‘It’s quite galling’: children’s authors frustrated by rise in celebrity-penned titles
Keira Knightley is latest star to publish a children’s book, but some say trend pushes aside genuine writers and makes it harder to find great children’s fiction
What is a genuine writer? Someone who’s done the right degree? Been on the right creative writing courses?
What is a genuine writer?
Someone who has ghostwritten a celebrity’s book?
Blimey.
It has been a long established tradition of celebrities producing childrens’ books.
Even Sarah Ferguson managed it.
I always imagined that it was a bit like producing background music for an agency.
50 year old hack knocks out a few stories about an Elephant with a Baloon and some cartoonist does the drawings. Publishe pays them a few bob. The books sit on the publishers shelf until Katie Brighteeth comes along and says she wants to write a book.
Someone who’s actually written a book?
In reality, those professional writers are mainly turning out woke crap at the direction of their publishers, so….
Celebrities sell product. Yeah, I know it is stupid, but it is a fact.
“What is a genuine writer? Someone who’s done the right degree? Been on the right creative writing courses?”
Yes?
It’s just so vexing that mere amateurs merely good at telling stories to kids actually get read by kids… 😉
No special qualifications, but some writers do actually produce books that children want to read. Of course there are several sorts of children’s books, what is being referenced above is typical of one sort – books published “for children” that are actually primarily designed to be attractive to adults buying books for children. Whether the book is any good or in the slightest bit attractive to children is unimportant, it must be attractive to the buyer, so having a “famous” name is a great advantage.
There are good writers around but they very rarely have degrees in writing or whatever, they may well have a degree but usually incidentally so.
What Salamander says. These are generally crap books, but people see a known name and buy it. Unsurprisingly, the publishing industry spends money on promotion of these books.
The problem with books is that there’s a lot of them written and how do you find a good one? A great band can grow an audience quickly because it takes 5 minutes to hear a song. A movie takes 2 hours. Books take days. So branding is a big thing with it.
Why would you read a book by someone who looks pretty and plays dress up? It’s like getting Wayne Rooney to be your accountant.
Maybe she identifies as a writer? What about if she did a drag queen story hour at the local library dressed in her underwear?
Next they’ll be arguing for more regulation and licensing to be qualified to be an author.
If you haven’t starved in a garret, then you’re not a genuine anything. Mere talent isn’t enough, you have to have suffered for your art!
“some say trend pushes aside genuine writers and makes it harder to find great children’s fiction” – there must be work for at least a dozen children’s authors across the Anglosphere.
Julia Donaldson was very popular with “stick man” and “the gruffalo” and such like, though I always liked the narrative simplicity of Rod Campbell’s ‘Pop Up Jungle” etc.
Its an odd market, driven by adults desperate to buy something who buy the celeb stuff and then the small number of real authors who are successful.
There is probably more chance of making as a rock star than a children’s author and there are certainly more professional footballers than successful children’s authors.
Keep trying but don’t give up the day job. In fact, stop wasting your time and keep up the day job.