story.one: Vienna Startup Has AI Write Entire Books Starting at €40
Everyone would like to publish a book at some point, but not everyone has what it takes when it comes to writing. The Vienna startup Storylution, led by CEO Hannes Steiner and known under the brand story.one, aims to remedy this situation. On Thursday, the new “Story Editor” launched, designed to enable the writing of entire books with the help of AI. Users can then also publish and print the book. Currently, AI books are limited to the non-fiction category.
Of course, the process doesn’t work completely without human input. Users must tell the AI tool what the book should be about, what writing style it should have, from what perspective it should be written, what target audience should be addressed, and most importantly: what content it should contain. For this, users can upload existing content of all kinds (e.g., presentations, interview recordings, videos) or enter links to YouTube, Wikipedia, or Google Docs.
Storylution brought on bookstore chain Thalia as a strategic investor several years ago, and Matthias Strolz and Books on Demand are also on board. In the AI sector, Steiner’s Vienna startup cooperates with ExtensityAI to leverage LLMs in connection with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). At the moment, the service is available in German.
17 Chapters in 60 Minutes
From all these user specifications, the Story Editor then builds an outline, title suggestions, a table of contents, and most importantly, sample chapters. If users approve of all this, the AI writer begins its work and starts creating the texts for the chapters. Up to 17 chapters can be created in up to 60 minutes.
This naturally costs money. story.one sells credits to its users, which pay for the AI calculations. According to the company, a typical project includes an outline for 200 credits plus all book texts for 600 credits. These 800 credits cost the equivalent of 40 euros, with additional credits required for chapter revisions or extensive research.
Copyright of AI-Generated Texts Questionable
Once the book is finished, it can be listed with online retailers Thalia, Amazon, or Hugendubel within one to three days, and bookstores can also order it. Each order triggers print-on-demand production, only then is a physical copy actually produced. Purchasing an author copy starting at 18 euros is mandatory, though users can order larger quantities if desired (e.g., 1000 copies at 5 euros each). Those who don’t handle distribution themselves but leave it to Storylution receive a share of sales revenue through author royalties – depending on quantities sold, this ranges between 10 and 16%.
A major question regarding AI books is ultimately who owns the content. “story.one claims no copyright to content created with the Story Editor,” the company states. “Whether AI-generated texts are legally considered copyrightable is not yet definitively clarified – in any case, the rights lie with you as the author or with the original content uploader.” story.one only receives simple usage rights to publish and distribute the book. Users can also use the generated content elsewhere, such as to publish an e-book or audiobook on other platforms.
