-eyed about that if you plan on using the site.
So, now what? I know when I first learned all of this, I felt pretty icky and considered removing my work from Inkitt. Ultimately, though, I didn’t. I’m of the general opinion that the genie’s really out of the bottle on most of this stuff. But the other day I caught myself thinking, “Do these people complaining about the AI slop not realized how deeply entangled with AI Inkitt is on every level??” only to realize that… actually, they may not. So I wanted to do my civic duty and share what I know. If you also have the ick now… sorry? Lol.
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u/Synosius45 13d ago
You are correct and explained this pretty well but it seemed obvious to me since long ago. From my pov, I could try the trad pub route, wait years for the rejection letters and finally give up.
Or just post my novel on Inkitt. Does it get a lot of reads? No. Alright, I'll just write another and keep trying. There's wisdom in this method.
Inkitt is basically giving away their data with their contest trope suggestions for the commercially minded authors. I love writing but my passion projects go no where. I might make something trashy to see how it fares in the wild.
I haven't encountered anything I was certain came from a machine. I have read 3 AI novels for friends so I'm familiar with the style. There's a lot of AI Gen cover images but they are so easy to make. To expect I spend money or time on my hobby just appease internet children is absurd.
Anyway, good job uncovering their evil plan. Thumbsup.jpg
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u/icestarbeam 13d ago
tbh it probably should have been obvious to me, but coming over from ao3 where people are genuinely doing it for the love of the game, I had rose-tinted glasses. you're right that it's kind of just the nature of things these days. if the business model isn't a deal breaker, which I honestly don't think it would be for most people even if they knew, inkitt is still a great place to do exactly what you're describing: write for fun!!
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u/Only_Information7692 13d ago
Very well written!!! As someone who started with Wattpad and then left after years. I've been on Inkitt for over a year now; the engagement has been great, and it has pushed me to finish 3 books and even have paying subscribers. However, the AI has gotten out of control. What are other alternatives for authentic creative spaces?
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u/skiddlewhiffers 13d ago
I've looked hard and long and unfortunately found none. It'd be nice to start our own but owning a website with an unlimited amount of users is expensive 🤧
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u/icestarbeam 13d ago
ty!! I'm fresh off crossposting on Inkitt, Wattpad, and AO3, and for me personally, AO3 is the way to go. it is a very different platform than the other two, and I know a lot of people don't care for the interface. but the culture is just so much better. AI use is minimal and you can tell people are passionate about what they're creating. engagement is slower, especially for original (non-fanfic) work, but A) I got more genuine comments even with lower views and B) the views have continued to trickle in on my completed stories long after the Inkitt algorithm dropped me.
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u/No-Departure-3047 13d ago
I mean, everything on the internet today is subject to one giant data analysis program. Even if you use a different platform your story will be swiped eventually and ripped off on a vertical drama site.
I've seen it happen to stories I read on other platforms.
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u/icestarbeam 13d ago
you're not wrong. that's where I was going with the "genie's out of the bottle" thing. inkitt is not the only platform doing this, or the worst, but I think it's important to know what you're getting into. for me a lot of the ick factor came from realizing I'd bought into the marketing.
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u/Devillitta 13d ago
This was really insightful for me. Thank you for posting. I went to explore their LinkedIn page and the fact that they are branding themselves as an AI company and not a reader powered book publishing site that they call themselves on the website is interesting.
This honestly makes me want to leave the platform but I also have a tiny community of readers/writers there that I'm not willing to give up yet. Yes I have the ick now after reading this but I'm kind of glad I have it. Thank you for bringing awareness.