I have a confession: my 'to-read' pile is a monument to literary ambition, and my 'to-review' list is a ghost town. But what if I could build a website showcasing my favorite books, complete with unique summaries, custom cover art, and even an audio podcast... all without writing a single line of content myself?
This isn't science fiction. This is the power of a few lines of Python and the magic of modern Generative AI.
I created a simple script that acts as an automated content engine. It’s a digital book reviewer, graphic artist, and web developer all rolled into one.
The Autopilot Workflow: From List to Live Site
The entire process starts with a single text file I upload to the cloud, my book_list.txt. When I run my Python script, it's like kicking off an assembly line. It loops through each book, calls Google's Gemini API for a summary and Imagen API for a cover, and assembles the final webpage piece by piece, saving everything to Google Cloud Storage.
Bringing It to Life: Hosting Your AI-Generated Site for Free
My finished website now sits in a Google Cloud bucket, but how do we turn it into a real, public website? The fastest way is a simple drag-and-drop. After running the script, I download all the generated files—the main HTML page, all the new book covers, and the audio files—into a single folder on my computer. Then, I go to my free Netlify account, and literally drag that folder from my desktop right into my browser. Five seconds later, my site is live!
See an example template of what the script can create here with a live preview.
What's Next? Automating WordPress
This is already a game-changer, but the journey doesn't end here. The next evolution is to bypass the flat HTML file entirely and have the script use the WordPress REST API to publish each review as a brand new, fully-formatted blog post. It's the ultimate dream of content on autopilot.
This project is a complete, working example of a creative automation workflow. I’ve made all the code available on GitHub for anyone who wants to see how it works or adapt it for their own projects.
