“If our brilliance must constantly be authenticated, the problem is not our talent. It is the system determined to question it.”
Mara Prose
Imagine receiving the news that could change your life.
Your debut novel has captured the attention of agents, editors, and major publishing houses. A competitive auction begins, and an offer reportedly exceeding $2 million is placed on the table.
Then one question changes everything:
Did AI write it?
That is what happened to Black debut author Jerry Falade and his crime novel, Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body.
According to The Guardian’s report, “$2M Crime Novel Deal Collapses Amid Questions Over AI Use,” Falade’s manuscript attracted significant industry interest before an editor questioned whether artificial intelligence had been used to create it.
Falade denied using AI to write the manuscript. Still, his agency withdrew the book from consideration and ended its relationship with him, saying it could not fully authenticate how the manuscript had been developed. Falade said that within hours, his publishing opportunities were paused and his professional reputation was under scrutiny.
Consider the tragedy of that.
His manuscript had passed through agents, editors, acquisitions teams, and publishers. Experienced professionals had read it, praised it, and considered investing millions of dollars in it. Yet suspicion was powerful enough to overshadow all of that professional judgment.
A troubling pattern
Falade’s experience was not isolated.
The Guardian article also discusses Black authors Mia Ballard and H.M. Wolfe, whose books became the subjects of AI allegations.
Wolfe has denied using AI to write her work. Ballard has said she did not use AI to write her novel but alleges that a freelance editor introduced AI-generated material during revisions without her knowledge.
Their circumstances are not identical, and those distinctions matter. But the pattern deserves serious examination.
Black authors receive significant opportunities. Questions about AI follow. Deals are canceled or disrupted. Reputations are damaged before every fact has been publicly established.
Why is exceptional work by Black authors so quickly treated as something that could not have come from our own talent?
Black excellence has always faced an additional level of scrutiny. When we accomplish something extraordinary, people often search for an explanation other than our ability.
Who helped you?
Did you really do this yourself?
Are you actually qualified?
Did AI write it?
The language changes, but the suspicion remains.
The same technology, two different responses
Publishers have legitimate reasons to establish standards concerning AI, plagiarism, copyright, ownership, and disclosure. Writers should not use technology to steal another person’s work, fabricate lived experiences, or replace the authentic creative process.
But an allegation is not evidence. Suspicion should not become the investigation, verdict, and punishment all at once.
The disparity becomes difficult to ignore when we compare these cases with the reception given to Canadian novelist Stephen Marche.
Marche openly discussed using AI to create Death of an Author. In his Guardian essay, “I Wrote a Novel Using AI,” he explained his experience and presented the project as an exploration of AI’s place in writing.
WIRED reported in “AI Wrote 95 Percent of This Murder Mystery” that approximately 95 percent of the novella was computer-generated. The publication also examined its creative approach in “Death of an Author Prophesies the Future of AI Novels.”
Marche’s admitted AI collaboration was discussed as literary experimentation. Meanwhile, Black writers who disputed allegations about their work experienced potentially devastating professional consequences.
One writer was allowed to explain his process and frame the conversation. Black writers were forced to defend whether their talent was authentic.
That disparity is the issue.
I have experienced a version of this bias
This conversation is deeply personal for me.
Small, predominantly white book events have rescinded invitations previously extended to me because I use AI in my marketing and book-cover development.
No one asked whether I use AI to write my books.
I DO NOT.
No one asked about my process, my policies, or the ethical boundaries I have established. No one attempted to distinguish between using AI as a business tool and using it to replace the authentic writing process.
Assumptions were made, and I was excluded without a conversation.
That is the part that stays with me. People were willing to decide who I was, what I must have done, and whether my work was legitimate without asking me a single question.
Bias does not always announce itself openly. Sometimes it hides behind a policy applied without context, consistency, curiosity, or grace.
AI is a tool
AI can help writers organize ideas, conduct preliminary research, manage projects, develop marketing strategies, and make an overwhelming process feel possible.
It should never be used to plagiarize, steal intellectual property, fabricate someone’s life, or replace a writer’s imagination and authentic voice.
Those boundaries matter.
However, plagiarism, ghostwriting, intellectual theft, and dishonest publishing practices existed long before generative AI. Technology did not invent deception.
When a tool is abused, accountability belongs to the person who chose to abuse it. Misconduct should not become justification for treating an entire community as suspicious.
We need responsible use, education, transparency, and clearly defined standards applied fairly to everyone.
Why I created Mara Prose Publishing
I created Mara Prose Publishing because I did not want to conform to rules that were not created with my best interests in mind.
I did not want to wait for someone else to decide whether my voice was marketable, acceptable, or worthy. I wanted the freedom to tell my stories in my voice, build my own platform, and help other writers do the same.
We do not need validation from a system that repeatedly questions our authenticity.
Traditional publishing is one pathway, but it is not the only pathway. We can self-publish, hire our own creative teams, market directly to readers, organize our own literary events, and build independent companies committed to protecting our voices.
This conviction led me to create the Urban Arts Division of Mara Prose Publishing. Through it, I plan to amplify Black and urban voices, affirm overlooked talent, and help authors bring culturally meaningful work to light without surrendering their authenticity.
We will guide writers through the process, connect them with professional support, and teach them how to use modern tools responsibly. AI may assist with efficiency, but the writer must remain the source of the story.
We are seeking memoirs, family legacies, historical fiction, urban and contemporary fiction, Black history, inspirational and faith-based books, poetry, social commentary, and stories preserving overlooked voices.
We do our best to work with different budgets, offer payment plans, and make writing and publishing feel less overwhelming.
If you are carrying a story that needs to be told, visit Mara Prose Publishing and click Book Consult to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Black authors and creatives, this is our time to come together. Let us publish one another, promote one another, teach one another, and build the creative infrastructure our stories deserve.
We do not need permission to tell our stories.
If existing institutions keep moving the chairs, we will keep building our own tables.
And this time, we will own the room.
Mara Prose Publishing 
Leave a comment