Nightingale News | AI has entered the chat

(I accidentally did this backwards, and originally posted on Substack. So sorry. )

Publishing, editing, or being an avid reader means you develop a specific kind of eye. You read enough and you start to feel a connection to the author or the story. Or the absence of connection.

We’ve been reading some of the latter lately.

The “slush pile” has changed, friends. We’re seeing more and more submissions that read constructed rather than written.

You picking up what I’m putting down?

One thing that we’ve worked really hard on is how we handle suspected AI submissions.

Our process involves four sets of eyes on every piece. It does not involve the use of AI or AI detection software. My background in scripting LLM’s means I’m, unfortunately, very familiar with their various outputs and styles. If one of our curators flags a piece for AI, they send it to me for review, without the author’s name attached. The process continues from there.

That being said, we are aware that some authors are running AI generated content through multiple indie presses at once. Small presses, lit mags, competitions with cash prizes. Getting very comfortable with the amount of editing they do (or do not) do.

Publishers talk, we compare notes. This is not a secret.

Most indie presses are very limited on time and resources. Most have made their stance on publishing AI content very clear. It is incredibly disrespectful to choose to ignore that boundary. We know AI isn’t going anywhere. But neither is our stance on it.

So here’s where we are:

Nightingale does not publish AI generated prose. If an LLM generated any portion of a submission, it is ineligible. Deliberately seeding the output with errors is a waste of your time, and makes the disrespect feel even more intentional.

I would like to only make this post once: if you have something in our current queue for the flash fiction contest, and it falls into this category, pull it now. You can reach out to any member of the team. You do not need to tell us why you’re pulling it. And we won’t ask.

After this grace period, any submission deemed as AI-generated results in an immediate, permanent ban from Nightingale Press.

If something raises a question, we’ll reach out, and ask for literally anything that proves your piece was worked on by an actual person. Writing accrues evidence of itself. If there’s none, that’s informative enough to reject on a technical gap, alone.

The 50/50 profit share exists because we think the person who wrote the book should own half of what it earns. That’s an agreement between us and a writer.

We’re still here for the work that’s genuinely yours. Send us that.

— Nightingale Press

P.S. Please do not attempt to fabricate a trail. That is a lot of effort. At that point, just write the fucking story. So embarrassing.