The first step to creating a new product of any kind is to see if users are interested in it.

You want to answer the question: Is the product needed and wanted?

In attempting to do this, I don't think I did a good job at this on a new book idea I've been working on.

The book is called "AI for Coders". You've probably heard of it by now.

It started with a tweet on Twitter.

I included the link to the book idea and some sample pages describing what the book was about.

And I got one response that was...kind of negative.

Now, clearly, this user got the wrong impression of what the book was about because they were talking about something completely different.

I handled it through direct messaging and the user got a clearer understanding that the book was not about how to CREATE AI but how to USE it.

The same thing happened with the same post on LinkedIn with a different person.

I got a strange comment and followed up with the person and hopefully, it's clearing up but I'm not so sure yet.

First of all, I don't think these people meant any harm in their responses.

They are actually two existing customers of mine. They were just expressing their concerns so please don't reply to their comments or retaliate.

When evaluating this, I think there are a few issues I have identified that I can handle:

Maybe "AI for Coders" isn't the best title as it could lead people to think it's about how to CREATE AI or large language models or machine learning, etc.

It's about how to USE AI and I really wanted to share how it's been helping me and my team at work.

(Recently, I also showed my friends who are Amazon sellers how to use AI to save them tons of time in their workflow. They were blown away by the results and are now using AI to great success.)

These are the wins I want all developers to have.

So I need to find a better book title that communicates this.

Another challenge is my market/audience is mainly SwiftUI developers.

So when they see me creating a book about how to use AI, this creates some confusion.

AI can be used while developing or to promote your apps, debug problems, organize your time, learn concepts faster, etc but this coming from an educator who writes SwiftUI books?

The question comes up, "Who are you to write this book?"

This was a common theme of the two people that responded, even though it was more about "Who are you to write this book who has no experience with CREATING AI?"

Although that's not what I'm teaching, it did make me think about the topic of "authority".

"Authority" is simply demonstrating you know something about what you're teaching. I've learned from a lot of entrepreneurial courses that this is a vital step to creating and selling products.

I haven't really done this yet with using AI. 

So I think the answer might be to start creating videos and posts about how to use AI as a developer. 

This might be enough to bridge the two markets while at the same time demonstrating knowledge.

Now, remember, those are just two people's responses. 

On the other hand, I have received overwhelmingly positive responses from people who are looking forward to the book after seeing what the book is actually about!

I have a Google Form to collect feedback on the book draft and it's all been positive so far. (The Google Form link is in the draft book.)

I want to introduce developers to AI and teach them how to effectively leverage it to help them out.

I broke the book down into different aspects of a developer's life. (See "Book Contents".)

Prompt engineering (how to ask AI to effectively get what you want) is at the heart of the book. 

With prompt engineering, I want to show the extent of what you can accomplish and the results will surely blow your mind when you first learn them. 🤯

Let me know what you think and if you're excited about learning how you can use AI to speed development, market your app and learn more easily.

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