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 ]
There will be no follow-up to that AI-generated George Carlin comedy special released by the podcast Dudesy. In January, Carlin's estate filed a lawsuit against the podcast and its creators Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, accusing them of violating the performer's right to publicity and infringing... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-04-03 07:52:24 UTC ]
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“I Don’t Want To Die Poor” author Michael Arceneaux discusses his upcoming book and his fight for representation. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2024-03-04 10:45:07 UTC ]
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Three Black women novelists make their debut with tales of inheritance, friendship, and alternate futures. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite mounting objections from within the American literary community (as well as public condemnation from two prominent novelists who recently cut ties with the organization), on Wednesday evening PEN America’s Los Angeles branch went ahead with its hosting of a conversation between stand-up... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-02 19:14:45 UTC ]
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Two prominent novelists have broken with PEN America over the organization’s decision to platform controversial actor and outspoken ceasefire opponent Mayim Bialik, as well as its relative silence on the unfolding genocide in Gaza (which so far has claimed the lives of at least 120 writers,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-31 20:56:06 UTC ]
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From the shock and awe of labour to domestic isolation, a wave of recent novels captures the transformative nature of being a motherThey say nothing prepares you. Before having my baby, I approached the literature of motherhood as though I were about to sit an exam. If my studies tempered the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-20 11:00:01 UTC ]
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Our annual pick of the most exciting debut fiction has previously tipped Sally Rooney and Louise Kennedy, Tom Crewe and Douglas Stuart. Here the class of 2024 tell us their storiesEach year since 2014, the Observer New Review’s writers and editors have read scores of forthcoming debut novels... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-14 07:00:20 UTC ]
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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... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-13 09:00:12 UTC ]
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Thanks to mild weather and a strong economy, December sales at bookstores across the Midwest were up, with booksellers reporting increases ranging from 13% to 31%. Adult fiction and political nonfiction were popular, as were children's picture books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple has been noticeably missing in the list of companies with their own generative AI product, but based on a new report by The New York Times, it's looking to change that real soon. In recent weeks, Apple has reportedly started negotiating with major publishers and news organizations to ask... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-12-23 07:43:48 UTC ]
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Novelists in Brooklyn draw inspiration from the New York borough’s cast of thousands, and particularly from its idiosyncratic neighborhoods. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-12-21 19:46:00 UTC ]
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GT Karber’s book of challenges beats Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to Die and Guinness World Records to top spotThe murder mystery puzzle book Murdle by US writer GT Karber has climbed the UK bestsellers chart to become this year’s Christmas No 1 book, beating Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-12-20 14:30:03 UTC ]
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Monty Python, blasphemers: When the culture wars came for a little film called Life of Brian. | Lit Hub Film & TV “Moderation did not win the public’s favor.” How hot beverages became all the rage in 18th-century Britain. | Lit Hub History Debbie Urbanski urges novelists to think about AI... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-08 11:30:19 UTC ]
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Let’s imagine, for the purpose of this essay, that the following statement is true: An AI writes a novel. Actually, forget about the imagining. This is already happening. Today’s AIs—large language models (LLMs) specifically, like GPT-4—can write. If you’ve glanced at the headlines this year,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-08 09:51:43 UTC ]
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Since the publication of his first novel in 1999, Colson Whitehead has become one of the most lauded, prized, taught, and studied American novelists writing today. Winner of the National Book Award, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize (the only writer apart from William Faulkner and John... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-21 09:40:53 UTC ]
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With the publication of Billy and the Giant Adventure (Tundra), celebrity chef Jamie Oliver becomes a children’s book author. In the inventive and inspiring story, a group of friends enter a portal to another world, where they have a wild adventure and meet a menagerie of creatures. Oliver... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Novelists and poets, Bernardine Evaristo, Jeanette Winterson, Stephen Marche and others, consider the threats and thrilling possibilities of artificial intelligenceChatGPT seems to have blindsided us all. In less than a year it has proved that it can make writers redundant, which is one of the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-11 09:00:30 UTC ]
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John Grisham is #1 and Rachel Maddow is #2, plus Dolly Parton, Jada Pinkett Smith, and an ever-popular manga all have a good week. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A crop of new nonfiction books, all out this coming week, explore the lives and legacies of trailblazing women around the world, from artists and activists to novelists and scientists. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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John Grisham is #1 and Rachel Maddow is #2 as their new books bring them back to the bestseller list, plus solid showings from Dolly Parton, Jada Pinkett Smith, and an ever-popular manga. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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