by Matt Zimmerman
For a while now, folks have been asking to toss in their own personalized prompts into ZimmWriter. Now, here’s the rub. The quality of the output might take a hit with custom prompts. It’s not that your prompts are bad, no. It’s just that they might not play nice with mine. There could be a bit of a clash between my prompts and yours.
But I found a solution. Let me begin by explaining how content is generated inside ZimmWriter.
ZimmWriter builds your articles, section by section. An introduction is a section, a conclusion is a section, a bunch of paragraphs for an H2 is a section, etc.
For many of these sections, how it works behind the scenes is as follows:
Adding your custom prompts inside of step 1 will break the quality. So the solution is to add a new step between 1 and 2. The new flow if you invoke custom prompts is as follows:
Now there are a few things to keep in mind…
You can select a separate (or identical) custom prompt to apply to the introduction, conclusion, subheadings, subheading transitions, product layouts, key takeaways, and FAQ.
ZimmWriter takes care of the backend work by prompting OpenAI with the article’s title or subheading title, current section content (generated in step 1), subheading if it’s needed (e.g., for an H2 section), and your custom prompt. The custom prompt doesn’t send OpenAI your global background or subheading background because it assumes the AI already knows the context from the current section output generated in step 1.
I feel that custom prompts will need some trial and error on your part. I’d suggest starting off small, with straightforward prompts, and see how it goes. I anticipate a lot of people re-using their ChatGPT prompts inside the custom prompt section and getting terrible output. It’s a learning curve for users.
Also, while most of the places to use the custom prompt are self explanatory (e.g., introduction, conclusion, etc), you might be confused on the difference between “Use on Normal Subheadings” and “Use on Transition Subheadings”. All subheadings are H2, H3, H4. But a transition subheading is one where the next subheading is on a deeper H level. Here is an example:
I hope you can see with this example that a subheading is classified as “transition” if the next H subheading is deeper.
The most important thing to understand when creating a custom prompt is how ZimmWriter feeds everything into OpenAI. The following is the prompt that ZimmWriter sends to OpenAI. It is NOT your custom prompt. Your custom prompt is represented by the “your custom prompt” text below:
[CONTEXT]: article title or subheading title [TEXT TO MODIFY]: text from the corresponding section, such as the intro, conclusion, key takeaways, subheading content, etc [MODIFY THE TEXT ACCORDING TO THESE RULES]: your custom prompt [MODIFIED TEXT]:
That is the prompt that I send to OpenAI so keep it in mind when designing your prompt.
So the “your custom prompt” text above is whatever you type into the input box in the custom prompt section inside ZimmWriter.
When writing a custom prompt, you could thus refer to the text as TEXT in all caps. Here is an example of a custom prompt: “Rewrite the TEXT in the style of Dr. Suess. Also include a markdown format bullet list”.
When ZimmWriter combines your custom prompt with everything else it sends to OpenAI, the final result might look like this:
[CONTEXT]: Milwaukee 2366-20 M18 Rover Flood Light Review [TEXT TO MODIFY]: Looking for a powerful and versatile lighting solution? Need optimal visibility for your job site or outdoor activities? Look no further than the Milwaukee 2366-20 M18 Rover Flood Light. With 4,000 lumens of brightness and three lighting modes, you can easily adjust to meet your specific needs. The M18 5.0 Battery Pack provides up to 12 hours of continuous runtime. Its compact size, integrated handle, and IP54 rating make it perfect for any tough job. Don't settle for subpar lighting, so choose the Milwaukee 2366-20 M18 Rover Flood Light for unmatched performance and durability. [MODIFY THE TEXT ACCORDING TO THESE RULES]: Rewrite the TEXT in the style of Dr. Suess. Also include a markdown format bullet list. [MODIFIED TEXT]:
As you’ll discover, all custom prompts must have curly brackets, start with “cp_” and may only contain English letters, numbers, and underscores.
Here are some examples:
{cp_your_prompt1}
{cp_amazon}
{cp_fix_spelling}
{cp_aida_intro_1}
Now you might be asking… why? It seems silly to have such a weird naming scheme.
But the reason is because you can also use your custom prompts in your custom outlines!
All you have to do is append the custom prompt name (e.g., {cp_your_prompt_name}) to the end of an outline subheading (just like you would with {list}, {table}, etc) and ZimmWriter will take care of the rest! Keep in mind that ZimmWriter only accepts one custom prompt per subheading.
In addition, you can also apply your custom prompts using their name as a variable in the SEO writer too if that’s what you desire.
Just so you know, using your custom prompt involves an extra step. ZimmWriter needs to touch base with OpenAI, providing them with the input data and your prompt. This adds a bit more time and cost to the process. Keep in mind, you’ve got the option to pick a different OpenAI model for your custom prompt than the one for your article.
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