Human Author Verified is an independent, museum-backed verification program that confirms:

You are a real, living human author, and

You are the primary writer of the books you publish under your name, and

You are honest and transparent about any AI tools you use.

We don’t belong to a tech company, a vanity press, or an AI startup. We operate under the umbrella of the Texas Authors Museum, whose mission is to preserve and protect the work of real authors for generations to come.

The book marketplace has changed faster than most people want to admit:

AI systems can now generate full-length “books” in minutes.

Fake author names, scraped covers, and auto-compiled content appear every day.

Readers, librarians, and booksellers are left guessing what—and who—they’re looking at.

That chaos hurts:

Readers, who want genuine voices and lived experience.

Libraries and bookstores, who need reliable ways to curate collections.

Real authors, whose work is quietly buried under synthetic output.

Human Author Verified exists to draw a clean line:

This author is a real person.

We’ve checked.

We provide a clear, recognizable verification mark for human authorship.

When an author becomes Human Author Verified:

1. Their identity is confirmed by real people, not just software.

2. Their books and publication history are cross-checked.

3. They sign the HAV Ethics & Authorship Pledge, promising not to pass off AI-generated work as their own.

4. They receive a Human Author Verified seal, a certificate, and a listing in the HAV archive.

That’s it. No gimmicks. No pay-for-praise.

Just a clear, documented statement that a human wrote the work.

There are plenty of badges and memberships in publishing. HAV is different in a few key ways:

Human-authorship is the point

Transparent stance on AI.

We accept that AI tools exist and some authors use them. We also draw a hard line:

if AI wrote the majority of the prose, that book is not eligible for HAV as a human-authored work.

Museum-backed, not algorithm-backed.

Our job is to protect literary history and human creativity, not to sell software or subscriptions.

Global reach, rooted in reality.

Authors from any country and any genre can apply.

Texas authors have an additional option: the Verified Texas Author Program (VTAP), which can sit alongside HAV.

We built HAV on a few non-negotiables:

Honesty – No vague language, no marketing fog. Either the work is primarily human-written or it isn’t.

Respect for readers – People deserve to know when they’re buying a book crafted by a human mind.

Respect for authors – Real writers have invested years of their lives. Their work shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable with machine output.

Accountability – If an HAV author breaks the pledge, we reserve the right to suspend or revoke verification.

Clarity over comfort – We won’t sugar-coat what’s happening in the market, or what it takes to stand out in it.

Authors who want a credible, simple way to say: “Yes, a real human wrote this book.”

Readers who care about human creativity and want a fast visual cue they can trust.

Librarians and booksellers who need practical tools to curate collections and defend their choices in an AI-flooded marketplace.

Small presses and author collectives who want to show that their catalogs are built on human voices, not content mills.

Human Author Verified was designed by working authors, museum advocates, and publishing professionals who are:

Deeply involved in the indie and small-press world

Watching AI transform the creative landscape

Refusing to accept that “author” has to become a hollow label

We’re not neutral about this. We’re firmly on the side of humans.

HAV isn’t meant to be a one-year campaign. It’s meant to become part of the infrastructure of trust in publishing:

A known seal for readers.

A helpful filter for librarians and booksellers.

A point of pride and proof for authors.

Over time, we plan to:

Expand partnerships with writer organizations, presses, bookstores, and libraries.

Integrate HAV indicators into reading lists, catalogs, and discovery tools.

Publish annual reports on the state of human authorship in an AI world.

If you’re a writer who still sits down, wrestles with words, and puts actual pieces of your life into your work, HAV is built for you.

If you’re a reader, librarian, or bookseller who wants to support real human voices, HAV is here to make that easier.

Human Author Verified is not about nostalgia. It’s about drawing a line for the future:

Books written by people should never disappear under a wave of generated noise.

If that matters to you, you’re in the right place.