- Disclosure rules vary by platform, publisher, and contest — and change.
- Amazon KDP asks publishers to disclose AI-generated content during setup.
- Many contests and trade publishers restrict or require disclosure of AI use.
- When the rule is unclear, disclosing is the safer choice.
- Disclosure norms differ for AI-generated versus AI-assisted work.
Authors should disclose AI use wherever a platform, publisher, or contest requires it, and should default to disclosure when the rule is unclear. Requirements vary and change often — Amazon KDP asks publishers to flag AI-generated content during setup, and many contests and trade publishers restrict or require disclosure. Norms also differ between AI-generated text and lighter AI-assisted work. Check the current rule for each venue.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Disclosure is increasingly an eligibility and trust issue, not just an ethics one. Undisclosed AI use has disqualified contest entries and triggered platform takedowns. Because the rules are still moving, treating disclosure as a per-venue checklist item — verified at submission time — protects the book from being pulled after publication. This is a legal-and-policy question, not legal advice; verify each venue’s current terms.
Chapter ii·What to include
- A per-venue check: KDP, IngramSpark, Apple Books, contests, agents.
- A distinction between AI-generated and AI-assisted in your records.
- A disclosure line ready for setup forms and submission guidelines.
- A re-check at submission time, since rules change.
- An internal log of where and how AI was used in the project.
- A note that this is policy guidance, not legal advice — verify current terms.
Chapter iii·Example
An indie author preparing to publish checks each channel before upload. KDP’s setup flow asks whether the content is AI-generated; she answers honestly that AI assisted with metadata and critique but not the prose. She skips a contest whose rules ban any AI involvement and enters one that allows disclosed assistance. Nothing she publishes is later at risk of being pulled.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom keeps a record of where AI assisted in your project — research, comps, critique — so filling out a disclosure form is a lookup, not a guess.
See how WriteLoom uses AI