aibook-fun/AiBook_Spec.md

---
title: "AiBook.fun — Product Specification"
type: spec
status: draft
owner: Patrick (Product)
launch-target: 2026-09-26
last-updated: 2026-08-31
companions: [AiBook_PRD.md, AiBook_Implementation_Plan.md]
---

# 📚 AiBook.fun — Product Specification

> **Status: DRAFT.** This spec is the *thinking* behind the product — the vision, the
> principles, the model. The [PRD](AiBook_PRD.md) turns it into requirements; the
> [Implementation Plan](AiBook_Implementation_Plan.md) turns it into a schedule. Commercial
> figures and unconfirmed terms here are planning assumptions, not commitments, and must not be
> quoted externally until signed off ([§8](#8-open-decisions)). See
> [Appendix — What changed](#appendix--what-changed-in-this-revision) for how this revision
> differs from the prior draft.

---

## TL;DR

AiBook.fun is a **living, crowd-written field guide to using AI agents responsibly at work.**
Its unit of value is a **workflow you can run** — a documented, tested recipe for doing a real
job with AI, including the guardrails. It launches as an annual subscription via Kickstarter on
**September 26, 2026**.

The product does four jobs, in priority order:

1. **Teach** practitioners how to actually use AI — from tested workflows, not hype. *(This is
   v1.)*
2. **Fund & assemble** a founding community through the Kickstarter. *(This is v1.)*
3. **Reward contribution** so the book stays current — the "living" part. *(Design it now,
   prove it just after launch.)*
4. **Connect** readers into the wider WeOwnNet ecosystem. *(Ongoing, low-effort.)*

The hard truth this spec insists on: **jobs 1–2 are the launch; jobs 3–4 are layers we build on
top of a proven core.** Trying to ship all four at once is how a small team ships none well.

**One-sentence pitch (utility-first):** *"Steal 20 tested AI workflows you can run this week —
from a living guide that practitioners keep current, and that you can help write."*

---

## 1. Vision & the core loop

The prior draft's slogan was *"turn the Book from an artifact into an engine."* That's the right
ambition — but an engine needs one cylinder firing before you add the rest. Here is the cylinder:

```
   READ a workflow  →  RUN the Try-it (~15 min)  →  SHARE the result  →  (come back)
```

Everything else the product wants to be — a contributor economy, a cohort program, an
onboarding corpus for AI agents — is a **layer built on top of this loop**, and only worth
building once the loop demonstrably works. We measure that with one number, **Activation**: *did
a reader run at least one workflow and finish one Try-it within 14 days of getting access
(access key, not pledge)?* Floors/targets ratified 2026-08-29 — full set in [PRD §8](AiBook_PRD.md).

### The product in layers
| Layer | What | When |
|:--|:--|:--|
| **Core (v1)** | Subscription book of tested workflows + read→run→share loop | **Launch** |
| Contribution | Readers submit their own workflows (needs a real incentive — see [§3](#3-actors--the-contributor-question)) | Just after launch |
| Cohorts | "Book Circles," Workflow-of-the-Week showcase | After content proves demand |
| Agent-native | Same content, read by AI agents to onboard | Deliberate future use of the format |
| Ecosystem funnel | Backers flow into wider WeOwnNet programs | Ongoing |

---

## 2. Principles (the hard boundaries)

These are gates, not preferences — a workflow or a claim either clears them or it doesn't ship.

1. **Grounded in practice.** Every workflow documents a real method: problem → constraints →
   steps → safeguards → evidence. No theory without a runnable shape. The steps **show the
   actual tool output**, because "it works" is something the reader verifies, not something we
   assert.
2. **Responsible by design.** The responsible-AI guardrails (data handling, human oversight,
   failure modes) are part of *every* workflow template — not an appendix, not an afterthought.
3. **Open contribution, curated quality.** Anyone can propose a workflow; curators and
   co-authors review before it's published. *(The incentive that makes people actually
   contribute is still an open decision — see [§3](#3-actors--the-contributor-question) and
   [D-2](#8-open-decisions).)*
4. **Ownership as a reason to stay, not the reason to buy.** The buyer's job is utility ("help
   me do a thing this week"). Community and ownership are what turn a reader into a member —
   they're the retention layer, not the opening pitch.
5. **The boundary is the product.** No general-purpose-chatbot claims, no regulated advice on
   the book's own authority, and one honest set of claims (nothing draft presented as final).

