A $2 Million Book Deal Just Collapsed Over AI Suspicion, Not Proof

Nigerian author Jerry Falade has lost a two-book deal reportedly worth more than $2 million (some outlets put the figure at $2.4 million) after his own literary agents pulled his debut crime novel, "Call Me, I'll Hide the Body," from publication over unresolved questions about AI involvement. The reversal, reported by TheGrio and Vanguard News, is the latest case where a publisher walked away not because AI use was proven, but because it could not be ruled out.

How the deal fell apart

Falade's manuscript triggered a bidding war among roughly 14 publishing houses. His US agent, Marc Gerald of Europa Content, closed a two-book deal with Macmillan's Minotaur Books imprint, while UK agent Sandy Hodgman of Hodgman Literary secured multiple six-figure bids that landed the UK rights with HarperCollins. The book was slated for a 2028 release and had already drawn film and television interest.

Midway through the submissions process, an editor flagged possible signs of AI use in the manuscript. Gerald has said his agency initially trusted Falade's reassurance that he had written the book without AI, and chose not to run the manuscript through AI-detection software because Falade was, in his words, "clear and credible." That changed after a meeting on July 29, when, according to Gerald, aspects of Falade's account shifted. Europa Content then told the publishers it could no longer stand behind how the manuscript had come together and withdrew it.

Falade says he only used AI for research

Falade denies writing the manuscript itself with AI. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said he used AI during the research phase of the book, not for drafting the text. He has also pushed back on the process that ended his deal, arguing that AI-detection tools are known to produce false positives and pointing out that the manuscript passed through multiple readers, editors and acquisitions teams before his own agents pulled it.

Falade has framed the outcome as part of a wider pattern. He noted that three Black authors, including Mia Ballard and HM Wolfe, have had book deals canceled or disrupted this year following AI suspicions, and said the reaction to his own book reflects a "troubling assumption that when a Black writer produces work that attracts significant attention, the work could not possibly be their own."

Why this matters for you as an author

This case sits alongside Hachette's decision to pull the horror novel Shy Girl over AI suspicions earlier this year, and the pattern across both is the same: publishers are increasingly willing to walk away from a deal on suspicion alone, before any AI-detection tool or forensic check has settled the question either way. Falade's own defense, that he used AI for research but not for writing, was not enough to stop the collapse once his agents said they could no longer verify it.

That is the part worth sitting with if you write with AI assistance in any capacity. Vague or partial answers about how a manuscript was produced create exactly the kind of doubt that ended this deal, even for research use that most publishing contracts do not currently restrict. If AI plays any role in your process, from outlining to a full first draft, being specific and consistent about what it did and did not touch protects you far more than staying quiet and hoping the question never comes up. Our guide on how to edit and humanize AI-generated book content covers how to build a manuscript you can describe honestly, chapter by chapter, if a publisher or reader ever asks.

PageWriter Studio is built around that same transparency. You get a style profile trained on your own voice, a clear record of what you drafted and what you revised, and a finished manuscript that reads like you rather than like an anonymous AI pass. If you want to see how that workflow fits your next book, you can start a free trial.