How to make sure AI can find and recommend you, your novel, or screenplay.

In the last few months, you may have noticed that internet search has changed. Now when you Google something, Gemini, Google’s AI, answers your question in a paragraph, giving you links if you want to read further. Many people have stopped Googling altogether, starting their search with their favorite AI tool.

This shift is why writers need a new internet visibility strategy – GSO.

What is GSO?

Generative Search Optimization (GSO) makes your work easy for AI tools to understand, trust, and surface inside their answers. AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and Perplexity, are summarizing, recommending, and quoting the internet for people searching. Your job is to make your work easy for the AI to understand and recommend.

Think about it like this:

• Traditional SEO was a treasure map. You sprinkled keywords around your site and hoped Google sent explorers to your link.
• GSO is different. It’s about showing up inside the answer.

AI-powered conversational search is fundamentally changing internet search by moving away from basic keyword results toward nuanced, back-and-forth dialogues between readers and AI tools.

Traditional search engines struggle with long, specific phrases, forcing readers to think in basic keywords like "novels about birdwatching". In contrast, AI can process language nuances to handle highly specific requests. For example, a reader or producer can ask for "a good thriller set in a small town with a female protagonist who's a journalist investigating a cold case" and receive a recommendation that matches those exact criteria.

Search becomes a conversation where every response uncovers deeper aspects of what the user is looking for. People can modify their requests as they go, guided on a journey of discovery rather than just asking for directions.

Through conversation, AI tools get to know users’ behavior, search history, and preferences, enabling them to tailor results to an individual's specific interests. They can remember a user's preferences over months or years, making increasingly accurate recommendations.

AIs can read and analyze pictures too. A reader can take a photo of their physical bookshelf. Then the AI then analyzes the titles and recommends what they should read next based on their established tastes.

Why GSO Matters for Writers

AI is becoming the new librarian, bookseller, and research assistant. If the model doesn’t know your work, it can’t recommend it. As a writer, you want AI to have read your books and screenplays.

AI is the new librarian.

When someone asks, “What are great found-family space operas with a cynical hero?” they might not scroll ten results anymore. They’ll read one AI summary and click one recommendation. If the model can’t confidently describe your book or script, you’re invisible.

This is good news for readers, authors, and screenwriters. It will be easier for people to find stories they like and easier for creators to build a fanbase.

GSO levels the playing field.

Generative engines don’t only reward big brands. They reward clear, consistent, well-structured information that’s easy to verify and cite. That’s good news for indie authors, screenwriters, and small creative businesses.

GSO fluidly links discovery and purchase for books.

The line between discovering a book and buying it is disappearing through agentic commerce. Soon readers will be able to find a book through a conversation and complete the purchase without ever leaving the chat interface.

What does AI know about you?

Search for yourself and your projects with a few of the AI tools.

Try these prompts:

• What do you know about [Your Name] as an author/screenwriter?
• Summarize [Book Title / Script Title] and list themes, tropes, and comparable titles.
• Where can I learn more about [Book Title]?
• What genre is [Title] and who is it for?

Notice:

• Is the info accurate?
• Is it thin, only one vague paragraph?
• Does it point to the wrong page or another person with your name?

Dive Deeper

​AI Optimization for Authors​

​Book Discoverability in the Age of AI: GEO for Authors​

​How to get ChatGPT to recommend your book​

​Get ChatGPT to recommend your YouTube videos

​2026 Trends for Indie Authors​

Catch Up Corner

​The One Person Movie Studio: An 8-Step AI Filmmaking Workflow Straight From a Working Creator​

​Could Your Story Use a Little Love?​

​How to Write Villains and Henchmen​

Cheers,

Lindsey

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