Shy Girl

Shy Girl is a horror novel initially self-published in February 2025 by Mia Ballard. Publishing rights for the book were acquired by Hachette Book Group, which released the book in the United Kingdom in November 2025 and planned to publish it in the United States in 2026. Its US release was cancelled and its UK release was discontinued after it faced accusations of being created with generative AI. Ballard denied having personally used AI in the book's writing, claiming that a freelance editor had introduced AI-generated changes. She also stated that she would take legal action against the editor.

The novel follows Gia, a depressed woman with obsessive–compulsive disorder, who encounters a mysterious man named Nathan while looking for a sugar daddy to ease her financial troubles. Nathan offers to erase all of Gia's debts in exchange for her agreeing to live as his pet. Living like an animal convinces her that she is becoming an animal, making her behave like one.

Shy Girl was first self-published online by Mia Ballard in February 2025. Marketing material described the book as a "buzzy BookTok sensation" and "bloody and unforgiving". The self-published edition of the book was highly successful and had over 4,900 ratings on Goodreads and an average score of 3.52 stars. In an interview, Ballard described her writing style as lyrical, feverish, and introspective, and stated she was more interested in "what it feels like to live inside a body" than in plot-driven storylines.

Publishing rights were acquired by Hachette Book Group and it was published by its Wildfire imprint in the United Kingdom in November 2025. By March 2026, the book had sold 1,800 copies in the United Kingdom. A US release was planned for 2026 by the imprint Orbit Books.

After the British publication, critics and readers began to make claims that the book appeared to have been written by generative AI. A January 2026 post on Reddit claimed that the book had many of the hallmarks of having been written with a large language model, and stated that it was "repulsive" that the book was accepted by Hachette. A two-and-a-half-hour video essay covering the book, titled "i'm pretty sure this book is ai slop", received 1.2 million views on YouTube by March 2026.

In response, Hachette Book Group announced in March 2026 that it would cancel the book's US publication and discontinue its UK publication. It told The Wall Street Journal that it had made "a lengthy investigation" before deciding to cancel the book. Ballard told The New York Times that she had not used AI when writing the book, but that AI-generated elements were added by a freelance editor without her knowledge. She also stated that she could not elaborate on her claim because she was pursuing legal action against the editor. Writer Andrea Bartz opined that the situation "raises many concerns about trust, authenticity and publishing's readiness for a new, A.I.-assisted world", but that "readers made it abundantly clear they want books by humans, not machines".

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