Are celebrities taking over the world of children’s literature?

I think back to when I was a child looking through the library bookshelves, and remember clearly the likes of popular and renowned authors including Jaqueline Wilson , J.K Rowling and Enid Blyton, all famous for being children’s books authors. Nowadays, a child is more likely to find books written by celebrities such as: David Walliams and Tom Fletcher, neither of whom had a prior interest in writing children’s books before their celebrity status as an actor and singer. We are now in a world where publishers are fully aware that celebrity names sell, and are keen to profit from the general public’s obsession with those who are famous, regardless of their day to day profession. It no longer matters where your talent lies.

In 2008, when David Walliams signed with HarperCollins publishers, did he know that he was about to become one of the highest earning authors in the UK, bringing in print sales of £11 million? Maybe not, but his publishers were confident that this popular household name was going to be a hit. ‘Celebrity authors are a ready-made PR story, they have existing fan bases, social media followers and famous friends to endorse their books.’ (Noble, 2017)

Since ‘The Walliams Effect’, many other celebrities are following in his footsteps, such as: Tom Fletcher and Rochelle Humes, but is this affecting the success of traditional authors? When the titles for World Book Day 2018 were announced, many top celebrity authors including David Almond criticised the celebrity heavy line-up. ‘How it is that books by a clutch of celebrities could possibly be better than those by some of the wonderful children’s authors at work today?’ (Flood, 2017). Traditional authors’ work isn’t being recognised or marketed to the same extent as the celebrities’ because the book doesn’t come along with a string of social media posts from others with a high profile.

Children’s authors also feel that the books celebrity authors are writing are affecting the quality of children’s literature as ‘celebrity authors are the equivalent of the McDonald’s Happy Meal: okay once in awhile, perhaps, but not the everyday, varied diet a healthy child needs to flourish and grow.’ (Harris, 2017) Children are reading and learning from people who would not have had a book deal before the internet took over, and more so have little to contribute to the final product, with most of ‘their’ books being written by a ghost writer.

The rise of celebrity authors is a concern for well established authors. “The number and frequency of recent deals is making many of us consider our involvement in the business. It’s depressing to say the least.” (Kean, 2017) Publishers are becoming more inclined to take that publishing deal with a celebrity instead of with authors such as Lucy Coats. Authors are aware that if only a fraction of some of these celebrities followers purchase their book they will have a top seller on their hands, making it difficult to succeed in the book charts without this type of following.

We are now living in a world of celebrity culture, where any book, perfume or fitness DVD produced by a celebrity will succeed. Is this leading children to believe that the only means to success is to become a celebrity? It is important for traditional authors not to lose sight of what made their books successful in the first place as it would be awful for my children to see David Walliams books as ‘must reads’ instead of the books I grew up reading by incredible authors such as Julia Donald.

Flood, A. (2017). Children’s authors slam celebrity-heavy World Book Day lineup. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/02/childrens-authors-slam-celebrity-heavy-world-book-day-lineup [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].

Harris, J. (2017). Tumblr. [online] Joannechocolat.tumblr.com. Available at: https://joannechocolat.tumblr.com/post/165930544401/on-childrens-fiction-and-the-happy-meal-of [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].

Kean, D. (2017). How celebrity deals are shutting children’s authors out of their own trade. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/22/celebrity-deals-childrens-authors-publishing [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].

Noble, F. (2017). Does celebrity sell? | The Bookseller. [online] Thebookseller.com. Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/does-celebrity-sell-511531 [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].