---

## 3. Actors & the contributor question

| Actor | Who | Their job | The boundary |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| **Reader / subscriber** | Practitioners (real estate, financial advisors, fractional execs, higher ed, communities, tech) | Get current, trustworthy AI workflows to apply this week | Pays for access (**$47/yr** — signed) |
| **Co-author** | Confirmed: three founders across RE/FA, C-suite, and tech. Potential: two more for Higher Ed & Communities | Own a vertical; write and curate its workflows | Content follows the template; curated |
| **Curator / editor** | Co-authors + community editors | Keep the quality bar; run the editorial pipeline | Curating ≠ owning the platform |
| **Affiliate** | Community, podcast, press | Refer backers; earn commission | Commission rates below |
| **Ecosystem prospect** | Anyone not yet in WeOwnNet | Learn responsible AI; maybe get involved | Becomes a funnel lead |
| **AI agent** | Ecosystem agents *(future layer)* | Read the book as an onboarding corpus | Optimized-for-later, not a launch requirement |

**Who it's not for:** people wanting AI theory with no practice behind it; anyone seeking
regulated professional advice from the book itself; teams wanting private hosted infrastructure
(out of scope).

### The contributor economy — say what it actually is
This is the most important honesty correction in the spec. The prior draft presented a
"Reader → Owner → Contributor → Governance" ownership ladder and a table of contributor income.
Read the mechanics closely and the income is **affiliate commission for *referring backers*** —
not payment for *writing workflows.*

| Role | What they actually earn today |
|:--|:--|
| Reader / backer | Access |
| Community affiliate | 10% commission — for *referring backers* |
| Co-author | 15% commission — for *referring backers* (plus a byline for writing) |
| Podcast / press | 10% / 5% commission — for *referring backers* |
| Curator / editor | **Nothing documented** — royalty mechanic is unresolved |

So today, **writing a workflow earns a byline; referring a backer earns money.** That's a
referral program, not a contributor economy. For the "living book" thesis to be real, writing
good content has to pay — and *how* it pays is [decision D-2](#8-open-decisions), which this spec
argues is **launch-blocking**, not a later nicety. Until it's resolved, v1 is honestly an
**authored book** (a founding set of co-authors), with open paid contribution as the very next
thing built.

---

## 4. The product: a book built from workflows

### 4.1 The unit of content — a Workflow Recipe
One template, used for every entry. The template *is* the quality guarantee — the structural
answer to "how do I know this isn't hallucinated AI advice?"

| Field | What it captures |
|:--|:--|
| **Problem (the job)** | The real task the workflow solves |
| **Actors** | Who runs it — person, role, or AI agent |
| **Method** | Ordered, reproducible steps — **showing real tool output**, not describing it |
| **Safeguards** | Data handling, human oversight, failure modes, escalation |
| **Evidence** | The documented result — artifacts or metrics |
| **Try-it** | A ~15-minute do-it-yourself exercise |
| **Costs** | Model/tool costs where known — honesty about economics |
| **Author & sources** | Who, when, which vertical, with citations |

**Chapters** are the reading unit: a substantial essay per vertical, with **full workflows
nested in the argument** (not a table of contents of cards). **Editions** refresh annually —
which is the honest justification for a *subscription*: AI moves fast enough that a static book
goes stale, so the value is in staying current. Reading IA locked 2026-08-31; see
[PRD §5.4](AiBook_PRD.md).

### 4.2 Seed the shelf before you sell tickets (the cold-start rule)
The value proposition is a rich library. The failure mode is a near-empty one. Crowd-sourced
libraries reliably die at cold-start: nobody contributes to an empty library (no readers yet),
and nobody pays for an empty one (no value yet), so both sides wait forever.

