Newly launched indie publisher Pink Shorts Press wants businesses to reclaim their ‘editor’s hat’ as AI-written copy litters the LinkedIn feeds of many.
Pink Shorts Press founders Margot Lloyd and Emily Hart believe that retaining a brand’s voice is growing in importance as many turn to AI for copy creation. This is leaving many brands with what Lloyd and Hart call the “professional vague” voice that alienates brands and consumers alike.
Pink Shorts Press publishes fiction and creative non-fiction books, but it also has a division called Wordshops, offering crash courses in narrative, voice and editing skills, particularly for businesses that don’t typically work with words.
“We see a lot of potential in businesses that don’t typically value words as much – like engineering and accounting,” Hart, who worked at Hardie Grant Books as well as brand voice agency XXVI, said.
Lloyd, who worked at University of Queensland Press and Griffith Review, says that not everyone considers themselves a writer, but most people spend a lot of their working life writing: “Whether you’re writing a report or an email, so many businesses are built on words. And you want there to be some consistency with those words, no matter if they’re coming from the CEO or the marketing intern.”
“Everyone needs to be able to think like an editor and critically assess their own writing. Whether it’s suitable for the voice of an organisation or a business, whether it suits the readership, are important considerations,” she said.
Since ChatGPT made its debut in the public sphere, Lloyd and Hart have come across copywriting that sounds the same. While using AI tools might be an easy way out for companies looking to save time, they stress that it pays in the long run to invest in an authentic and engaging voice and style.
“Using AI gives writers words that sound professional, yet vague. We’ve started to call this ‘professional vague’. You get to the end of a paragraph and are like, ‘Wait, what did that actually say?’ That occurrence is a really big one that we’re talking to people about how they can avoid it,” Lloyd said.
“Your competitors are probably also using AI, and they’re probably using similar prompts, which means you’re all going to end up sounding the same,” she added.
Lloyd and Hart aren’t saying to give up AI completely—on the contrary, they see it as an opportunity.
“Most people admit to experimenting with AI at work. But you can’t just take what it gives you and press send. You really need to be able to think like an editor, and assess whether the words are appropriate for your audience, for your voice, and whether they are even correct,” Hart said.
“Our ideas are only as strong as our ability to express them,” Hart added.
Leaving it all to AI risks flattening the personality and trustworthiness of a business.
With so many brands struggling to make themselves heard, prioritising an authentic and consistent voice—and one that is well-curated—may be just the thing that companies are overlooking. With so much for brands to invest in and worry about, copy sometimes falls behind.
Hart wants to make sure people consider voice and narrative to be as important as visual branding: “If you can’t weave your ideas into a story or at least clear comms, you’re missing an opportunity to really engage with your customer or stakeholder and build that sense of trust,” she said.
“Brands often think of visuals first. But every layer builds the story and the brand, including the words. There is a real interconnectedness between good writing and storytelling,” Hart said.
Editing & Curating
If you could read literally anything written by a machine, what would draw your attention? What is worth reading?
Hart and Lloyd argue that it ultimately comes down to good editing and curating.
“Editing has two main meanings. One is around making sure that words are correct, and the other is around curating,” Hart said.
“It’s about being able to look at everything that’s out in the world and spotlight some things that are worth people paying attention to.
“The democratisation of that through social media has been good in a lot of ways, but also makes it even harder for curatorship. It makes it even more important, though, because that’s what’s going to stand out”.
“Telling a story in eighty thousand words is a real skill. But telling it in a caption or a press release requires a lot of the same principles, especially if you want to avoid bland corporate speak,” Hart said.
When it comes to marketing their own businesses, the pair is exploring the growth of Substack for long-form content and community building. “We recently read that Hinge, for example, is now only using Substack,” Hart said. “It feels like the natural approach for us to lean into slower storytelling”.
Whether it’s through Instagram, TikTok, or Substack, brands need to know how to tell a story, and not just visually. Showing up with a consistent voice will build brand recognisability and trust. In an environment where AI is increasingly ubiquitous, the importance for advertisers, marketers, and anyone working with brand storytelling is knowing how to be your own best editor.
