Like certain biographies describing North America I rushed out to order (12)
I believe the answer is:
unauthorised
'like certain biographies' is the definition.
(as in an unauthorised biography)
'describing north america i rushed out to order' is the wordplay.
'describing' is an insertion indicator (describe can mean to form the outline of).
'north america' becomes 'na'.
'to order' is an anagram indicator.
'i'+'rushed'+'out'='irushedout'
'irushedout' with letters rearranged gives 'uuthorised'.
'na' placed within 'uuthorised' is 'UNAUTHORISED'.
(Other definitions for unauthorised that I've seen before include "lacking official status" , "not sanctioned" , "pirated" , "Not officially allowed" , "Illegal - audio hunters (anag)" .)