I’ve come to realise Caleb making me protein smoothies is his version of delivering a dozen long-stemmed roses, and that’s OK, isn’t it? Not all heroes wear capes; some make sure that your nutritional needs are met. Lily says he’s a BMI bully but it’s his job to hyper focus on snack maths, right? What we eat versus what we expend. Anyway, calorie counting is all algebra to me. Hence the need to not only escape into books, but launch myself into the next chapter so I get a happy ending, between the pages at least.
Lily pulls me from my reverie. ‘Look, Harper. Just do the live. Be nice, don’t make waves. It’s easier that way and also…’ She glances at her watch. ‘If I don’t eat soon, I will die.’
One thing you should know about Lily is that she’s always about to die of hunger. I’m sure she coined the term hangry. If she doesn’t eat at specific times, her mood plummets and the beast awakens. She blames this on her extremely fast metabolism, and I can confirm it’s true. I’d hate her if I didn’t love her so much.
‘Fine. I’m ready.’ Tia’s book is the reason I’m all over the place today. Speak or forever hold my peace, that is the question. ‘Pass me the book.’
My Bookstagram page is my happy place. At times, I worry (what a shocker) that I’m not keeping my content fresh, not keeping up with trends, or novels that publish at an alarming rate. Not engaging enough with the book community. But this, this concern is much weightier. I should keep my trap shut – that much I know, but I’ve never listened to reason so why start now?
I catch the bookBang, Bang!that Lily throws my way, clear my throat, ruffle my hair and paste on a toothy smile before I hit record.
2
Here I go!
‘Hey, hey, bookworms, welcome to my live! Today I’m – ah – sharing a very – ah – brief review about the most talked about book in romancelandia this week – yes, it’s the spicy cowboy romance lassoing everyone’s attention:Bang, Bang!’ Do I break one of the founding principles of Bookstagram – authenticity?
A few minutes later, I swipe the screen closed and toss the book back to Lily.
Her eyebrows are up around her hairline. ‘Wasn’t that a paid promo post, where you, you know, get paid to gush about the book?’
‘I returned their payment this morning, but I’d already told my followers I was doing a review of it, so I had to share something. I thought I handled it well, by mainly using intense facial expressions and letting the viewer decide whether the book is right for them. Do you think it translated?’
The apples of her cheeks pinken. ‘You looked like you were in the throes of a medical emergency.’ Sharp laughter spills from her and I soon follow suit.
‘That sounds… attractive. Look, I didn’t share the real reason I didn’t like the book, because I’d probably be sued to kingdom come, but I bloody well wanted to.’
Lily holds up her hand and finally I have her full attention. ‘Do you really think Tia is a fake? It’s not just some bad writing you’re opposed to and you’re being overly dramatic?’ She doesn’t add the ‘like you normally are’ but it’s heavily implied by her tone.
That’s the thing with close friendships; I’ve been banging on about this for a week and Lily has flicked all my concerns aside without really listening. To be fair, it’s just how we work. I do have a tendency to hyper-focus on petty annoyances, but this feels bigger. Important.
‘Yeah, an actual literal fake.’ I only share the books I truly love, but I’d been swept away by the noise aboutBang, Bang!and said yes to a paid promo post without much thought because almost everyone in the book world has been posting pictures of it with its gorgeous vibrant cowboy cover. OK, yes, I had serious FOMO, a regular occurrence in my world.
Normally, I read a few chapters of the book before agreeing to collaborate on a promo post so it’s my own fault. But I didn’t expect… this.
Never this.
‘I’m certain the book is pure AI. A tech bro has made a basic plot request into a computer to generate a cowboy romance. No doubt he follows market trends and has seen the possibility of huge profit in the romance sphere, and that’s why I can’t promote it. Why I can’t get on the bandwagon. It’s not fair to real writers. There’s something majorly off about the whole… enterprise.’
Lily’s face is a picture of surprise. ‘That’s a big accusation.’
‘Hence why I’m only telling you.’
‘How do you know it’s AI though?’ Her mouth twists in doubt.
I let out a frustrated sigh. If Lily doesn’t take my worries at face value, there’s no chance anyone else will either. It’ll look like the mutterings of a jealous wannabe writer or something – which for the record, I am not.
And I’d never dare do this if I thought Tia was a legitimate author. ‘Tia has no author photo, not one picture of a human or animal on her page, no personal details?—’
Lily scoffs. ‘Lots of authors write under pseudonyms and keep their personal lives private, doesn’t mean they’re using AI. You of all people know that.’
I blow a lock of hair from my face. That’s true, so why am I obsessing over this? But I have been. I’ve gone on a deep dive tracing the trajectory of this book and how the debut author went from obscurity to worldwide bestseller in a matter of weeks. Unheard of.
‘Yeah, I get that, but this is different. It feels… orchestrated, more so than usual. I’ve never seen a book blow up online as fast asBang, Bang!The campaign has been so tightly coordinated, money has been spent across every platform to promote it. And yet, the writing is clunky, robotic, the characters two dimensional at best, and it’s got that cringe factor like when a man tries to write a woman’s point of view but gets it so very wrong. I swear this is a targeted attempt at making big money in the romance space without being a writer or involved in the community. Like, what if it is a twentysomething tech bro who follows trends and has infiltrated this arena? Gone wild with paid promotions to get it onto every bestseller chart and it’s bloody well worked, despite the book being mediocre.’
Shock flickers across her features. ‘Geez. I get where you’re coming from, but if it’s just a feeling you’re basing this off you can’t say a word. You just can’t.’
‘Yeah.’ And what if I am the only one who is reading it this way? Doubt creeps in. ‘It’s being posted all over and lots of people are raving about it. Not just paid promo posts either, but from all camps. Even some D-list reality TV stars have been seen in faux candid shots with it. The hashtag #BangBang! is trending on BookTok and videos about it are going viral. I’ve never seen anything like it, the speed, the charting success. Let’s say it is AI. Then what’s stopping the tech bro – or whoever it is – making hundreds of books under various names? Flooding the market with stories written by machines? We all need to stand up to this.’