**The rule:** before we ask anyone to pay, the team and co-authors seed a **Minimum Lovable
Library** — a floor of tested workflows (recommended **15–20 across ≥3 verticals**, team to
ratify) — themselves. This is a launch gate. Community contribution is what happens *after* the
shelf is worth browsing. *(This is the single biggest risk in the whole plan; see
[PRD §5.2](AiBook_PRD.md).)*

### 4.3 How people actually learn (the social layer — mostly post-launch)
These methods are what make the book feel alive. They are **Layer 3** — designed now, switched on
around and after launch, not gating it:

1. **Read → Do → Share.** Every workflow ends in a Try-it; readers post results back. Learning
   becomes applied, visible, and contagious.
2. **Book Circles.** Small cohorts read one workflow a week and review each other's Try-its — the
   online echo of the in-person retreats.
3. **Practice-to-publish.** A reader's Try-it result, once curated, can become a
   micro-contribution — the on-ramp from reader to contributor.
4. **Workflow of the Week.** A public showcase (site + community + email) — the "open classroom"
   that makes the book visible to non-subscribers.
5. **The Kickstarter as lesson one.** Every campaign update ships a mini-lesson — "funded isn't
   the finish line; here's Chapter 1" — so the campaign itself teaches.

### 4.4 Digital surface (current state)
| Surface | What it is | Status |
|:--|:--|:--|
| `aibook.fun` domain | Public home: pitch, sample workflows, affiliate signup, campaign link | **Renewed 2026-08-31** |
| Landing page (built) | A staged proof-of-concept, ready to review and push live | Staged locally, not yet public |
| Subscription access | Digital key → PDF + web reader + annual updates | Not built yet (post-campaign) |
| Community | Team channel live; cohort spaces not built | Partial |
| Kickstarter page | Hero video, tiers, stretch goals, FAQ, risks | Not built — build in the weeks before launch |

### 4.5 The Kickstarter package
- **Launches 9/26/2026.** *(The source plan's earlier spring dates are superseded.)*
- **Goals:** $5K min · $35K target · $54K stretch (≈706-backer projection).
- **Pledge tiers:** ☕ $10 Supporter · 📚 **$47 The Book** · 🎯 $88 Advisor Bundle · 🏆 $248 VIP ·
  🤝 $488 Cooperative Patron · 🏛️ $4,888 Founding Sponsor.
- **Stretch goals:** audiobook ($20K) · workbook ($30K) · video course ($40K) · community ($50K).
- **Affiliate (via Kickbooster):** co-author 15% · community 10% · podcast 10% · press 5% ·
  30-day cookie · ~$0 to join · ~10% platform fee on referred pledges.
- **Hard constraint — no crypto/Web3/NFT language anywhere public.** Kickstarter bans it; a
  single scrub gate reviews every asset before submission. *(See [PRD Appendix A](AiBook_PRD.md).)*

---

## 5. Where it fits in the ecosystem

| Connected program | The connection |
|:--|:--|
| AgencyPRO | The book is the top of its funnel; sponsors get a bundle |
| BurnedOutAdvisor | Primary sales/distribution; retreat + media synergy |
| Webinar program | Backers → webinar → AgencyPRO follow-up |
| WeOwn.Events | Showcase + retreats scheduling |
| Email infrastructure | Pre-launch list + campaign sequences |
| WeOwn.FM | The public "open classroom" broadcast |

*Keep these as low-effort connections in v1 — the funnel is real value but shouldn't pull focus
from the core loop.*

---

## 6. Commercial model (one honest table)

| Item | Value | Status |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Anchor subscription | **$47/yr** digital + hardcopy at-cost upcharge | **Signed 2026-08-31** |
| Lifetime access | Not a v1 SKU | **Signed D-1:** $47/yr only |
| Founding writers | Paid **on contract** (v1 is authored). Affiliate still pays referrals, not writing. | **Signed D-2 2026-08-31.** Royalties/bounties wait for Layer 2. |
| Projected revenue | ~$53,600 at 706 backers | Draft planning figure |
| Pre-revenue budget | ~$6,000 (ads + KS fees + affiliate fee) | Draft planning figure |
| "eBookNFT platform" | A future idea; this book is the first product | Not in scope |

**The rule:** no row in this table may be quoted externally until it's signed. Never present a
draft or open figure as final. *(This is one of the two governance gates worth keeping — see
[§7](#7-trust--governance-kept-proportionate).)*

### The subscription-vs-lifetime tension (worth reasoning through, not deferring)
A ~$97–147 lifetime tier breaks even against $47/yr in about 2–3 years. That directly undercuts
the recurring-revenue thesis: either the content genuinely stays valuable (and you're actively
selling a money-loser) or it doesn't (and the annual-renewal logic is false). **Recommendation:**
keep $47/yr as the anchor; if you want a lifetime option, bound it as an early-bird instrument to
capitalize the community fund (capped quantity), and say so plainly — don't ship recurring and
lifetime as equals on vibes.

