First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy
First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy
First Cup of Coffee – March 27, 2026
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Showing off my new tattoo to celebrate AMONG THE THORNS! I'm also talking option books and how no one deserves - or should count on - having their traditional publishing contract renewed. My villain origin story on why I don't like standing at signing tables and booths. Finally, my thoughts on using generative AI "only" for brainstorming. Spoiler: I think it shoots your creativity in the foot.
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00:01.37
Jeffe Kennedy
Good morning, everyone. This is Jeffe Kennedy, author of Epic Fantasy Romance, also writing as Jennifer K. Lambert. It's a Friday. i don't know what I'm doing or saying, but I am here with my first cup of coffee.
00:21.19
Jeffe Kennedy
Much needed and delicious today is say it with me people. We already heard it. It is Friday. Woo. Um, March 27th. Um, yeah.
00:33.37
Jeffe Kennedy
So here we are. If you're on video, sorry, if you're on audio, you know, I just hit my wind chimes with my hand. Sorry about that.
00:45.21
Jeffe Kennedy
ah If you're on video, you can sort of, it's not a good angle, but I got a new tattoo. There, can kind of see it. It's like the one, it's on my right forearm, it's like the one on my left forearm, only reversed, and it's in tones of honey gold, like the Among the Thorns cover.
01:06.84
Jeffe Kennedy
um I'm very happy with it. I just got it yesterday afternoon, so it's a little bit... read, but my tattoo artist is amazing. And so there's barely any blood at all. Bud Wizzo at four star tattoo, highly recommend.
01:27.27
Jeffe Kennedy
Wizzo the Wizard. um Yeah, he did a fantastic job. ah And I'm i'm thrilled. So yay for Among the Thorns coming out in July. i had a call yesterday with editors Allie Fisher and Diana Vega and Agent Sarah about option books.
01:56.12
Jeffe Kennedy
So now I am in the, um, well, we talked about never the roses book three and what that might entail. And we talked about a new idea that I had pitched and what that might entail. And, Ali asked me to flesh out both of those ideas.
02:15.13
Jeffe Kennedy
Um, for the acquisitions team so that there's like more information than the tiny paragraphs that I tend to give. This is, this is the worst part for me, people, or maybe not the worst, but one of the really hard parts. And Ellie is so great. Cause she says, I know you don't outline.
02:36.54
Jeffe Kennedy
but i don't outline certainly not ahead of time. Um, and so this like whole, Knowing what's going to be in the book before I write it is difficult for me.
02:51.74
Jeffe Kennedy
It's just, it's hard for me to know. i like my brain doesn't work that way. um I know other people are like, well, you know. You can just make stuff up and and Sarah even says that to me. She says you know it doesn't have to stay the same and other people give that advice all the time. You know like you can give the initial pitch to your publisher and the book changes and even the inveterate pre-plotters say that the book changes.
03:21.91
Jeffe Kennedy
And I get that. That's not the problem. it's It's not that, not entirely, that I mind making up the things that may not be true, although I do have a little bit of a thing with that. But largely, it's just, um it's like, well, I don't know. they're They're in this terrible situation, and things will happen.
03:43.42
Jeffe Kennedy
I feel like I need a um ah special expression for that one There we go. Things will happen. no ah So anyway, I realized that these are champagne problems that like I was kind of nervous for the call just because it's my career and all of these things, even though the friends I was being nervous to were pointing out that they've already said very nice things. um You know, it's,
04:15.76
Jeffe Kennedy
It's no, no contract is certain. Um, and, and it's one of the, what do I want to call it? Hazards. I don't know if it's a hazard. It's just, it's how the business works. It's one of the downsides of the business. Um, there is no tenured position in, in the writing world.
04:41.39
Jeffe Kennedy
Let's face it. There's barely tenured positions in professions that have tenured professions or positions anymore. Uh, it's really hard to get tenure at a university. um it's hard to have a job that you have security in. Uh, it's kind of the way of our world right now, isn't it?
05:01.78
Jeffe Kennedy
But like all forms of entertainment where tastes change and so forth. Uh, you're never guaranteed another contract in traditional publishing, even when there's like maybe demand for book three and so forth. Um, you just, you don't know what they'll decide. So, so it's nervous making right.
05:26.33
Jeffe Kennedy
And, You know, so even though Agent Sarah is very confident and, um you know, says nice things to me, it's still, it's it's a little nerve wracking.
05:40.02
Jeffe Kennedy
um And I don't, I don't count on being offered another contract ever. ah ah To me, that's like partly...
05:52.28
Jeffe Kennedy
just keeping my expectations at a reasonable place. ah but But also, i don't know, this is part of what astonishes me when authors will go online and be outraged and be like,
06:08.81
Jeffe Kennedy
ex-publisher refused my option and won't offer me another contract because they say my genre is dead. And there's always like angsty, you know, how could they do this to me? was like, really?
06:25.27
Jeffe Kennedy
they They do this to every freaking buddy. but it's you know, you're you're never so, what, too big to fail? That's like not a thing. You're never so...
