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Probably controversial for me to say this as a professional media editor, but…

I’d be fine with you using ChatGPT to write your content next year.

As long as you keep one other thing going along the way.

What is ChatGPT, really?

  Robot thinker with the shadow of a person. (Source: licensed from DepositPhotos)

ChatGPT, a free chatbot created by artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI, has made huge waves since it debuted last month in a public beta test.

It has, for now, rendered Jasper, an AI copywriting tool, instantly obsolete. It's a stunning market shift for the copywriting unicorn, which has 100,000 customers and a $1.5 billion valuation. (Footnote 1)

ChatGPT can’t do things like search the internet yet, so the factual accuracy of its responses is inconsistent. However, it has proven you don’t need to be a good writer to publish content online.

What you need to be is a good editor.

I edit articles all day long at NextAdvisor. Editor is my job title. I edited every sentence of 126 articles for them this year, with articles having an average length of about a thousand words.

When edited well, written content can bring you free evergreen traffic for years to come.

The key to my writing progress these last several years has been editorial training. I know why I’m writing, what to write, how long it should be, where to publish it, when to publish it, and how to get eyeballs on it, with or without social media.

I have been editorially trained to do this quickly and well, and have helped my clients develop similar levels of fluency for themselves.

So yes, ChatGPT can spit out infinite blog posts and email newsletters for you at zero cost (At least for now, while the beta is still free).

But... do you even know how to use that content?

➡️ Will the stories the AI gives you be relevant to your readers?

➡️ Will you know how to rearrange machine-made posts into punchy leads, crystal-clear nutgrafs, and classy-yet-persuasive CTAs?

➡️ Will you know how to add context and references? Remember, this bot can't crawl the internet, so it can't source timely or relevant information.

ChatGPT is like being handed a free fighter jet... which most people on Earth have no idea how to fly.

My belief is that the skill of editing, which is easy to learn when presented well, powers all content marketing today.

Even if you focus more on audio, video, or image content, you still need editorial skills. Knowing how to write and edit makes your content’s core message easier to understand, no matter its format.

ChatGPT can’t teach you that.

ChatGPT is the hare

  (Source: WikiMedia commons)

If an article is like a race, ChatGPT is the hare. The bot will run way ahead early on.

What ChatGPT does is better than running, actually; it will basically teleport you to the halfway point. Love a good teleporter. If you’re someone who gets stuck on first drafts, AI is a great escape hatch. It will just write the first draft for you, in seconds flat, for free.

But then you’ll have to run the rest of the race yourself — and if you haven't been working on your editorial fitness, the writing fitness that powers pretty much all messaging on the internet, what the robot writes for you will be about as good as it gets.

Meanwhile, the professionals who learn how to write will be the tortoises. Big ones. I wanna be that Galapagos tortoise, personally. 🐢 

Huge. Moving slowly. Two hundred years old and still landing cover stories in National Geographic. Someone give the Galapagos tortoise’s publicist a raise. Or maybe the tortoise pitches the media herself to save a few coins. That's the approach I recommend.

We tortoises write our own content and our own outreach communications. We edit along the way, because we know what information should go where to keep readers engaged. We see opportunities for media coverage and can pounce on them on the fly.

(Side bonus: this will actually make us better at using ChatGPT, too, because we will be able to give the AI better, more detailed instructions from the jump. Trained writers know how to ask the right questions.)

🐢 Tortoises drop gems that sparkle, especially when placed next to ChatGPT’s unpolished geodes.

🐢 Tortoises' articles and emails and posts will get an ROI, because we are very connected to strategy and why we’re writing them in the first place.

🐢 Tortoises' evergreen content will create intangible brand equity and trust in coming months and years that a flashy logo or one-off viral TikTok video simply cannot replicate.

🐢 Tortoises' posts will feel like the Four Seasons, rather than a hostel, even though both technically fulfill the same objective of giving you a place to sleep for the evening.

🐢 And yes, tortoises even do less selling, but make more money, because our messaging is limber and strong.

Tortoise life is awesome.

So go on, then — use ChatGPT for your writing needs if you like. It'll fill a few holes. But only on the condition that you also keep learning about editorial best practices.

The leading tortoises in your industry have these skills, which is part of why they're so consistent and cost-effective.

If you’d rather learn the editorial skills that help us tortoises win again and again, I invite you to invest in this type of education for 2023.

We could even do it together — and for a special price through this Friday at 5pm PT. Details below.

Nick

Camp Wordsmith's All Access Pass Is 25% Off

Think of the Camp Wordsmith All Access Pass as being like your textbooks purchase in school.

The difference is that this textbook will never become obsolete.

When you join, you get VIP access to all of our materials and resources that help you become better at messaging, communications, and marketing online using the written word.

➡️ Learn more here.

The portal has more updates coming next year. When you get the All Access Pass, you'll be grandfathered in to all of those updates. We currently have buildout milestones through end of Q3 2023 planned out and in the calendar.

I also keep you updated with an email called The Dispatch, which goes out once a month. Everyone in Camp Wordsmith gets this email, but All Access Pass holders get a version with extra announcements, freebies, and recommendations that value your time.

It's an easy way to stay in the know on our monthly updates, in case you don't log in for a while. You'll never be behind.

I invite you to join. Let's do this online publishing thing differently — together.

Join us here.

👋🏼

Footnote 1

Source: “The Best Little Unicorn in Texas: Jasper Was Winning the AI Race—Then ChatGPT Blew Up the Whole Game” (The Information)

Summary: Jasper is built on GPT-3, OpenAI’s flagship large-language model, and was way out in front in the AI copywriting market.

Jasper did $45 million in revenue in 2021, and reported being on track to double that for 2022. The company raised $125 million in October, for a current valuation of $1.5 billion. Of its 100,000 customers, 75% of them pay $80 a month for the AI copywriting service.

OpenAI, in contrast, has far less revenue. Their main revenue source is partnering with startups by licensing their API to them for product development. Startups like Jasper.

Also, ChatGPT wasn't supposed to take off. It's a beta test of a systems upgrade for OpenAI. They want to stress test the limits of their current AI technology, which is why they made a chatbot for it and opened it up to beta testers for free.

To spell it out clearly: OpenAI is testing a better version of its AI in public, for free, while continuing to accept license payments from startups who offer AI writing as their core product.

The Jasper team didn’t know ChatGPT was coming, according to Jasper CEO Dave Rogenmoser in comments to The Information.

Whoops.