Celebrity Authors For Children–do They Get Preferential Treatment By Publishers?
I just saw another celebrity is writing a book for children. That seems to be a popular thing for them to do. Some of them aren’t bad, but is it fair to those who work hard writing a children’s book and can’t get responses from publishers because they’re unknowns? I don’t write in this genre, but I appreciate what a hard area it is to succeed in. I wonder if talent is being wasted for publicity and sales potential. Any thoughts?
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Definitely. The proof of this is that many of the “celebrity” books for children are a) very poorly written, or b) not really written by the celebrity, but ghost written for them.
The getting a children’s book published is a highly competitive business. There are many, many excellent children’s books that remain unpublished precisely because the author of a book is unknown. An author who submits his or her work through an agent, has a slightly better chance, as the agent will make sure the book gets read by a publisher, rather than languishing in a slush pile. However, sometimes, relatively new authors, even though they’ve already had a successful book, find it difficult to get a second book chosen.
So, why do publishers bother with some of the garbage put out by celebrities? Money. Even when they give the celebrity a huge advance–much higher than they would normally give, the celebrity’s name will sell the book. Said celebrity will probably be on every talk show from Oprah to whomever, touting the book. The publicity department of publisher will work overtime to ensure that the publisher makes every cent of the advance back, plus profit.
In an interview, well known writer of science fiction, fantasy, and chidren’s books, Jane Yolen spoke of the problems. Even though she is a great author whose books will sell, she will never see the advance of a celebrity author, nor will the publisher work as hard to sell her books. She says that she generally hires her own publicist.
I’m a school librarian. Very few celebrity books make it into my library, unless they are well written and serve a viable need, even if I can pick them up during a book fair. I think kids are bombarded with the idiocies of Hollywood enough, without giving some of the celebrities a soapbox via books in my library.
unfortunately, like many things its about money.All else being equal, people are more likely to buy a childrens book by say, Kate Winslet, than they would be by somebody theyd never heard off. Terefore Kates book is more likely to be published.
Of course they do. Signing an author isn’t about how good they think the book is (necessarily), it’s how well they think it can sell. Celebrity authors sell.