06:39.22
Jeffe Kennedy
fabulous that you are insulated from having to prove yourself over and over you know and and I find it interesting you all see big Hollywood stars talk about that like having to audition for roles being turned down for roles ones that they really wanted right and it's um it's the way of the world Yeah, none of us are so incredibly precious that we can ah be assured of anything.
07:15.32
Jeffe Kennedy
So anyway, it was a good call. um I started writing up my fleshed out ideas of what may or may not happen.
07:26.20
Jeffe Kennedy
And I'll noodle over it some. At least the noodling part is fun. It's just that I don't have, I don't know, well-defined noodles.
07:38.20
Jeffe Kennedy
Anyway. Um...
07:43.61
Jeffe Kennedy
So I'm going to talk a little bit more today about generative AI, which I talked about at the beginning of the week and got some interesting comments back that I really do want to treat thoughtfully because I appreciate you all, um, talking to me in, in earnest ways. And I want to respond in that way. But first I want to tell a quick story that I said I was going to tell a few weeks ago, and then I keep getting wrapped up into other things.
08:15.83
Jeffe Kennedy
So, uh, I wanted to talk about the whole, should you stand or sit at the table thing? Uh, which really I think you should do whatever you want, but I want to tell you one thing that really turned me off of the whole standing up and marketing at people from your booth at whatever. And this was at comic con in 2019.
08:39.58
Jeffe Kennedy
twenty nineteen And there are all of these booths in the exhibition halls. If you haven't been there, it's completely overwhelming. I mean, booth after booth, there's so much noise, flashing lights, crowds shuffling through. It's packed in there. but And there's so much to see and absorb.
08:58.17
Jeffe Kennedy
But a lot of authors have booths. And we're seeing more and more of this now at, you know, like um pretty much every con I go to, that in the vendor hall, there will also be authors who have booths for their books to sell their books in the vendor room. And I know that this is a very common business strategy for a lot of people now. um I'm curious to know how effective it is.
09:27.48
Jeffe Kennedy
You know, it's it's expensive to rent the booth. And I know that I'm in in a privileged space, you know, like a lot of times at things like Comic-Con. I saw some at fax Phoenix Fan Fusion. ah You know, like I get my publishers paying my way and so forth. ah And I'm on panels and that kind of thing, which I'm, you know, incredibly grateful that I'm have that, but I've also been working towards it for a whole lot of years. Right?
09:58.33
Jeffe Kennedy
So I know that this is a strategy for especially people who are self publishing, uh, to get their books out there and get that notice. But you know like those booths can cost $500 to rent for the weekend. I saw them at Tucson festival of books. There are people who have their tents with the tables.
10:17.24
Jeffe Kennedy
And it's, I mean, people are there to sell their books and try to make money. Anyway, um yeah, I wonder how often it's worth it. I hear people saying it, but then they're not always people I trust to be telling the truth.
10:31.85
Jeffe Kennedy
Yeah.
10:35.00
Jeffe Kennedy
Anyway, this story. So I'm, you know, sort of shuffling along with the crowd and I spot some books by an author I love.
10:45.88
Jeffe Kennedy
And I was like, o books by this author. Let's say I'm trying to figure out if I can tell this story without naming names. Let's say, let's say that the books, um, are in this world by an author that I love, um,
11:08.78
Jeffe Kennedy
let's say Patricia McShane, I'm mixing up names. Cause I, I, yeah, I don't want to get, well, anyway, uh, I'm like, Ooh, Patricia McShane books. And then I realize, Oh, it's actually not Patricia McShane. It's her son, Mark McShane, who's written written this, you know, new book in the world that I hadn't read yet.
11:36.89
Jeffe Kennedy
And the man standing there, like, he doesn't physically grab me, but he looms over me. I'm not a tall person, but he kind of looms over me and he goes, what's wrong with that?
11:48.92
Jeffe Kennedy
And I was like, and of course I'm dumb. And I've told this story before. So, you know, sorry if you've heard it before. I was just slow on the uptake. And I said, oh, well there's nothing wrong with it. I just don't like his writing as well as his mother's.
12:05.34
Jeffe Kennedy
And, uh, and he really challenges me on this. And then he starts talking about something else entirely about how, Oh, I should read these books written by the twins. If I like a book written by a woman better. And, you know, you know how guys say these kinds of things where, you know, they, um,
12:26.58
Jeffe Kennedy
You could tell that they're just kind of assholes by the way. They're like, well, if you prefer a book written by a woman, you should read these. know you know, this one's written by the twins. And I'm like, I have no freaking clue who the twins are. um i also don't want to have to defend whether or not I want to read books written by women, which I do. ah I've spent a lot of my life being forced to read books by men, and I like reading books written by women. And also...
12:56.38
Jeffe Kennedy
I don't think that this guy is as good of a writer as his mother and I also think he should be writing his own damn world and not like zombifying his mother's world.
13:07.48
Jeffe Kennedy
I have very strong opinions about that kind of thing. It's like create your own thing which will segue into the generative AI thing. So Anyway, I'm increasingly uncomfortable because he's giving me this hard sell. thrusts this book written by the twins into my hands and I'm looking at it and it's this very slim volume and I don't really want it, but I'm trying to be nice because by this time...
