<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/29/ai-written-books-novel-shy-girl-publishers>
"Recently, the literary agent Kate Nash started noticing that the submission
letters she was receiving from authors were becoming more thorough – albeit
also more formulaic.
“I took it as a rise in diligence,” she said. “I thought it was a good thing.”
But then she had what she described as her eureka moment: the letter with the
AI prompt right at the top. “It read: ‘Rewrite my query letter for Kate Nash
including a comp to a writer she represents,’” she said.
Once Nash had seen the prompt, she “couldn’t unsee AI-assisted or AI-written
queries again”.
The news last week that Mia Ballard’s “femgore” horror novel
Shy Girl could
be up to 78% AI-generated, however, has forced literary agents and publishers
alike to consider whether sharp eyes alone can detect AI-generated work.
“The question of how
Shy Girl slipped through Hachette’s net is something the
publisher has to answer themselves, but in reality, it was only a matter of
time before this happened,” said Anna Ganley, the chief executive of the
Society of Authors."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
