Hachette, a book publisher, was supposed to release Mia Ballard's horror novel Shy Girl in the US in April, but that is not the case anymore. According to BBC, the UK version, which was released in November, will also be discontinued.
Shy Girl was originally a self-published book in February 2025, and then it got a full UK release in November 2025.
The cancellation happens because of concerns that AI was used to help write it. Ballard has denied using AI to write the book, but on the other hand, she told New York Times, that an acquaintance she hired to edit the original self-published version of the novel had used AI. Ballard is also pursuing legal action.
The New York Times (which first reported the story) has stated that Ballard's novel "appears to be the first commercial novel from a major publishing house to be pulled over evidence of AI use".
It was probably only a matter time that something like this would happen. And it seems that now it has.