13:35.57
Jeffe Kennedy
Jeffe very slow on the uptake, uh, has figured out that this is Mark McShane himself. Uh, of course, you know, manning his own booth, selling his books, hard selling his books. I mean, he pounced on me and so I'm like, well, and I'm feeling bad because I'm sort of like trying to dig myself out of this hole because I would never say to someone in their face that I didn't like their books. Right?
14:04.76
Jeffe Kennedy
And so, and he knows this and he's enjoying making me uncomfortable. So I'm like willing to take this book kind of as a peace offering. And I said, so is this, is this free? And he goes, no, of course not. It's $20. And I, at this point, I feel like for this very slim volume, I'm like, no, no. And I hand it back to him. And ah this has left a sour taste in my mouth. Um, I'm never going to hard sell anyone, my books, you know, and sometimes people do the thing where they come up to your table and say, um, convince me to read your books. Why should I read your books? And I'm like, don't, don't, you know, read my books. If, if you think you would enjoy them, um, that that's where it begins and ends.
14:56.47
Jeffe Kennedy
All right. Thoughts on generative AI. So I got a couple of comments in a couple of different places where people said that they don't use generative AI to write, that all of the words are their own, but that they do use it, like ChatGPT, to bounce ideas. Right.
15:20.38
Jeffe Kennedy
And someone pointed out that the KDP terms of service at this point say that that's okay, that you can use it for brainstorming, just not your actual words.
15:31.19
Jeffe Kennedy
And I do want to respond to this because I do have, I do have opinions. Um, you know, like one person who said that they, um use it to bounce ideas said that they didn't have a writer's group or people to do that with.
15:49.37
Jeffe Kennedy
And, and I'm sorry, I do feel for you because I know it's difficult. I know it's hard, but also This is the thing about all of this generative AI stuff is it makes it easier for us. And that's completely the intent to lure us in and make things easy.
16:09.02
Jeffe Kennedy
um i think you should find people. I think you should find human beings to bounce ideas off of. And here's why. there's multiple levels to this. First of all, everything in generative AI is stolen, even though they're making reparations. Now it's stolen material, which I think is unethical to use.
16:32.57
Jeffe Kennedy
Okay. So that that's the first layer. Um, it's also, uh, highly consumptive of limited resources, which is, a major problem that we are using public utilities to fund, uh, this thing that is enriching the worst people in the world.
16:59.00
Jeffe Kennedy
And by using the product, you are supporting that you are buying into that. So those are the ethical considerations. The creative considerations are this.
17:11.82
Jeffe Kennedy
AI, generative AI, things like chat, GPT, are deliberately designed to reinforce your ideas. it's It's a happy, chirpy mirror. And you can read up on this. It takes what you say and feeds it back to you.
17:33.33
Jeffe Kennedy
ah There's really interesting studies on this. ah showing that the people who use these things extensively um become very convinced of their own rightness because it's not going to challenge you. It's not going to tell you that something is a shitty idea. It's going to make you feel good so that you will keep using it.
17:57.62
Jeffe Kennedy
It's also self-reflective. So it's going to offer you stuff that might sound new and interesting, but it's actually just this regurgitation, right? Of other people's work, but also a regurgitation of what you are saying.
18:17.53
Jeffe Kennedy
So, It may feel like brainstorming and it might be helpful because like for me, if I can talk out ideas, I find that helpful. But I think you're actually damaging your own creativity by doing this. And I know that's a strong stance.
18:37.94
Jeffe Kennedy
But I think that you are are taking this thing where you are able to create, where you're able to channel ideas that come from the other side of the veil or, you know whatever your muse, whatever metaphor works for you. You're taking this original creative stuff that is you as a human being, like this is what we bring to the world as as human beings, right? We're we're not machines. Yeah.
19:04.38
Jeffe Kennedy
You're taking that and you're giving it to a machine to tell you what it thinks of it. And it's giving you back machine, right? Not human.
19:16.28
Jeffe Kennedy
ah There are other ways to brainstorm, you know, and maybe look those up. Uh, I know people who like do it on a big sheet of paper and they write ideas and they do lines out to other ideas.
19:29.92
Jeffe Kennedy
Uh, there are lots of online groups, find online groups, um, join my mentoring discord for $5 a month and I'll make a brainstorming channel. This is that important to me. I, I want people to have an opportunity to talk to other writers. i I know how important that is. Um, I really don't want you using the generative AI products for all of these reasons, but largely because I think it will not develop you as a creative, um, full stop.
20:07.00
Jeffe Kennedy
So yes. Um, tell me what you think, but yeah, Go to my Patreon, Jeffe's Closet. ah Join. I have a Discord. It's not very big, but it's ah it's mighty. It's delightful. It's a great group. And yes, I will absolutely make a channel for, I'm going to it as soon as I finish this podcast. I'm going to make a channel for story brainstorming. And we'll see if people want to use it.
20:34.65
Jeffe Kennedy
ah On that note, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. And I will talk to you all next week. You all take care. Bye-bye.