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Lord help me......and you REAL writers. Last night 'The One Show' decided to have a return visit of that well known (and respected) children's author, Frank Lampard. Guess what? they decided to plug his b...book again, obviously in time for the Christmas market. Ironically my local Waterstones never stocked his book. I have made a formal complaint to the BBC, and I'll not get excited with their response. But what a kick in the teeth for you REAL writers
Comments
Sorry, it's been a long day...
It's for the best.
*cuts TV cable - just in case*
[quote=toothlight] But what a kick in the teeth for you REAL writers[/quote] I don' see why. I'd love one of my books to be plugged on the One Show, but it's not as though he stole my chance or that his book being plugged will reduce the chances of mine succeeding.
Sorry, didn't see the prog, plus, still don't really know who Frank Lamhard is.
*totters orft trying to understand wot all the fuss is about*
Please note: As an Australian I have never seen the man or heard him speak. I am simply playing devil's advocate here.
I'm not saying he didn't come up with the story ideas- because as far as I've read and heard, he did. He made the stories up for his children, but if you can't talk in the correct tense then I don't think you'll be able to write it...
I've never seen Frank Lamphard promote his book - but thanks to TB I know all about it.
I don't care if he wrote it himself, I just care that children are bought well-written books.
A book 'written' by a famous footballer about football seems to be a winning idea. Footballers are heroes to kids and what a great idea to slip a reading lesson in to the mix, bit like hiding greens in something more palatable.
[quote=Baggy Books]I don't care if he wrote it himself, I just care that children are bought well-written books.[/quote]
I think it's all too easy to get stressed out trying to define whether 'one is writer or not' and in this chap's case, seeing as he's usually a footballer then it's considered he's not cut out to be a writer.
Making the point one has a full time job that isn't writing defines whether they're eligible to produce a book or not is, IMO, something to do with a writer snobbery and quite a lot of jealousy.
Most of these celeb books the publisher pays them a sizeable advance, and rarely do they actually recover the advance in their sales.
Meanwhile good writers struggle to get their work seen, or it's rejected- and not always because it's bad writing.
It's a different issue than the one which prompted Toothlight to start the thread, I suspect, but if these books encourage children, who wouldn't otherwise have been interested, to read then that's a good thing.
[quote=Carol]Meanwhile good writers struggle to get their work seen, or it's rejected- and not always because it's bad writing.[/quote] Ideally the best books would always be the most successful regardless of the celebrity status of the author, trendiness of the genre, extent of the marketing budget etc, but the whims of the reading public will always play a part.
Sounds like it might be safer if he doesn't...;)
[quote= Phots Moll]Ideally the best books would always be the most successful regardless of the celebrity status of the author, trendiness of the genre, extent of the marketing budget etc, but the whims of the reading public will always play a part.[/quote]
I'd question that to some degree.
Big name publishers see a celebrity name as a sure bet to make sales and get publicity (because their name or face is in the news/on tv every day/weekend)- which is going to guarantee profits because of the way the share prices work, and the shareholders want a good dividend.
Trouble is, unlike a 'non celeb writer', the books you're going to get out of them in future years is small to non-existent...
No I didn't.
This is what I said:
[quote=Baggy Books]I've never seen Frank Lampard promote his book - but thanks to TB I know all about it.[/quote]
He is a very famous England and Chelsea footballer and has been for many years.
[quote=toothlight]I would go and tell him to his face he's a fraud. [/quote]
Because he put his name to some books he has admitted he only partly wrote himself? What's fraudulent about that?
Publishing is a business. If any of us could guarantee sales then we'd get the contracts. No point railing against it. Who said it had to be fair?
Just write the best things you can write and be persistent. It isn't only celebrities who get publishing deals.
We can't just blame the celebrities and publishers though. If things tend to sell better when they use the name (or picture) of a celebrity, then naturally producers are going to keep using those names wherever they can. Everytime we buy anything that has a celebrity endorsement we're encouraging this behaviour.
Agree totally, PM.
There are less celebrity bios being put out now, as the publishers caught a cold with them a year ago- they didn't make the sales expected as in previous years, so book shops probably returned a lot of stock.
The majority of these books end up in charity shops in the new year...
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/bestSellersCategory.do?ctx=0&searchType=7
A mix of celebs, footballers, TV links and...writers. Room for all?
A book I worked on in the spring made it to one list in a national paper - author's first, not a celeb, just a bloody good writer (non-fiction). It also topped its Amazon category too. There is hope...
I suspect celeb bios get mentioned because of the 'name' factor...
After all look at how badly edited FSOG was, but because it was the latest 'must be seen with/talking about' book, it got page space in even the serious papers...
Toothlight it really isn't worth getting yourself in a tizz over it. Anything that promotes books to a generation that plays Fifa on their XBox or their PS4 and to whom Frank Lampard is someone they aspire to be like cannot be a totally bad thing. If it gets them writing and following in real writers footsteps it has to be a positive thing.
But I suppose there will be people gagging to read about her love-life...:(
Actually this backfires after a while: people really go get fed up of the same names and faces all the time. Over on AAY some time ago people were up in arms about the same celebs on the covers of Good Housekeeping and other mags - Lorraine Kelly, Lulu, Twiggy, repeat ad nauseam. It's overkill and it becomes boring, because they have nothing new to say and people switch off.
While there is a certain section of the population that finds this sort of thing comforting - they don't read themselves, so if their kids want a book for Christmas, they may choose one by a name they actually know from among so many available - it will be a turn off for many others. So it's not necessarily the money-spinner publishers think it will be. People may be slow to learn, but they may eventually realise they are being sold something shoddy under a banner headline name.
I suspect there are people all over the UK saying, 'What can I get for X for Christmas? I know - she likes that model/footballer/film star/ B list celeb, I'll get her that book they wrote.'
The book will never be read, and will end up in the charity shop along with lots of other copies bought for the same reason; people like their celebs in soundbites, not book length.
It always amazes (and disappoints) that so few writers appreciate the concept of marketing. The client I mentioned elsewhere, whose work became a best-seller, nailed the marketing.
Terence Stamp tells a good tale too.