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Mia Ballard, Shy Girl, and AI use accusations …

I’d never heard of Mia Ballard until yesterday when a New York Times headline caught my eye. Apparently, she self-published a feminist horror novel in February 2025 titled Shy Girl about, well, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Hachette, one of the Big 5 publishers, snatched it up for traditional publication. But according to the Times, it canceled its imminent US release amid accusations that it was written with the help of generative artificial intelligence.

I’ve not read the book. Nor will I. I recommend you watch the YouTube video above for a thorough breakdown by Frankie’s Shelf, who I would never want to review one of my books, not because I used AI to create them (I didn’t), but DAMN is he vicious! I recommend Ballard not watch this video.

“This controversy has changed my life in many ways and my mental health is at an all time low and my name is ruined for something I didn’t even personally do,” Ballard told the Times. She took no responsibility, blaming an unnamed person she had hired to edit her manuscript.

I don’t believe her. If you’ve ever hired an editor to review a manuscript you’ve labored over for months, you will re-read the manuscript once it’s returned to you. You don’t simply take the editor’s word for it. If you love your manuscript, you essentially know it inside and out. You’ve read and revised it countless times. You would spot any changes almost immediately. So, sorry, Mia. Your explanation doesn’t wash.

Hachette bears a lot of the blame for the kerfuffle getting this far. I have no idea if Ballard has an agent, but he or she has some ‘splainin’ to do, too. We assume that agents and Big 5 editors are these godlike gatekeepers who wouldn’t dare let substandard writing and incoherent stories hit bookstore shelves. They’re human, like everyone else, and make mistakes. Still, this disheartens those of us in the query trenches and with works out on submission who get passed over, knowing that Shy Girl passed for quality and numerous worthy, original, well-written works didn’t. Hey, that’s publishing for you.

My questions:

If Ballard is agented, did the agent read the entire book (the way an agent is supposed to)? I’d love to know what the agent enjoyed about the writing.

Did Hachette perform any due diligence? If a publishing house is going to extend a contract to a writer and offer an advance, which I’m assuming happened here, at least one editor must have read the manuscript. A copy editor, too. So, this manuscript, which has been picked apart online for months for subpar, repetitive, and at times nonsensical writing, met agent/editor approval at the highest levels and was already published in the United Kingdom, with the US date in April scuttled. Makes you wonder what the professional class didn’t see that the rest of the hoi polloi did.

Will accusations of AI use impugn innocent writers? Most likely. My understanding is that AI-detection software exists, but sometimes flags non-AI writing as suspect. Also, how is an author supposed to prove he or she didn’t use AI to escape the Scarlet Letters? (See what I did there?)

What is considered fair AI use? Spell-check existed long before what we consider AI today. That’s absolutely AI. What about grammar checks? AI again. Is that forbidden? If so, every writer on the planet might as well use a typewriter and have physical dictionaries nearby. And who makes the rules? Publishing houses probably need to specify what cannot be done. If the grammar checker slightly rewrites a sentence for clarity, and not substance, is this cause to pass on a manuscript?

We’re entering a murky period for publishing. (And other artforms, of course.) Most agents ask writers who query them whether AI was used to create the submitted work, and every writer worth his/her salt will mark No. But not everyone’s honest.

I assume someone writes a book to express creativity and knowledge, both in fiction and nonfiction. Relying on a program that generates what you want it to, and passing it off as your own, no more makes you a writer than heating up a Digiorno pizza makes you a chef. It’s easy to spot a Digiorno pizza by taste. As AI technology advances, it will become more difficult to spot its use and prove it.

Maybe publishers can include in their contracts that AI use (as they define it) is verboten, and that discovery of its use after publication would give the publisher specified legal options to pursue against the writer.

Whatever the case, Mia Ballard’s career likely ended as a trad-pubbed writer. Going fully independent appears to be her only route for the foreseeable future. If she’s truly creative and works on her craft, there’s nothing saying she can’t put out a quality product. And I hope she does.

But her claim that she didn’t know AI was used to perfect Shy Girl doesn’t pass any logical test, as every true writer will confirm.

How many followers do you need in publishing?

The disheartening truth of modern publishing, it seems, is that your social media follower count dictates your probability for success.

I saw a tweet from a writer saying an agent loved the book but declined to take on the author because of too few followers.

I don’t know if this is true, but I’m inclined to believe it. That’s bad news for those of us who don’t like social media and prefer not to be on it because it’s unhealthy and time-consuming. That being said, I understand its importance but fear it’s relied upon too much by the publishing industry.

If a book is solid, people will buy it, and word will spread. Yes, social media helps this, but there was a time when it didn’t exist, and books still sold.

This doesn’t bode well for modern debut authors who might not have any following whatsoever. The way to gain followers is to publish a book that garners readers who want to learn about the author. You don’t need followers for that, just an account for people to find and follow

Regardless, that’s modern publishing, and you must adapt. I’m trying. I’ll follow you if you follow me. But it likely won’t be out of sincere interest on either part, only out of necessity to boost numbers.

So, how many followers is enough?

Chasing Followers, Catching Rage

Authors need platforms.

They didn’t always. Michael Crichton didn’t have a website with a newsletter link when he released Jurassic Park more than three decades ago. Yes, he was well known for The Andromeda Strain, among other works. But he wasn’t tweeting, posting on Facebook and doing a Book-Tok dance.

Do people dance on Book-Tok? I honestly don’t know.

Anyway, to appeal to agents and publishers, even though you technically don’t need one, it makes sense to have one. I’m updating my website this year (much needed after a decade). And am trying to get followers. I’m terrible at it. And, frankly, I don’t want to, but not for a reason you’re thinking.

I’d love to have thousands of followers, and you must work to get them. That’s fine.

But with Twitter/X especially, you invariably get bombarded with the day’s events and what people think about them. Again, fine.

Once you start reading the tweets, you’re bound to get angry or annoyed because almost everyone on Twitter seems angry and annoyed. Take any political issue–Greenland, Minnesota immigration, the Buffalo Bills collapsing again (OK, that’s not political, but it’s up for discussion–and you will get heated, f-bomb-laced screeds on both sides of the issue, and it’s easy to get sucked in.

I rarely comment on anything besides joking to point out absurdity, or chiming in on something that’s universally accepted, like praying for Rob Reiner and his wife after their son murdered them. Yes, there was one lunatic who felt compelled to behave indecently, but he’s not worth mentioning.

You lose time (when you should be writing) and your mental health when you descend into that hole. So, loath as I am to do, I will venture on Twitter to post author-related things (not incessant sales pitches, which are tedious). But, like a bank robbery, I want to be in and out as quickly as possible. And if someone likes whatever I post or wants to engage in a civilized back-and-forth, great!

It is possible to ignore the noise. It is possible to disconnect (putting the phone away)! Hard as it is to do, you will feel better. Maybe that’s the key to true happiness. Powering down.

And reading a book.