---

## 7. Trust & governance (kept proportionate)

The prior draft carried heavy governance machinery for a pre-revenue, unvalidated launch. Two
gates prevent real harm and stay sharp; the rest scales up later, with the product.

**Keep sharp (active gates):**
- **No-crypto scrub.** Kickstarter will reject crypto/Web3/NFT language. Every public asset is
  scrubbed against a translation table before submission. This is existential.
- **Truth in claims.** No draft/unconfirmed figure appears on any external surface. A short
  claims register tracks each commercial claim and whether it's signed.

**Proportionate (plain rules, not ceremony):**
- Confidential material never appears in public workflows; examples are non-confidential.
- Instrument **events, not content** — record *that* a workflow was used/submitted, never the
  private content itself.
- Describe data-handling honestly ("your documents stay on your instance") — never claim a
  security property we haven't verified is on.

**One integrity question to resolve** ([D-6](#8-open-decisions)): if the "ownership" story was
originally token/NFT mechanics, and all of that is stripped for Kickstarter, does *"you own a
stake"* still describe something real — governance rights? revenue share? credited authorship? —
or is it now marketing over an ordinary subscription? Define it concretely or drop the word.

**Domain continuity:** aibook.fun expires 09-05, three weeks before launch. This isn't a
strategic decision — it's a chore. Renew it now. *(See [Implementation Plan](AiBook_Implementation_Plan.md), "Do this week.")*

---

## 8. Open decisions

The genuinely-open strategic calls (the domain "decision" is gone — it's a same-day chore). Each
carries a recommendation as a starting point, not a settled answer.

| # | Decision | Recommendation |
|:--|:--|:--|
| **D-1** | ~~Lifetime~~ **Signed 2026-08-31:** **$47/yr** only. No lifetime SKU as an equal product. | Locked. |
| **D-2** | ~~Writer pay~~ **Signed 2026-08-31:** founding writers on **contract**. v1 authored. Layer 2 royalties later. | Locked for v1. |
| **D-3** | Confirm the two unconfirmed co-authors (Higher Ed, Communities) | Confirm this week, or cut those verticals from v1 and add post-launch. |
| **D-4** | Refresh the source-of-truth plan to the 9/26 dates & re-signed terms | Do after D-1/D-2 land. |
| **D-5** | Human-first or agent-first for v1? | Human-first. Build the format so agents *can* read it later; optimize v1 for human learners. |
| **D-6** | Does "you own a stake" survive as a *true* claim without token mechanics? | Define ownership concretely, or stop saying it publicly. Add to the claims register. |

---

## Appendix — What changed in this revision

A plain-language rewrite with a product review folded in. The substance that moved:

1. **Core loop + layered model** (§1) — v1 is the read→run→share loop; the contributor economy,
   cohorts, agent-onboarding, and funnel are explicit later layers, not co-equal launch goals.
2. **Told the truth about the contributor economy** (§3) — it's currently a referral scheme;
   writing workflows earns a byline, not money. Paid contribution (D-2) is now launch-blocking.
3. **Added the cold-start / Minimum Lovable Library rule** (§4.2) as the #1 risk and a launch
   gate.
4. **Forced the subscription-vs-lifetime tension** into a reasoned recommendation (§6, D-1).
5. **Reframed principle 4** — ownership is a reason to *stay*, not the opening *pitch* (utility
   sells; ownership retains).
6. **Cut governance to proportionate** (§7) — kept the no-crypto scrub and truth-in-claims;
   dropped the ceremony. Added the "does ownership survive the scrub" integrity question (D-6).
7. **Domain demoted** from a gated decision to a same-day chore.
8. **Translated the jargon out** — internal codes, seat/role labels, and merge-history removed
   from the body. Old cross-references can be mapped back on request.