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Society of Authors calls for change to 'acknowledge all writers involved' in celebrity-written books
The Society of Authors (SoA)is calling for celebrities, publishers and agents to acknowledge the writers behind celebrity books, particularly for children.
The UK’s largest trade union for writers, illustrators and literary translators, said that it "recognises that encouraging children to read in the digital age can be challenging and that celebrities’ names can help kickstart a reading habit", but that everyone should be credited regardless. They also acknowledged that publishers pay celebrities to write books because they know that if they publish a book with a known name on the front cover, it will sell.
Abie Longstaff, chair of the SoA’s Children’s Writers and illustrators Group, said: "A book is not just a package with kerb appeal. Creativity and well-honed craft make it special. The real hand that spins the magic should be acknowledged and applauded, particularly in an era when humans risk being drowned out by the generic and derivative outputs of artificial intelligence bots."
The SoA is asking publishers, celebrities, booksellers, festival organisers, agents and all involved in the industry to recognise and reward all collaborators on celebrity books.
Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, chair of the SoA and author (she writes as Sam Blake), said: "I applaud the growing trend of celebrities publicly and generously acknowledging their co-creators. They often talk about the pleasure of the collaborative relationship they have, the teamwork. At the Irish Book Awards, rugby player Johnny Sexton was awarded Sports Book of the Year and brought his ghost writer Peter O’Reilly onto the stage to thank the Irish Literary Academy and the public for their votes. It was a wonderful moment when both story and words were celebrated, and, just as Chris Hoy has often appeared with his ghost writer, Joanna Nadin, at events, this helps to set the gold standard for both the industry and the public. In a world where fake news proliferates, complete transparency is to be celebrated."
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Mark McCrum, co-author of Somebody Someday by Robbie Williams, said: "It’s high time that ghost writers got recognition for their hard and highly skilled work. A ‘with’ or a byline on the inside title page is enough, an ideally joint mention with the named celebrity in any bestseller lists. Publishers should understand that this, and a decent split of advance and royalties, is an incentive to work as well as we can, as well as giving the reading public an honest account of how these books come about."
The news follows a recent online poll at The Bookseller’s FutureBook conference, which found that "celebrity authors" are the most overvalued thing in the publishing industry.
Referencing this poll in a comment piece, James Kinsley wrote: "And I get it. Celeb-penned books are a huge slap in the face to the rest of us. We spend all those years honing our craft, then Miss Hollywood waltzes in, gets a book deal on the strength of her name and it’s front-page news. Actual front page, that is. Not just the literary section."
Kinsley, however, defended celebrity authors, namely Keira Knightley following news she’d be writing a children’s book, saying: "The point is, celebrities may ‘just walk’ into publishing, but many do so off the back of years of hard graft in another industry to become ‘celebrities’ in the first place. Doors have been opened to them but, in many instances, by their own hard work."
