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 ]
Manchester United legend's bestselling memoir pushed from the top of books chart by Jeff Kinney's weedy heroHis protagonist is a lazy schoolboy weakling, Greg Heffley, but now children's author Jeff Kinney has shoved the big man of football off the top spot in the UK official book chart.Hard... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Book Awards in recent years has been working to raise its profile and increase books' cultural impact. Now it's taking another step toward extending its reach. The National Book Foundation, which administers the prizes, will announce Monday that the 2013 awards ceremony and benefit... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A free copy of Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Save With Jamie, is being donated to every... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tom Hanks is expected to reprise his role as Robert Langdon in the film adaptation of Dan Brown... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Astronaut Chris Hadfield has signed with Little, Brown to publish "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth." The book lands Oct. 29.If astronaut Chris Hadfield can write as well as he can sing a David Bowie song, his upcoming book is going to be good. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven and the latest Wimpy Kid title were the only books to sell over 300,000 print units in the first three months of 2013, according to Nielsen BookScan, but neither is in Amazon’s top 20 bestselling Kindle titles of the year, showing the disparity between print and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Half of the top 20 bestselling books of 2012 in print were either Fifty Shades titles or Hunger Games titles, and only one book not written by E.L. James or Suzanne Collins—Jeff Kinney’s latest Wimpy Kid title—cracked the one-million-copies-sold mark for the year, according to Nielsen BookScan,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unit sales of print books fell just over 9% in 2012 at outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan, roughly the same percentage decline posted between 2010 and 2011. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jamie Oliver's Jamie's 15-minute Meals (Michael Joseph) has retained pole position atop... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It comes as no surprise that Nielsen BookScan's top-selling print book lists for 2012 are dominated by Fifty Shades and the Hunger Games. See what else is on the lists. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jamie Oliver has retained pole position at the top of the official book charts and has increased... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jamie Oliver's new cookbook has climbed to the top of the official book charts, scoring the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of hardbacks through Nielsen BookScan's top 5,000 chart jumped 11% week on week last... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After months of hype, the first adult novel from J.K. Rowling debuted with the third biggest print opening of 2012. At outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan, The Casual Vacancy sold 156,679 copies in its first week—enough to place it behind only No Easy Day by Mark Owen (254,046 copies) and Fifty... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Her first post-Harry Potter book is a work of adult fiction, but its release follows an earlier playbook: It's been kept from prying eyes. Mystery ensues.J.K. Rowling wrote "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" as a single mum on the dole. Seven books, 4,100 pages and a blockbuster film... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Landing at #2 on the German fiction chart in August is the fourth in Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series, Journal 64; Adler-Olsen is an international bestselling thriller writer whose first two novels in this series were published in quick succession by Dutton. The Keeper of Lost Causes was... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since the publisher’s launch in early 2009, the Experiment’s biggest success has surprised even its staff: Forks over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health has become a smash hit, selling 127,000 copies since its publication in summer 2011 (it’s also the #47 bestselling book of the year so far... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jamie Oliver will beat J K Rowling to the Christmas number one book spot, the majority of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Just how important Amazon’s Prime shipping offer has been to the online giant’s success can be seen in data recently compiled by the Codex Group. Last Monday, Amazon announced that Prime, which allows customers free two-day shipping for a $79 annual fee, had surpassed its free shipping on orders... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury’s has priced pre-orders for the much-anticipated JK Rowling and Jamie Oliver... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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