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December 8, 2009 11:21 PM

YAY OR NAY? Celebrity memoirs

Christmas time is almost upon us; a time of festive cheer, mince pies, hectic rounds of shopping...and of course, celebrity memoirs. Not a year goes by without celebrities pushing forth a plethora of autobiographies, but is it getting tiresome?

When Katie Price (aka Jordan, not that you needed reminding!) was caught trying to hide the discount sticker on her new style guide, Standing Out, as soon as it was released, this posed the question - are readers still interested in celebrity memoirs?

Autumn sees an array of books from celebs, all ready to be purchased for the Christmas period. But according to the Independent, literary agents have branded this season 'disastrous' for celebrity memoirs, and UK publisher Hachette will be cutting back on the celeb books it usually takes on. The article also states that 'he total value of hardback celebrity titles in the top 50 this year is, so far, £3.3m a significant decrease on 2008's figure of £4.6m.'

Ouch.

And Curtis Brown's cheif executive Jonathan Lloyd said that such books 'lacked the sensational factor.'  He said: 'In the end, you can't fool the public. They expect to have the real book and the majority of offers this autumn are not real books, certainly not 'must-haves.'

Memoirs took over the book charts last year, but now? They're seemingly not so sought-after. Jordan's Standing Out is currently number 50 on Neilson's BookScan. Other celebrity offerings this year include Ant & Dec's Ooh, What a Lovely Pair! Peter Kay's Saturday Night Peter, My Sh*t Life So Far by Frankie Boyle and JLS - Our Story So Far.

What are your thoughts on celeb memoirs? Are you a fan, or fed up? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Posted by Elle Symonds on December 8, 2009 in Book News, Yay or Nay, Yay or Nay? | Permalink

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