Horror novel ‘Shy Girl’ canceled over suspected AI use

Hachette Book Group, one of the largest publishers in the United States, pulled a forthcoming horror novel Thursday in a decision that followed widespread allegations online that the author relied heavily on artificial intelligence to write the book.

On Thursday, a day after The New York Times approached Hachette citing evidence that the novel appeared to be AI-generated, the company said it was pulling the book from publication. By Thursday afternoon, the novel was removed from Amazon and the Hachette website.

Hachette told the Times that its Orbit imprint decided not to publish “Shy Girl,” which was due out in the United States this spring, after conducting a thorough and lengthy review of the text. Hachette said it will also discontinue the book in the U.K., where it was published last fall and has sold 1,800 print copies, according to NielsenIQ BookData.

“Hachette remains committed to protecting original creative expression and storytelling,” a Hachette spokesperson said. She added that Hachette requires all submissions to be original to the authors, and asks authors to disclose to the company whether they are using AI during the writing process.

Reached by email Thursday, author Mia Ballard said she was not prepared to comment.

“Shy Girl,” about a desperate young woman who is held hostage by a man she met online and forced to live as his pet, was self-published in February 2025.

The cancellation of the novel reveals the challenges the book world is navigating as the adoption of AI becomes more widespread and as traditional publishers increasingly look to self-published books as a pipeline for hits, particularly in genre fiction.

Publishers have maintained a firm line against AI-generated text and images, and require authors to attest that their work is original in their publishing contracts. But few have clear policies or measures to prevent users from writing with AI.

“This is the proof positive of what many of us have considered an issue, that this will happen, and now it has happened,” Thad McIlroy, a publishing industry consultant, said of the controversy around “Shy Girl.”

Readers and many writers remain ferociously opposed to the use of the technology for writing, which they regard as cheating or a form of theft. And AI-generated writing is not always easy to spot. “Shy Girl” received some rave reviews when it was self-published, eventually drawing more than 4,900 ratings on Goodreads, and averaging 3.52 stars.

Still, the tide turned as more readers began flagging what they surmised was AI slop, slamming the book for its generic and confusing metaphors and repetitive phrasing.

“Really bad,” one reader wrote in a one-star review. “Pretty sure this was AI generated.”