Nigerian author Jerry Falade has lost a publishing deal worth more than $2 million for his debut crime novel, Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body, after his literary agents stated they could no longer verify whether artificial intelligence was used to write the manuscript. The book, which had sparked a 14-publisher bidding war and secured a major deal with Macmillan U.S.’s Minotaur imprint, was pulled prior to its planned 2028 release.
Agencies sever ties despite author’s strong denial
Literary agencies Europa Content and Hodgman Literary withdrew the manuscript and severed ties with Falade on July 29, stating that while they initially believed his assurances, changes in his account left them unable to authenticate how the book evolved.
Falade has firmly denied using AI tools in his writing or editing, attributing the rapid fallout to systemic bias. He pointed out that AI-detection tools frequently produce false positives and argued that Black writers face unfair scrutiny and assumptions that their work cannot be genuinely their own when attracting major industry attention.
