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Read all about it – the unlikely celebrity authors
The public thirst for celebrity autobiographies appears to be unquenchable, and publishers have spent millions on a signing spree to commission books from footballers, Big Brother contestants, actresses and chefs. Sheena Hastings reports.
THE publishing conglomerate HarperCollins announced a while ago that Wayne Rooney had signed a 5m five-book deal, and that the first of the books about Wayne's world will be a World Cup diary, which will be in the shops within days of the tournament's final.
Rooney didn't go far in education, isn't the most articulate of souls, and certainly has other things on his mind in the run-up to Germany 2006, so naturally he isn't writing anything himself. The first book will be ghost-written by veteran journalist and author Hunter Davies.
Rooney's fiance, Coleen McLoughlin, famous by association and stalked by paparazzi during myriad shopping trips, is the darling of celebrity magazines and has now embarked on a TV presenting career.
She too has signed up with HC, but the fee for her two books has not so far been disclosed – nor has the actual theme or content of either book. It doesn't really matter, as the publishers are assuming that readers who have followed the couple's life through the pages of Hello! OK and Heat will lap-up anything about them.
Last week, three of the top four hardback non-fiction bestsellers in the UK were autobiographies by former Big Brother contestant and one-woman soap opera Jade Goody, glamour model Jordan, and former EastEnders actress Daniella Westbrook.
An obsession with celebrity has gripped the country increasingly over the last few years. As a nation, we're fixated on what celebrities wear, what they eat and how they decorate their homes. And, because there are far more celebrities than ever before, (thanks, in the main, to reality television), the material generated about them is endless.
Publishers took a long while to cotton on to the phenomenon, but are now falling over themselves and each other to clinch deals with top names – even those, like BB winner Chantelle Houghton, who've only been famous for a little over five minutes.
Other names publishing books later this year include Jordan's husband Peter Andre, Gary Barlow, Victoria Beckham, former Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona, Jack Osbourne (son of Ozzy and Sharon), Billie Piper, Gordon Ramsay and former nurse/BB contestant/whatever Abi Titmuss. Big Brother has a lot to answer for.
Also rushing into print for huge sums are Take That singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, England footballer Frank Lampard, chef Marco Pierre White, and celebrity foodie Tom Parker Bowles.
Nearly every major publishing imprint has acquired a celebrity title, and competition among publishers to get the right names has sent price tags soaring.
Bloomsbury are said to have signed Barlow for just under 1m, while Century have reportedly given Chantelle Houghton 400,000. Surely, come Christmas, there won't be enough space in the shops for all of these titles.
Incidentally, not content with bagging the big names themselves, the mothers of Boy George and rock bad boy Pete Doherty are also about to tell all in print.
Publishers are increasingly looking to big sales from celebrity titles, like Sharon Osbourne's bestselling Extreme, to offset poorer sales from riskier projects. However, even celebrity books by personalities with a high profile can bomb. It's expected that some of this year's crop will go the way of Anthea Turner's autobiography, and find themselves in the pulping machine.
"They won't be expecting all of them to do well, but they consider the risk worth taking" says Neill Denny, editor-in-chief of The Bookseller magazine. "These titles are generally very profitable.
"The publishing market is a very mature one, so when a new market segment like this opens up everyone is after it. What's happened here is that there is a huge interest in celebrities, particularly among young women.
"Some people might sniff at the idea of a book by Chantelle, but at one point she was on TV and more famous than the Prime Minister, and who's to say that an ordinary life like hers is not interesting?
"Billie Piper may be very young, but she has packed so many experiences into her life so far."
Mr Denny feels supermarkets have been hugely influential in the sales of celebrity books.
"Anyone who feels intimidated by the idea of going into a serious-looking bookshop doesn't have to. Books are cheaper than ever before, and they can pick one up when they do the food shopping."
So is the boom in celebrity books a good thing, and should we be concerned that the telephone number fees being paid to the famous mean there's less money to gamble on unknown but talented writers in other genres?
"It's a good thing for publishing, in that all sales help to keep the industry going, says Mr Denny.
"And in terms of readers, if people who don't usually read much get into it by reading this sort of book, then they might go on to try something more challenging. Or they might not, but at least they've bought a book.
"Publishers use the big money they make from bestselling celebrity books and tie-in newspaper serialisations to subsidise other areas of their lists, where profitability is not so assured."
A spokeswoman for the Society of Authors said massive sales of celebrity books were a two-edged sword. "Some of the reported fees are inflated beyond the true sums involved, but some of our members are benefiting by ghost-writing celebrity books.
"It's also good that people are buying books, although it's a shame that so many are this one kind. At the same time, though, we are alarmed by the decline in the commissioning of original fiction.
"We're also finding that what we call 'mid-list' authors, those who write well but their books don't become bestsellers, are finding it more difficult to get reprints and to stay on the publisher's list. It's getting more difficult to get published at all, and also to stay published."
sheena.hastings@ypn.co.uk
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