Keanu and co: how celebrities became bestselling novelists

From Richard Osman and Millie Bobby Brown to the upcoming book by Keanu Reeves, celebrity novels are everywhere. What’s behind the boom? And how do non-famous writers feel about it?I understood that if I was going to do it, I would have to put 100% of myself into it,” says Richard Osman about writing his debut crime novel The Thursday Murder Club, which was an immediate bestseller when it was published in 2020. He had attempted a novel before, but “I wasn’t giving it everything, I had too much on. And this was the first time where I thought: No, I’m able to focus on this for a couple of years now.” Osman’s agent, Juliet Mushens, adds: “He told me he was working on a novel, but he didn’t want to show it to anyone until he finished the whole thing.” When he did, “we did a couple of drafts and submitted it to publishers”. The rest is history: since The Thursday Murder Club was released, Osman has published three further novels and sold more than 10m books worldwide.He is the most successful example of a phenomenon that is more prominent than ever: the celebrity novelist. Of course, famous people have written novels for decades – from Alan Titchmarsh to Ben Elton. And the children’s market has become saturated with celebrities, including David Walliams, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Paul McCartney and Jamie Oliver. But sales of adult fiction by celebrities have remained relatively low, until recently. According to Nielsen BookScan data, in 2018 the Top 100 paperback fiction... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-13 09:00:12 UTC ]

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Worst remains best: second week for Walliams at number one

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BookExpo 2018: Abbi Jacobson: Getting Real with Comedian Chris Gethard

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Holly Bourne | 'The most important thing to me as a writer of fiction—oddly enough—is to tell the truth'

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Charts: the Oliphant is back in the room

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi rockets to chart top spot

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comey's Trump exposé gets early release

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Picador wins Millwood Hargrave’s adult bow

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Completely Five: Eleanor Oliphant continues run at the top of the chart

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Clinton, Patterson to Launch Book Tour at BookCon

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Complete fiction: why 'the short story renaissance' is a myth

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[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big freeze hits World Book Day, but 'Brain Freeze' tops chart

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oliver goes Italian in new cookbook this July

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jacaranda pledges to publish 20 black British writers in 2020

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Fire and Fury trumps Kerridge to claim number one

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fire and Fury pipped to No 1 in UK book charts by Lose Weight for Good

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[ The Guardian | 2018-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Brotopia' author defends book after Musk says she should be 'ashamed'

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[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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