Romance novelist Coral Hart produces over 200 books annually using artificial intelligence, earning six figures from sales on Amazon. What once took her months now takes 45 minutes per novel.
Alexandra Alter reports for The New York Times that the romance industry is rapidly adopting AI writing tools, despite significant controversy within the community. Hart, who lives in Cape Town and has been published by Harlequin and Mills & Boon, has trained more than 1,600 people through her coaching business Plot Prose.
However, AI-generated romance faces distinct challenges. Most chatbots struggle with explicit content due to policy restrictions. Hart discovered that Claude produces elegant prose but fails at romantic banter, while other programs like Grok and NovelAI handle graphic scenes but lack emotional depth. “You are going to get hammering hearts and thumping chests and stupid stuff,” Hart explains. “At the end of every sex scene, everyone will end up tangled in the sheets.”
The technology has divided the romance community. Author Rebecca Crunden calls AI users “opportunist hacks using a theft machine.” Many readers share this sentiment, questioning why they should pay for content authors “couldn’t be bothered to make.” Romance author Sonia Rompoti notes that AI “doesn’t understand the human experience” and describes physical acts without genuine emotion.
Amazon requires self-publishing authors to disclose AI use internally but does not mandate public disclaimers. Industry experts predict AI-generated content will become increasingly undetectable.
