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Celebrity Novels

edited September 2012 in Writing
Naively, I thought that celebrity novels were the result of the celebrity's fancying his or her chances and being accepted because their name would sell the book. Only this morning I heard on the radio a well-known actor saying that she had been "commissioned" to write a novel. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. If this kind of thing goes on, there is almost no chance for the rest of us. It shows only too clearly that it isn't the quality of the book that matters; it's who wrote it. Grrrr!

Comments

  • Yes, and when you go into shops that sell off remaindered books cheap, there are always piles of celeb titles. They aren't selling a book, they are selling a brand. It must be considered cost-effective or the publishers wouldn't do it; so people go into Smiths or Tesco's and see Daisy or Desmond Do-Wrong's face on the cover of a book and pick it up as they do the spuds and onions. The publisher promotes it aggressively, and people will buy what is thrust under their noses.
    There are celebs who can actually write: Stephen Fry, for instance, and in those instances we can only be jealous of the marketing budget.
  • It took me ages even to look at Stephen Fry's writing simple BECAUSE he's a celebrity.
  • Hello Lah-tay.

    I suspect you're new here. Why don't you introduce yourself on your own thread so that everyone can say hello. (They might not read this one.)
  • [quote=Lizy]It took me ages even to look at Stephen Fry's writing simple BECAUSE he's a celebrity.[/quote]

    What if he's a celebrity BECAUSE of his writing?
    Ditto Alan Bennet and thousands of others.
  • Publishers want books they can sell millions of copies of, and the only way to do that is get a celebrity or someone who they can push because of the novelity factor- E L James and Alexander the Meerkat for example.
  • It's all about making money. It's a business.
  • The thing is, like anything else, there are some celebrities who are damn good writers, and others who aren't. Stephen Fry was mentioned above, and I must say I was sceptical of his writing until I read one of his books. He is absolutely brilliant, a very clever man. At the opposite end of the scale, there are celebrities - who to be completely fair I won't name - who have written books that are extremely badly written, and are evidently selling only because of the person's famous name. A few of my friends have read some of those, and after only one, have stated that they will not waste their money again.
  • Yes, I agree with John, Stephen Fry can write- he's brilliant.
  • edited September 2012
    A lot of comedy performers (I hesitate to use the word 'comedians' - it seems to downgrade them a bit) have been Oxbridge educated. That's what makes them so successful at comedy. They have such a facility with language - essential for making us laugh, but also essential to write well. Those who are celebrities for the way they look, for example, don't have that sort of talent. They may have stories to tell, but the way they tell them is bland and infantile.
  • I especially loved Stephen Fry's book "Making History", which appeals to me particularly because of my interest in anything to do with Time travel. The book tells the story of an alternative history where Adolph Hitler never existed. Veyr cleverly thought out, and very well written.
  • Dear all

    Thank you for all your comments, which I've been interested to read.

    I can well believe that someone like Stephen Fry would produce good writing but what I object to is celebrities being approached to write a novel when the publisher or agent has no idea if that person can produce anything worthwhile. Presumably, the thinking is that any awfulness can be moderated by a good editor. This is an insult to all the able writers who are rejected from the slush pile.

    By the way, am I alone in finding that term offensive?
  • [quote=Lah-tay]This is an insult to all the able writers who are rejected from the slush pile.

    By the way, am I alone in finding that term offensive?[/quote]

    Not to me. I know my place.
  • Some celebrity novels are ghost-written, a good example being those supposedly by Katie Price (Jordan).
  • As people have already pointed out, it's all about money, and making lots of it. The publishers really don't care if Mr or Mrs Famous Person can't write for toffee (and most can't), because they know some daft sap will rush out and buy the books, written to a large extent, by ghost writers.

    [quote=Lah-tay]By the way, am I alone in finding that term offensive? [/quote]

    I don't find it offensive. All manuscripts are slush until someone picks it up and gives it a chance.
  • I don't read novels by celebrities, probably because of my own prejudices that they are going to be bad. I don't know if that's a good thing, really.

    Can I put a different spin, rather than get insulted because I've never had a novel published, think of it this way: when a publisher makes a lot of money of a celebrity book, what if that means next year he can take a punt on two debut novelists?
  • [quote=Mrs Bear]There are celebs who can actually write: Stephen Fry, for instance, and in those instances we can only be jealous of the marketing budget.[/quote]

    And that he's so damn clever. :D
  • [quote=Stirling]Can I put a different spin, rather than get insulted because I've never had a novel published, think of it this way: when a publisher makes a lot of money of a celebrity book, what if that means next year he can take a punt on two debut novelists?[/quote]

    Assuming he hasn't agreed to pay the celebrity a huge wad and he sells enough books to make a profit after he's covered the payment...:)
  • I wouldn't read a novel JUST because it had a celebrities name on it, I would judge it the same way I decide on buying a book by any other writer. More fool the people who do buy it just for the name, maybe they wouldn't buy a book otherwise while wandering up and down the supermarket aisles.
    Stephen Fry is awesome. He has had such an interesting life, I was hooked reading Moab is my Washpot, and The Fry Chronicles. Hippopotamus is brilliant, really funny.
    Listen to his audiobooks - or the Harry Potters read by him, brilliant.
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