The Celebrity Autobiography is not a new phenomenon. There is that moment that occurs occasionally, usually in the lead up to Christmas, when you are waiting to meet someone, be it at a train station, outside a high street coffee house or wherever you cool kids like to go... clearly I'm a caffeinated train watcher... and you have that feeling that someone is watching you. You glance suddenly to the left as if some how turning quickly would catch the mysterious voyeur... only to find that you're stood next to a Smiths with Arnold Schwarzenegger's big face gleaming out at you from the book display.
The latest development is the celeb novel. Jordan had a go at it, as did Lauren Conrad, and now it is the turn of pop princess Britney Spears. Perhaps I'm being harsh. Maybe Brit has a high brow historical piece set to steal next year's Pulitzer but I think probably not. Instead of smiling faces I suspect we'll see catchphrase titles and diamante phones or pampered pooches. Don't get me wrong, though, it will sell.
I'm kind of split on the whole thing to be honest. As a buyer, I think I'd probably avoid. Call me cruel but something tells me that a literary agent didn't see a beautifully written short story piece in Tatler written by a Ms. Spears and then have a bit of a shock when Britney walks into the Algonquin Hotel for their first meeting. It's the name that sells and if the book is good, that's a bonus. If they didn't get so much money from these literary projects, I'd feel a bit sorry for these celebrities - I see them to be in a similar position to the people on X Factor brought to the live shows for the fun factor rather than their talent. It works but it's cruel in my opinion.
As someone in the publishing world, I think they're inspired. It's a new twist on a tested concept and, as a result, it sells. Who wouldn't want to be the agent for Beyonce's potential first novel, Bootilicious, or Daniel Craig's James Bond sequel?
In my view, this sub genre of celebrity books is a reflection of the times. The market, thanks to e-Books, has become saturated; fewer and fewer new authors are being broken and paperbacks barely feature on the Amazon bestseller list which is flooded with unedited self-published titles that wouldn't have cut the mustard two years ago. What is going to shine through? A big name. Beautiful writing itself is struggling to sell a book.
It is important to say that I haven't actually read any of these books so perhaps it's not fair me passing judgement as maybe they are brilliantly written but I'm going to pass judgment anyway if that's ok? Don't we all do that? Anyway, given the market, given the sales figures, I think the celebrity novel, for now at least, is here to stay.
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