Put your business book to work.
You do not have to remember every lesson to apply it. Bring back a book’s relevant ideas when you have a problem to solve.
Get the setup prompt
You finish a business book with useful ideas, but remember less of the detail as time passes. When a problem comes up, the advice you need can be hard to recall. I’ve built an AI bookshelf from 32 marketing books so I can bring their ideas back and apply them to the work in front of me.
Start with one book. This guide helps you create a reusable skill: instructions and reference files your AI can consult when you bring it a problem. You can ask it to apply the book’s relevant methods without having to recall them all yourself.
Simon Smyth, Ingenio Technologies
Bring a readable copy.
Open Claude Cowork or ChatGPT Work and attach a readable PDF. Claude also supports EPUB. Use a copy you are permitted to process and keep the source and resulting skill private.
Ask the app to confirm the title, edition and chapter list before it starts. Scanned or protected files may need additional handling.
Copy this prompt into your task.
It asks for usable methods, examples and references, with a check against the source.
Download as textMake it available for the next task.
Claude Cowork
Ask Claude to package the skill as a ZIP. In Claude’s skill settings, upload the ZIP and enable the skill. Availability can depend on your plan and workspace settings.
ChatGPT Work
Use @skill-creator in Work with the prompt above and ask it to create and install the skill. Follow the installation steps it provides for the environment you are using.
In a new task, name the skill and ask it to explain one familiar method from the book, with a source reference. Check that reference yourself before relying on the advice.
Give it something real to improve.
For a marketing book, attach your homepage for context and an anonymised sales-call transcript. Remove names, contact details and confidential information. Then try:
Here's our homepage for context and an anonymised transcript of a sales call that didn't lead to a sale. Use this book's methods to identify the buyer's concerns, how we handled them and what we left unanswered. Ask me what happened after the call before drawing conclusions. Then draft the follow-up email we should have sent, using only facts I've supplied. Show which parts of the book support your advice.
Use the analysis to review how you handled the conversation and what a better follow-up could have addressed. Check the references and correct anything the AI has misunderstood. A transcript cannot tell you everything about why someone did not buy.
Keep customer details private. The book supplies a method; you supply the facts about your business.
Platform instructions
Claude: using skills · Claude: supported files · ChatGPT Work: building skills
Checked 11 September 2026. Menus and availability can change.