The Soul of the Story: Why AI is Fueling Our Need for These 2 Key (Human) Things
Today, technology is moving at a really wild pace. AI is already transforming industries, and nowhere is this felt more acutely than in the world of content creation and publishing. But as AI synthesizes, automates, and maybe even starts to perfect the mechanics of communication, a more fundamental need is emerging. It’s the need for depth. This centers on two distinctly human things: meaning and belonging.
This is the core belief behind DELANEY, your new independent publishing company. We're not here to compete with The Almighty Algorithm. Far different, we are here to champion the very human spirit it threatens to obscure. Let’s dive deeper.
Why AI Content Falls Short
AI is an unparalleled tool for efficiency. There’s no way to naysay that. It can write a competent book report, draft a perfect marketing email, or even generate—yes, it’s scary but true—a full-length novel based on popular tropes, all in a fraction of the time a human author would take.
But what does this technological perfection actually deliver? Often, it's a content landscape that is:
Homogenized: Trained on the average of everything that has come before, AI tends to smooth out the edges, remove the eccentricities (the interesting elements you’ll remember most), and produce work that is, by its nature, derivative.
Voluminous but vapid: We are drowning in content. The sheer quantity of easily generated text makes finding a truly unique and impactful voice harder than ever.
Utter soulessness: The core of a great story, essay, or poem lies in its unique experience that serves as a simulacrum for something lived. When you read, you’re looking for the singular perspective that only a human being can offer. AI can mimic emotion; it cannot feel or live.
The market is becoming oversaturated with competent, but ultimately milquetoast and—again—soulless prose. This saturation is paradoxically increasing the demand for content that possesses the very things AI cannot replicate: authenticity, vulnerability, and genuine human insight. (What is the opposite of the word “faceless”? That’s what we need.)
Redefining Value: Our Mission in the Age of AI
At DELANEY, we see this shift not as a threat, but as a profound calling. Our mission is to be the sanctuary for the stories that matter most. We seek to be the gathering place for the voices that cut through the noise to connect us with our shared humanity, the destination for depth.
1. Meaning: The Search for Human Truth
AI works with data; humans work with truth. We are dedicated to publishing work that grapples with the complexities of human existence:
The uncomfortable questions: Work that challenges prevailing narratives and asks, “Why do you believe what you believe?”
The singular voice: The memoirs, essays, and fiction that are so personal they become universal, revealing a new facet of the human experience.
Depth over trends: We prioritize texts that will remain relevant for decades over those that are optimized for a viral moment.
In a world where quickly-spun-up online dribble pushes us toward the superficial and the immediately gratifying, DELANEY seeks out the deep, rewarding dive.
2. Belonging: Building a Community of Readers and Writers
The rise of the perfect-appearing AI-generated content can feel isolating for both the creator and the consumer. If a machine can write a novel, what is now the value of the human author? If every piece of content is personalized to my existing preferences, am I truly discovering anything new? Or am I trapped in the Internet Echo Chamber of my own making?
DELANEY is building a community based on shared appreciation for human authorship:
Author advocacy: We stand firmly for human intellectual property and transparent, ethical publishing practices. Our authors' value is not measured by their ability to train a model, but by their ability to move a heart.
Curated discovery: We treat our list as a carefully assembled collection, making it easy for readers to find trustworthy, highquality, and genuinely original work, thus fostering a sense of shared intellectual journey (and hence our challenge to the world to DARE TO THINK™).
Connecting souls: Maybe a book is a silent conversation between an author and a reader? That’s our take anyhow: Our events and platforms will focus on bringing those human connections to the surface, transforming reading from a solitary act into a shared experience of belonging.
Join the Human Story
The future of storytelling (and publishing) is not about more content. It's about better content that’s surprising and memorable. We need works that are irreplaceable because of the human heart and mind that created it to provide these two vital outcomes for audiences: meaning and belonging.
As digital content becomes a commodity, we are recommitting to the irreplaceable: storytelling with a human soul.
DELANEY is an invitation to join us in this countermovement. For authors, we are the partner that respects your craft and elevates your unique voice above the digital din. For readers, we are the promise of a truly meaningful experience. We mean to deliver stories that feels less like an input-output equation and more like a profound connection with other human beings.
Stay human,
- The DELANEY team
What profound human story are you ready to share? We are actively looking for manuscripts that unabashedly bare their soul. If you’re ready to submit, review the submission guidelines on our Queries page
