ERICA HAYES

I am a real human. My name is Erica. The picture in the bio is of me. I write under various pen names, as listed on this site from time to time.

I and all my pen names use MS Word (including the inbuilt spelling checker) and my actual human brain to write my books. I do not use generative AI to write text, to plot my books, or for editing. I know the em dash shortcut and I intend to use it! And if there’s a mistake in my book, it’s a mistake. I didn’t put it there to prove I am not an AI.

I sometimes use LLMs to research factual information relevant to my stories, and book marketing information. Meaning, I search the Internet for things, like everyone else. I don’t hate AI. I just refuse to make so-called “art” with it.

I made this website using royalty-free stock images and purchased or free fonts, with no added generative AI elements. It probably looks like it. I’m good with that.

All my book cover art is either: 1) commissioned by traditional publishers pre-AI (yes, I’m that old!); 2) made by me with stock images and old-school Adobe Photoshop; 3) created by human artists to whom I have paid actual money. To the best of my knowledge and belief, my covers contain no AI-generated images.

Any ebooks created by me are formatted in Vellum (the ebook software, not the AI platform).