Angus Kidman – anguskidman.show

Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth is one of my favourite late-80s pop albums, largely because of the so-of-the-moment title track. The synths! The choreo! The lapels!

So when I read in the Hollywood Reporter that our Debs is releasing an autobiography called Eternally Electric (natch), I knew I’d need to nab a copy. Unfortunately, a quick check on Amazon shows that there’s no Kindle version available for Australia yet.

That’s OK; I can wait. I’m a fan, but I don’t need to pay $54.12 for the print version imported from the US. And I can see there is a Kindle edition stateside, so it’s likely just a rights delay.

Anyway, that’s not what I’m here to rant about. Searching for that title on Amazon also brought up these deeply suspicious looking “books” (I use the term advisedly):

• Debbie Gibson Transformative Exploration: Living an Eternally Electric life through intuition and inspiration
• Debbie Gibson Performative Bio: Becoming ETERNALLY ELECTRIC, intuitive insights
• Debbie Gibson Introspective Manual: A personal and intuitive narrative of staying ETERNALLY ELECTRIC, no matter the season

As you might guess from the near-unreadable syntax, these are not biographies of Gibson, authorised or otherwise. They are AI-generated slop designed to cash in on fans searching for the actual title of her book. (For that reason, I’m not linking any of them, or naming their fictional “authors”.)

Beyond the single mention of her name in the title, I doubt any of these contain anything about Gibson whatsoever. Cut and paste bios and reprints of Wikipedia articles as books are not a new phenomenon on Amazon, but AI means we’re seeing much more of this utter crud flood the shelves.

At first, I was surprised that these were print books, not Kindle titles, since the latter would have no production costs. But Kindle books are likely to have Amazon’s “Look Inside” function, which would immediately demonstrate how pointless this garbage is to potential buyers. And with print-on-demand, there’s little effective risk either.

Here’s a sample description of one of the titles. The generative stench is strong in this generic codswallop:

This book offers readers practical insights and transforming direction by delving deeply into subjects such as personal power, resilience, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, creative expression, and mindful living. It’s not simply a memoir or a self-help book; it’s a road map for living intentionally, openly, and truly. Each chapter provides you with ideas for transforming problems into opportunities, cultivating long-term vitality, and realizing your greatest potential.

Pass the bucket. And as for this claim?

This is an independently crafted work offering unique insights and perspectives. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the individuals or works referenced. Any similarities to existing titles, authors, or content are purely coincidental.

Yeah, right. That’s why you have used the same wording and released the book the same month as Gibson’s own title. Coincidental? Give me a break.

The one pleasing thing is that it doesn’t seem to have worked as a commercial strategy. None of these books have any reviews; none have sold enough to rank anywhere on Amazon’s bestseller lists, which stretch to hundreds of thousands of titles. (Debs herself is at #15 in pop star biographies.)

The zombies doing this likely don’t care; doubtless they’re busy remixing this crap so they can pretend it’s part 2 of Cher’s autobiography. I hope they get tinea.

For slop that was at least actually generated by a human, check out my review of Barbara Cartland’s very last novel.