IBPA Publishing University 2026

AI-Powered Self-Editing: Align with Reader Expectations, Cut Costs, and Prepare for Market

The most expensive editing pass is the one that discovers your book isn't delivering on its core promise to the reader. What if you could diagnose and fix these "reader expectation gaps" before your manuscript ever reaches a human editor? This session offers a strategic, cost-saving "pre-edit" process using AI. Join AI editing expert Erin Servais and IBPA award-winning author-publisher Linda Ruggeri for a practical, business-focused workshop. They will demonstrate how to use AI as a predictive "beta reader" to analyze whether your book's structure, pacing, and clarity align with the specific expectations of your target reader. This session is designed to save you significant money by empowering you to fix big-picture problems yourself. Attendees will learn how to create an "AI Reader Persona" for their genre, get actionable feedback on their manuscript's market alignment, and ensure their book meets reader expectations from page one.

The audio file is attached. Transcript will be added in early June.